Full Circle?

Albert Pujols is back at Busch Stadium, but how exactly will that play out?

Back on Sunday, March 27 the world was abuzz about the fact that Will Smith had just slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, an act that would earn him a 10-year ban from the ceremony that doles out Oscars on an annual basis. Meanwhile, I also saw my Twitter feed discussing the development that Albert Pujols had decided to sign a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. It wasn’t a totally shocking outcome now that National League teams get to deploy the designated hitter every game, but it also felt like 2021 was going to be the last campaign in an illustrious career for The Machine. Not only was his contract with the Angels expiring, but Pujols had also gotten to take another crack at a World Series title when he joined the Dodgers in May following his release from Orange County’s team. Now, he has returned to where it all began when the Cardinals drafted him in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. Talk about your all-time steals. That’s comparable to the Mike Piazza selection, or the Rangers taking Henrik Lundqvist if you’re a fan of hockey goalies.

Last night when I was taking in a basketball game in Los Angeles, I got a voicemail from an old friend who still lives in St. Louis. He had attended Sunday’s game at Busch Stadium which the Cardinals dropped 9-4 to the Pirates. Pujols only appeared on Opening Day for the 2-1 Cards, going 0-for-5 in Thursday’s 9-0 victory. St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol opted to deploy left-handed hitter Corey Dickerson in his place during the other two contests. Dickerson has gone 1-for-8 with an RBI single so far, and it’s safe to say that the DH slot is a work in progress for many Senior Circuit teams.

Pujols received $2.5 million in his deal for 2022, which isn’t exactly a lot of money for a guy who has raked in hundreds of millions of the course of his illustrious career. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but wonder if a player of identical skill at this stage of his career would have received as much without the name recognition and past performances at Busch Stadium. It seems unlikely even though Pujols slugged .460 in Dodger blue, which he had not achieved in a full season since 2015. The Dominican icon clubbed 12 home runs compared to only three doubles in a part-time role there. On the flip side, his 2020 OPS of .665 was the worst of his career and it wasn’t totally shocking when a rebuilding Angels squad showed him the door early the next season.

For the Cardinals, this move felt a little like a team bringing back a player on a ceremonial one-day contract so that he can end his career with his original team. The designated hitter wrinkle did give GM Mike Girsch a solid pretext for adding him to the roster, and perhaps it’s worth a couple of million just to have Pujols around as a goodwill ambassador. Nevertheless, roster spots are valuable and things could get a bit awkward if Pujols doesn’t duplicate his relative success with the Dodgers.

I don’t say any of this to disparage one of the better careers in baseball history. Pujols is 42 years old, and I am writing this in the wake of Ryan Getzlaf announcing his retirement from the Anaheim Ducks hockey club at just 36 years of age. Getzlaf is considered likely to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame having compiled more than 700 assists and 1,000 points over 17 seasons. Pujols is certainly a lock for Cooperstown, having slugged over .600 in seven different seasons and hit 679 home runs to date including this little beauty.

I don’t think it taints his career to stick around as long as he likes, not when Pujols has accomplished feats like an OPS+ of 192 in 2008 or a batting average of .359 (with 43 big flies to boot) in 2003. These feats seem even more absurd by current standards given that the league collectively hit .244 in 2021. Albert made himself useful last season by delivering key hits off the bench, but spot duty can be a difficult spot for a man with over 11,000 career at-bats. Hopefully this saga ends well both for the legend himself and some of America’s best baseball fans.