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The Cardinals’ Derek Jeter left to become the Alex Rodriguez of Southern California.
Good luck with that, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Albert Pujols was so Jeter-esque in St. Louis the Cardinals not only offered 10 years at more than $200 million, they had their greatest living player, Stan Musial, call to try to appeal to him to do what The Man had: Play his whole career in that baseball-mad city.
Instead, Pujols shunned legacy, loyalty and familiarity to sign a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Angels, transforming from St. Louis’ favorite son to an Arch-villain. His uniform color will remain red, but this decision was about green.
And I get it. Pujols has a finite career. He has been the best player of this generation. He didn’t accept a little more money to go to Anaheim, he took a whole lot more.
No, the dubious business decision here was made by the franchise giving Pujols the money. The Angels are gambling the second-largest contract in history that Pujols will remain as good a player for the next 10 years as he was for the past 11. And if you would like to see just what a risk that is, let’s examine the largest contract in history: The 10-year, $275 million deal for A-Rod that even the Yankees executives who gave it to him now concede was a mistake.
At the time of the deal, A-Rod was just coming off his age-31 season, had won three MVPs, including two of the previous three, and in his three previous seasons had a 1.005 OPS and 137 homers in 474 games. Pujols has been remarkably similar. He just finished his age-31 season. He has won three MVPs, including two of the past four. And over the past three years, he has a 1.007 OPS with 126 homers in 466 games.
However, in the four seasons since signing, A-Rod has endured two surgeries and played just 498 games, producing 111 homers and an .896 OPS. His fear factor as a hitter has dwindled and the six years at $143 million he is still owed is a horror show even to the Yankees.
And Rodriguez is the age he says, no questions asked. The same is not true of Pujols, who has been shadowed by doubt about his true birth date. Angels general manager Jerry DiPoto said: “Albert Pujols’s age to me is not a concern. … I can’t tell you where he is. But I can tell you he hits like he’s 27.”
Which is true. Today. But how will be look at age 36 in 2016 or at 41 in 2021? DiPoto suggested Pujols’ strike-zone command indicates a slugger who will age well. He said, “I don’t think we’ve seen the last great days of Albert Pujols … or we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
And why were they sitting there? Angels owner Arte Moreno until yesterday had been unwilling to stretch to financial extremes, falling short on free agents such as CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Carl Crawford. He was a member of the owners committee during the recent negotiations for a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players.
Multiple people involved in the talks told me that on several closed-door occasions Moreno lashed into fellow owners for spending too many long-term dollars on players. So he has added hypocrisy besides Pujols to his ranks — just like when White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was a labor hawk in negotiations and then signed a different Albert, Belle, to a contract $2.5 million more than anyone else in the game after the 1996 season.
Does Moreno have his reasons? Sure. Namely he knows the McCourts are selling and the Dodgers are going to become big spenders again soon, trying to recapture dominance in SoCal baseball.
But there is always an ulterior motive. Tom Hicks tied A-Rod’s first-10 year contract with Texas to building the value of the land he owned around the ballpark. Disaster. The Yankees gave Rodrigruez his second 10-year contract forecasting his value to their network. Disaster. The Nationals gave Jayson Werth a seven-year deal last year because ownership wanted to show it could attract a major player. Disaster.
Now the Marlins have spent $191 million on Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buerhle as a way to open a new park in style. And if reports are accurate, they were willing to do A-Rod II, 10 years at $275 million, for Pujols. But they wouldn’t give him a no-trade clause. So Pujols went to where he could get the clause and 10 years and $254 million. Will it work? Well, maybe the Angels also made a deal with the devil.