Albert Pujols - Career BA tracker - 4/30/19 at .302 (Down .003 since last year this time)

[zenmaster]

As of today his career BA is down to .302 (.30166). 

He's at 3,102 hits, 637 homers, and 1,997 RBI. 

If he performs the same as last year, he will be at just around .300 by season's end (.299784).

[Blarg]

Not this shit again. Pujols clearly does not care what his career batting average is. He just passed Ruth and Bonds for most RBI. And that is his focus, millions of dollars and putting another Hall of Famer under his name in the record books.

He isn't beating anyone for highest career batting average. But there are names he can place behind his in the record books. He can catch Willie Mays and finish his career as the #5 in home runs. 

That is his focus.

[Stradling]

I like that his OBP is 100 points higher than his batting average.  I would like it even more if he gets his average up to .250-260.  

[Jeff Fletcher]

4 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Not this shit again. Pujols clearly does not care what his career batting average is. He just passed Ruth and Bonds for most RBI. And that is his focus, millions of dollars and putting another Hall of Famer under his name in the record books.

He isn't beating anyone for highest career batting average. But there are names he can place behind his in the record books. He can catch Willie Mays and finish his career as the #5 in home runs. 

That is his focus.

I used to believe this but I no longer do. 

I think it is important to him finish with a .300 average. 

It is possible for him to get all the way through this year without his average dropping below .300, but he certainly can’t make it to the end of his contract. Whether it’s important enough for him to retire is hard for me to say. It would be just one factor. 

He’s actually not doing badly this year (relatively speaking). His average is still low but the OBP is good and he’s driving in runs. 

Also, his playing time will go down when Ohtani comes back because he can’t play 1B every day. 

Or maybe they’ll play him a first a lot and then give him a few weeks on the IL and look at Thaiss. 

[yk9001]

"He'll retire before he lets his career BA get under .300" has to be one of the all time ridiculous angelswin thoughts.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

"He'll retire before he lets his career BA get under .300" has to be one of the all time ridiculous angelswin thoughts.

Unless of course he retires at the end of this season.  Which is unlikely but possible.  

[yk9001]

"Here, Mr. Moreno is 50 million of your dollars back.  Keep them.  It is more important that my career batting average starts with a '3', instead of a '2' when people look me up on Baseballreference.com."

 

[Angel Oracle]

7 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I like that his OBP is 100 points higher than his batting average.  I would like it even more if he gets his average up to .250-260.  

It (current OBP .330) is actually as high as it was in any of the previous 5 seasons.    Encouraging, but it's still early though.   He's already played in 26 out of 29 games.

Fortunately, Ohtani likely returns after the Astros 2 game series in Monterrey.   Then Pujols can get some more off days to stay fresh enough.  

[yk9001]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

Unless of course he retires at the end of this season.  Which is unlikely but possible.  

He can, and should retire.  Because if he were a horse running the way he does, they'd take him into a trailer and humanely euthanize him.

 

But it won't be because of a 3, not a 2.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

He can, and should retire.  Because if he were a horse running the way he does, they'd take him into a trailer and humanely euthanize him.

 

But it won't be because of a 3, not a 2.

Either way, if he is as sore as it looks and he chooses to retire at the end of the season, while I agree the batting average won’t be the main consideration, but it would be part of the equation.  I know you hate the guy and that is fine, but he is one of the all time great right handed hitters in MLB history.  We just got the back end when he wasn’t that guy any more.  

[Blarg]

I still think he has his sights on Willie Mays. At this point he has no reason not to go for that record. He has almost three seasons to hit 24 more to pass him. Passing Rodriguez would be 60, he won't make that given his current decline.

I think next year he will finish off Mays on the list and then talk buy-out and retire at the All Star break to take a bow. 

[yk9001]

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I still think he has his sights on Willie Mays. At this point he has no reason not to go for that record. He has almost three seasons to hit 24 more to pass him. Passing Rodriguez would be 60, he won't make that given his current decline.

I think next year he will finish off Mays on the list and then talk buy-out and retire at the All Star break to take a bow. 

God God.

The Angels fans want the Angels to win baseball games.  Play important games.  Playoff games.

The other Angels players and presumably, management want to win baseball games.

In your scenario, Albert is fixated on passing personal milestones.

 

Just pathetic.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

God God.

The Angels fans want the Angels to win baseball games.  Play important games.  Playoff games.

The other Angels players and presumably, management want to win baseball games.

In your scenario, Albert is fixated on passing personal milestones.

 

Just pathetic.

You do know that is Eric thinking this and not Albert or the Angels, right?  Watch a game this year and you will see he has changed his approach.  He is hitting the ball the other way, he is taking his walks.  He is doing things where it doesn’t look like he is chasing milestones.  I’m pretty sure each RBI he is getting is helping the team win games.  He is not just swinging for the fences.  

[yk9001]

5 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You do know that is Eric thinking this and not Albert or the Angels, right?  Watch a game this year and you will see he has changed his approach.  He is hitting the ball the other way, he is taking his walks.  He is doing things where it doesn’t look like he is chasing milestones.  I’m pretty sure each RBI he is getting is helping the team win games.  He is not just swinging for the fences.  

The OBP has been an improvement.

And he has to be about 10 pounds down in weight, if not from 2018, then 2017.

[T.G.]

So, here's the thing about Albert that most of you probably would never consider or maybe even understand because of your own perspective.

Albert is strong in his faith.  Have you ever heard the phrase "Not of this World?"  This means that this world and this life has nothing in it that matters more than what waits for a Christian in Heaven.  "Earthly achievements" really don't matter to most Christians.  I assume that's true with Albert - but I don't know him personally and can't say for sure.  Generally speaking - he may appreciate the milestones he has achieved and will achieve - but I doubt (my personal opinion) they matter so much to him that he will base his decisions to keep playing on them. 

This is just another perspective to consider. 

@Second Base would you agree?

 

[GrittyVeterans]

No way he’s retiring. He still thinks he’s a key contributor to the team and helping them win some games

[Angel Oracle]

Commenting on Blarg's thought, I could see Pujols playing through mid-2020 season.   I'm not thinking because of Mays as much as he looks decent enough this season.

If it continues through the 2019 season, he might have enough in the tank for one more try in 2020 as a part-time player.   That is the question though.  Would he deal well with being a part-time player?   Meantime though, they would need to have enough coverage at 1B/DH with a decent enough utility player joining Ohtani as DH and playing part-time at 1B plus covering elsewhere (OF?).

[beatlesrule]

1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I used to believe this but I no longer do. 

I think it is important to him finish with a .300 average. 

It is possible for him to get all the way through this year without his average dropping below .300, but he certainly can’t make it to the end of his contract. Whether it’s important enough for him to retire is hard for me to say. It would be just one factor. 

He’s actually not doing badly this year (relatively speaking). His average is still low but the OBP is good and he’s driving in runs. 

Also, his playing time will go down when Ohtani comes back because he can’t play 1B every day. 

Or maybe they’ll play him a first a lot and then give him a few weeks on the IL and look at Thaiss. 

If he cares then he needs to retire asap or right after this season. If he doesn't, we all know the answer.

[Stradling]

7 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

If he cares then he needs to retire asap or right after this season. If he doesn't, we all know the answer.

What is the answer?  

[Dtwncbad]

I don't see how anyone can say he cares about 2000 RBI but doesn't care about .300.

We don't know what he cares about but that wouldn't make much sense to assume he cares about one and not the other.

The reason any of this is remotely interesting is there will be a window where he has both.

I will also say I think the Angels would work something out on the money with him if Pujols was open to work with them on a plan for a graceful exit, rather than stonewall and force him to surrender a gigantic amount if money.

What that looks like I don't know.  If that will happen I don't know.

But my personal opinion is, if the Angels were open to a deal and it isn't about money, that he has little to gain from lingering around and fading.

He's obviously OK being a .230 hitter that drives in some runs.

The question is will he be OK being a notch worse when his decline continues.

At some point he has to see the right time to call it a career.

The Angels should make it clear the money should not be the reason to stick around.

I hope they have done that.

 

[fan_since79]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

You do know that is Eric thinking this and not Albert or the Angels, right?  Watch a game this year and you will see he has changed his approach.  He is hitting the ball the other way, he is taking his walks.  He is doing things where it doesn’t look like he is chasing milestones.  I’m pretty sure each RBI he is getting is helping the team win games.  He is not just swinging for the fences.  

I wish he had been doing these things a couple years ago.

[Stradling]

Just now, fan_since79 said:

I wish he had been doing these things a couple years ago.

Me too man, me too.  When he did go the other way on occasion the last couple of years he was a much better hitter.  It just didn’t happen a lot.  

[zenmaster]

If he retires at year end he'll probably be exactly at .300. If he waits another year he'll be at around .297. But it sounds like even if he retires after this year "it won't be because of his average". I'm not saying he's 100% retiring before he gets below .300, I'm just saying it is a factor that may be important to him. One of the greatest hitters of all time and a lifetime BA of .299 has a different ring than .300. We will never know the truth but the timing might be suspicious if he retires at exactly .300.

[fan_since79]

He won't pull a Babe Ruth and walk out on all that money.

Ruth had a three-year guaranteed contract from the Boston Braves and retired on May 30th of his first season by literally walking off the field after the 1st inning. Age had finally delivered its verdict and Ruth agreed.

 

[floplag]

I think those who think the numbers and achievements dont have meaning to the man arent paying attention.  
Just last week when he hit one of the RBI milestones on the broadcast Guby and Rojas even mentioned that he looked emotional over it.