2K24: Los Angeles Angels

[madducks]

"Come Flail Away" would make a good Styx song parody with guys like Pujols, Miggy, and Chris Davis starring in the music video.

[cleo]

Why are you blaming AP for his contract? It was the fault of the idiot Angels owner Moreno to offer him that 10 year contract. I think most of us on this board could have made better decisions than Moreno and Eppler / Dioto / Reagins.

[chancellor]

"Let me ask you one question

Is your money that good"

$30 million next year. Of course it's that good. Walking away from that is madness.

[Judge Jude]

he has made $314 million in his career just on salary alone, plus he has endorsements.

none of his family members cashing in on the end game will be born before he dies - so why bother?

my consolation is that he seems to be a decent person who puts a lot more money into charities than on hookers and blow.

but to be that great for so long - the perfect player - and then just show up for years after as a has-been grabbing a paycheck like he's a 1960s band member on a nostalgia tour...

me, I'd rather be Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, or Ted Williams. no one ever saw them suck.

as they say in comedy, always leave the stage with the audience wanting more.

Pujols? he's already 4 to 6 years too late.

[Sour Masher]

he has made $314 million in his career just on salary alone, plus he has endorsements.

none of his family members cashing in on the end game will be born before he dies - so why bother?

my consolation is that he seems to be a decent person who puts a lot more money into charities than on hookers and blow.

but to be that great for so long - the perfect player - and then just show up for years after as a has-been grabbing a paycheck like he's a 1960s band member on a nostalgia tour...

me, I'd rather be Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, or Ted Williams. no one ever saw them suck.

as they say in comedy, always leave the stage with the audience wanting more.

Pujols? he's already 4 to 6 years too late.

It was awfully dumb for anyone to give a guy on the way down from his prime a 10 year contract that takes him well past the time when most should be out of the game. But I ain't casting any stones at anyone who plays out their contract for a game he loves for the princely sum of $30 million. That is the collectively bargained reality of baseball--young players often get wildly underpaid (as Pujols was) and older players often get wildly overpaid (as Pujols is).

Of course, it is nice that he uses his vast wealth to do some good. I hope that for everyone in the ultra-wealthy category he is in, whether they are fully earning their salary or not.

[Sour Masher]

Here is how much Albert Pujols made his first three years in baseball--1.7 million total, for all three years. He hit 114 homers those first three years, with an OPS+ of 157, 151, and 187. Any guilt he feels about not being worth the money he is making now should be assuaged by the fact that he was paid pennies on the dollar for his early years of epic dominance. It is not his fault that one team benefited from system that and one team is being hurt by that system.

[Gregg]

There is no fault about the contract. EVERYONE knew this day would come. It is now here. Pay the money, take the money. Finish the contract. Let the chips fall where they may.

Lessons to be learned? Maybe, maybe not.

He has a few weeks and all of next year (whatever that looks like) to hit 37 more home runs. Will he do it, probably not. I for one hope he does.

[chancellor]

he has made $314 million in his career just on salary alone, plus he has endorsements.

none of his family members cashing in on the end game will be born before he dies - so why bother?

my consolation is that he seems to be a decent person who puts a lot more money into charities than on hookers and blow.

but to be that great for so long - the perfect player - and then just show up for years after as a has-been grabbing a paycheck like he's a 1960s band member on a nostalgia tour...

me, I'd rather be Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, or Ted Williams. no one ever saw them suck.

as they say in comedy, always leave the stage with the audience wanting more.

Pujols? he's already 4 to 6 years too late.

Here's where we differ - if I were a player of any caliber, I'd not give a rip what other people think. They'd have to practically rip the uniform off me and change the locks on the doors to get me out. Six years too late? Too freaking bad.

Add in an additional $30 million, and that's an easy decision.

[gcstomp]

It is particularly inappropriate to pick on Pujols, who was so underpaid his early years when he was so dominant, but paid like a scrub. The contract at the time it was signed, was with understanding from everyone that he would be in decline at the end but that he had earned it. And the next 2 years as he gets his 20 hr a year and breaks 700 hrs, he will be still earning his pay as people will want to witness the nostalgia goodbye tour. Pujols is one of the good guys, btw, who goes back to DR every year and contributes to youth baseball, funds the build out of ballfields, has his own foundation that helps downs syndrome kids, and gives to various charities while being a stable family man married 20 years. Its not like he was voted to be president or anything so his privacy shouldnt be under this level of scrutiny, but he has zero red flags of associate with prostitutes, or affairs, drug use, or even making a scene in a movie theater or whatever. Just a real good solid citizen commited to being best he can be and helping community. And he is the one to be singled out for his contract?

[Ken]

I wonder what % of people who complain about a contract like Pujols also have a mortgage and pay 3x the actual value of their own house over 30 years. I guess it's not a surprise that the world is full of hypocrites.

[Judge Jude]

"And he is the one to be singled out for his contract?"

has there ever been an inner-circle Hall of Famer who sucked so badly for so many years on the tail end of his career?

Brooks Robinson was laughably bad in his last 3 years - but in "only" 823 PA. Pujols seems to take the cake.

I'm the one who brought up the fact that Pujols at least seems to be a philanthropist - and that matters, a lot.

the oddity is why the Angels keep rolling his carcass out there.

he is the very definition of "sunk cost."

if they don't have anyone in the minors who is liable to be better, than bring in new management - because it's not hard to do.

"And the next 2 years as he gets his 20 hr a year and breaks 700 hrs, he will be still earning his pay as people will want to witness the nostalgia goodbye tour."

is there anyone on Earth who was paying attention to this chase of Willie Mays' 660? if so, I am not aware of it - and I follow baseball pretty closely. did anyone here create a post on it?

and why would anyone want to "witness the nostalgia goodbye tour" of Pujols?

I doubt anyone will. wishing him godspeed and saluting his character are all well and good, but explain to me why anyone will pay attention to him pathetically trying to get to a never-discussed 700-homer mark in the next two years while dancing on the replacement-level line on a good day.

[Ken]

is there anyone on Earth who was paying attention to this chase of Willie Mays' 660? if so, I am not aware of it - and I follow baseball pretty closely.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/albert-pujols-homers-again-needs-only-one-more-to-tie-willie-mays-on-all-time-home-run-list/

[Ken]

Brooks Robinson was laughably bad in his last 3 years - but in "only" 823 PA. Pujols seems to take the cake.

Actually that's a great example - Robinson was below par across his last 6 years with just 1 year, '74, being above average. Across his last 2676 PA he had an 85 OPS+. If you go back that far for Pujols it is well above 85 (94 for his last 5 years with a 113 in 2015).

So in reality, Robinson takes the cake.

But comparing eras, where the economics are very different, isn't really productive anyway. Miguel Cabrera is putting up very similar numbers to Pujols at this point, so there's your real comp.

[gcstomp]

Miggy contract is worse than Pujols. Certainly Chris Davis contract worse, as no one is booing Pujols when he comes to bat. But C Davis is a pariah.

Pujols rumor is he was at least a couple years older than stated age. Why does that matter? Well, instead of ending up top 3 in hr, maybe he would have been top hr hitter of all time. In any case, how do you value good will of Pujols getting cheered, and C Davis getting booed? Or of Pujols jersey sales I would think are among top sales on any player even today. Just measure value differently. Maybe 700 hr level will be worth something in fan love, I mean they awarded him a 10 yr 10 mill a year personal services contract after he stops swinging bat because he is so loved they want him to hang around. Jo Adell and B Marsh will be great hitters in next year or 2, but today, Pujols is not taking a space from someone better.

[madducks]

Jared Walsh is going to give the Angels a lot to think about this winter when they look at the big contracts of Pujols & Upton.