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Albert Pujols made the St. Louis Cardinals 25-man roster out of spring training in 2001 and took the league by storm. The rookie slashed .370/.431/.739 in April, .333/.402/.596 in May, and .330/.402/.567 in June. As the summer weather heated up in July, Pujols cooled down. He managed a .241/.333/.460 line that month, but rebounded in August (.375/.441/.696) and September (.311/.398/.583). Watching Pujols during his rookie season, you knew you were witnessing something special. He finished the year with a .329/.403/.610 line. Pujols's 1.013 OPS was good for a 164 OPS+.
Back in the heady days of aught-one, my little brother and I owned a PlayStation and our video game of choice was Triple Play Baseball. You may remember the game. Each batter had a circle that the gamer had to move to the pitched ball. The better the batter, the bigger the circle. Pujols wasn't on Triple Play--probably because he had taken 15 plate appearances above Double-A prior to EA Sports making the game. This meant I had to create Pujols from scratch. My little brother complained that I had cheated, that I had made Pujols's circle too big. He argued there was no way he was that good. In a way, my brother was right. Pujols wasn't as good a ballplayer as he showed in 2001. Pujols remarkably grew into one that was even better.
In his eleven seasons wearing the non-googly-eyed Birds on the Bat, Pujols played in 1,705 games, which ranks him seventh in Cardinals franchise history. As a Cardinal, Pujols hit for a .328 BA, which places him sixth all-time (and three points behind Stan Musial). Pujols's .420 OBP, .617 SLG, and 1.037 OPS all rank second in the storied history of Cardinals baseball. Pujols scored 1,291 runs as a Redbird, which ranks him third in franchise history. He drove in more Cardinals than any player not named Musial. Pujols's career home run total also places him second in Cardinals history to only The Man.
Given Pujols's place in and the Cardinals's celebration of their organization's history, it is somewhat confounding to say that they dodged a bullet when the future Hall-of-Famer opted to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim instead of re-signing with the Cardinals. Had Arte Moreno not come into the picture and swept Pujols off his feet, this week's series in Orange County may have only been remarkable for giving us an opportunity to revisit the Bottenfield-and-Kennedy-for-Edmonds trade. But Moreno did save Bill DeWitt, Jr. and John Mozeliak from themselves and, in doing so, spared the Cardinal faithful from watching as Pujols limps through his bank-busting ten-year contract.
For me, Pujols's decline has taken placed by and large only in statistics and Sam Miller's wonderful articles at Baseball Prospectus. Playing in the American League West, the Angels aren't often on T.V. here in the middle of the Middle-West. And so, every once in a while, I will bring up Pujols's Baseball-Reference or Fangraphs page and wince because I can't believe the Albert Pujols is putting up such unremarkable (2012) and bad (2013) numbers.
To be sure, there were indications of age and decline before Pujols hit free agency. From his all-time great 2009 season to the present, Pujols's production has seen a steady decline. Of course, it should be noted that MLB as a whole has seen an across-the-board offensive decline over this same time period. That's why it is helpful to look at OPS+ and wRC+, two stats that adjust a batter's production using park effects and compare it to the MLB average. With these "plus" stats, 100 is exactly average. The further above 100, the better; the further below 100, the worse. Here are Pujols's OPS+ and wRC+ for 2009-2013:
Year |
OPS+ |
wRC+ |
2009 |
189* |
180* |
2010 |
173* |
164 |
2011 |
148 |
146 |
2012 |
138 |
132 |
2013 |
112 |
105 |
BA OBP SLG ISO OPS OPS+ wOBA wRC+ Molina .350 Carpenter .394 Beltran .535 Beltran .234 Molina .895 Molina 147 Molina .386 Molina 151 Craig .318 Molina .392 Molina .503 Pujols .182 Beltran .878 Beltran 139 Beltran .377 Beltran 145 Carpenter .317 Craig .357 Craig .470 Holliday .165 Carpenter .858 Carpenter 138 Carpenter .376 Carpenter 144 Beltran .301 Holliday .353 Carpenter .464 Molina .154 Craig .827 Craig 128 Craig .359 Craig 132 Freese .278 Freese .353 Holliday .437 Craig .152 Holliday .790 Holliday 118 Holliday .342 Holliday 120 Holliday .271 Beltran .342 Pujols .431 Carpenter .147 Pujols .755 Pujols 112 Freese .332 Freese 113 Pujols .249 Pujols .324 Freese .398 Freese .120 Freese .751 Freese 109 Pujols .320 Pujols 105 Kozma .247 Jay .323 Jay .332 Jay .088 Jay .655 Jay 83 Jay .287 Jay 82 Jay .245 Kozma .293 Kozma .313 Kozma .066 Kozma .606 Kozma 69 Kozma .266 Kozma 6831.6 15.8* Wins Above Replaced (WAR) in the first three seasons of his seven-year deal with St. Louis. The Cardinals paid Holliday $51 million and, according to Fangraphs, got $67.6 million in value. This $16.6 million in surplus value will make the final years of the Holliday contract--in which the Cards will overpay for his services--easier to stomach because the contract as a whole will likely be about on par with the production Holliday provided.