Will Albert Pujols Be Bringing Power To The Yankees?

 

One-time TBDS scribe BFeldt brings this to my attention via the Twittersphere.

"Pujols on a Wheaties box looks dangerously close to a Yankees uniform. This, my friends, is a scary but real thought."

While the Cardinals have a gray jersey and a dark blue road cap, I can see where Cardinals fans might wet themselves at the thought of Albert Pujols wearing a Yankees uniform.  Pujols will likely hit the market after the 2011 season -- assuming that Redbird management picks up that option after the 2010 season.

Cardinals fans, fear not the Yankees.  But fear a lighter shade of blue and a man name Tom Ricketts, who could hand Mr. Pujols more money than St. Louis ever could.

We'll see if money talks in 2011.

Pujols Bats For Wheaties. [Wheaties]

A Plea To Albert Pujols

If Albert Pujols is on The List, it might kill baseball.

Major League Baseball needs a savior. Whether it is a feel good story about a young, up-and-coming team rising from the ashes of failure to contend with with big money spending traditional powers or a shining star that happens to be detached from any links to performance enhancing drugs.

Right now, all six of the division leaders are in the Top 10 of spending as teams have still been able to make it rain on free agents despite an economy that limits me to a passing shower here and there. And with no upstarts off in the distance, baseball is hitching its wagons to Albert Pujols.

This is my opportunity to tell the head honchos at the MLB to be wary of where you hitch your wagons. Big Papi's big bust yesterday proved that even one of baseball's most popular players, who offered up a year-long banishment from baseball as punishment for steroid use could be a suspect. Between Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, Boston fans should feel duped. And somewhere, Cardinals and Rockies fans should feel as if former dopers had stolen a World Series title from them. Of course, that means those teams' fans are assuming everyone on that team was clean.

If losing Papi's veil of perceived cleanliness was a punch to the gut of baseball, then losing Pujols would be like being on the receiving end of a blow from Mike Tyson in his prime.

The only reason Pujols is in this category is because of his link to Dominican trainer Angel Presinal, who (as pointed out via The Big Lead) has worked with many Latino baseball stars. Names that litter the list include Ortiz, Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez -- all of which have been linked at one point or another. Pujols leads the parade of players that have not (yet) been linked to the PED movement which includes Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez and Robinson Cano.

So here's my plea to Phat Albert. Please do not find yourself on that list, may The Baseball Gods so help your soul. If not for the sake of the game, for the sake of St. Louis Cardinals fans who would look like total hypocrites for giving Manny Ramirez a resounding chorus of boos for the last four days, but gave a thunerous standing ovation to Rick Ankiel.

Oh wait, that already happened.

More on that later.

Set Your Faces To Stunned: Albert Pujols Could Leave The St. Louis Cardinals

Is that a big sack of money coming my way in 2011?

I would generally leave this for one of TBDS' Cardinals experts, but one's on vacation and I sent the other on assignment to figure out what teams were really doing with their NBA Draft picks.

So here we are, on June 16, 2009, with the St. Louis Cardinals one game behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers (no, that is not a typo) and while things might be all peachy right now, there is a storm cloud off in the distance that just might make the Arch tremble.

Albert Pujols could become a free-agent in 2011. And to be real honest, Pujols leaving St. Louis would not only be on the same level as if LeBron James left Cleveland, dare I say it might trump it. The scariest thing about the situation is that there is a distinct possibility that it might happen.

Tony LaRussa is managing his last year of his contract and there have been no signs of an extension. In fact, there have been more signs of LaRussa pointing out the door as personal favorites such as Aaron Miles, David Eckstein and other vertically challenged scrappy middle-infielder types have been given their walking papers in recent years.

Add to that a new-look front office which features GM John Mozeliak who is having one heckuva time trying to balance the new way of doing things while also trying to appease a manager who has been with the organization for 13 years.

It is quite the tightrope the man named "Mo" is walking.

Somewhere, Fredbird Nation echoes the sentiments TLR must have right now as the red-clad gang shouts "Where, oh, where are the re-inforcements?" while seemingly trapped high atop a castle somewhere. On the other hand, the Cardinal front office treis to rebuild what former GM Walt Jocketty burned to the ground long ago: the minor league system.

Re-inforcements are coming (eventually) as St. Louis tries to re-stock the barren land once known as a prolific farm system that produced solid arms, power bats and nagging, fleet-footed base runners.

However, one must ask if it will be enough to keep LaRussa around for a few more years. And if the sunglasses-at-night-wearing, Twitter-hater wants no part of a rebuild-on-the-fly routine in which everything is centered around Albert The Great, what would that mean for the long run.

LaRussa is the only manager Pujols has known at the Major League level, and if he sees that marginal minor league talent surrounds him, how long will it be before he goes on YouTube and tells the world to go buy a Yankees jersey or something.

Parish the thought!

Want more of a scare, Cardinal Nation? Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee becomes a free-agent after the 2010 season.

If prospective Tom Ricketts could only find the other $400 million necessary to buy the team by the time the free-agency market opens up, there is not a doubt in my mind that the life-long Cubs fan would not mind one bit to stick it in the craw of the North Siders' chief division rivals by handing baseball's best player a blank check and an invitation to the third largest media market.

Bernie Miklasz is on point. Tie him up now, or possibly test fate ... and the open market.

Start Now To Keep Pujols On The Payroll [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Albert the Great

Albert Pujols has received his just due and won his second MVP award, his first since 2005. While this should probably be his fourth or fifth MVP, the voters finally wised up and voted for the most deserving player.

For those of you arguing for Ryan Howard as MVP, just take a look at the numbers. The only areas Howard holds a significant advantage are home runs and RBIs. Howard finished with 48 and 146, respectively, compared to Albert's 37 and 116.

But when you look at more important stats, Pujols has Howard beat in every category.

Pujols' .357 batting average was 38 points higher than Howard's on-base percentage and 106 points better than Howard's abysmal .251 average.

Howard's 199 strikeouts were also 145 more than Pujols', while Pujols walked 104 times compared to 81 by Howard.

While voters who didn't vote Pujols first don't both me, it's idiots like Tom Haudricour, who had an MVP vote, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who make sportswriters look like idiots.

Via the Brewers Blog:

"With the Cardinals finishing fourth, I voted Pujols seventh on my ballot. I don't consider MVP to be "the most outstanding player" award and therefore don't just go by who had the best stats. i like to credit players for lifting their teams to the post-season or at least keeping them in the race until the very end."

Then, Haudricour went on to give his list of the top 10 players he voted for.

1. Ryan Howard
2. CC Sabathia
3. Manny Ramirez
4. Carlos Delgado
5. Aramis Ramirez
6. Prince Fielder
7. Albert Pujols
8. Ryan Ludwick
9. Ryan Braun
10. David Wright

That's right. He voted Carlos Delgado No. 4, despite the fact that the Mets didn't make the playoffs and choked down the stretch, y et again. Did I mention that was his exact argument as to why he put Pujols No. 7.

I don't think there is a person in their right mind who would actually say Delgado had a better season than Pujols.

But it gets even better.

"St. Louis did stay in the wild card race until mid-September, but mainly because the Brewers and Mets were gagging at the time."

So you put two players, Delgado and Prince Fielder, whose teams you say were "gagging" at the end of the season in front of a player who dominated opposing pitchers from the beginning of the season to the end.

Idiots like this can't take away from a great season by arguably the best player in baseball. Pujols has been the most consistent player in the MLB since he entered the league and he should have five or six MVP's by the time he decides to hang it up.

This Just In: Albert Pujols named NL MVP

Statistically, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols earned his second NL MVP crown.

Pujols' 2008 line: .357/.462/.653 with 37 home runs 116 runs batted in 7 stolen bases and an astonishing 104 walks.

Yet, I can't help but take a trip to the way back machine. Via ESPN:

"I see it this way: Someone who doesn't take his team to the playoffs doesn't deserve to win the MVP."

Think Albert's singing a different tune today?

Expect a full recap of this momentous occasion by a blogger more familiar with Cardinal Nation later this afternoon.

Aramis Ramirez reels in postseason award

Chicago Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez didn't let a 2-for-22 postseason slide stop him from making a presence during Game 4 of the World Series Sunday night.

Technically, it was before.

Ramirez received The Hank Aaron Award, which is given to "the most outstanding performers" in each league.

I guess this means Albert Pujols can't win every award, right?

As good as Rami was in 2008, he wasn't even the best offensive third baseman in the league.

That distinction should go to New York Mets third sacker David Wright who hit .302 with 33 homers and 124 runs batted in.

But how do you not give the award to Pujols? It's almost inconceivable.

It would be easy to blame the fans that voted for Youk and Rami, but it'd be better to blame Cardinal Nation - baseball's self-proclaimed best fans - for not stuffing the ballot box for Phat Albert.

In the end, it doesn't matter because Ramirez isn't winning anything important tonight or in the near future.

As for Pujols he already has what Ramirez wants in his back pocket (an NL MVP ) and on his hand (a World Series ring).

And after batting .357 with a .425 OBP, .624 SLG% with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs, Pujols will likely take home his second NL MVP award at the conclusion of this baseball season.

As long as MLB doesn't allow fans to vote for that now, too.

State of the Cardinals (Plus my introduction)

So I should probably begin my first blog with an introduction of myself. 

My name is Stile Smith a.k.a. the SalukiOrphan. I am a Centralia, IL native and I'm a newbie on the staff of the Daily Egyptian at SIUC.

OK, now that we're done with the boring stuff we can get to what everybody actually cares about...the St. Louis Cardinals! 

Yes, things might be looking bad right now but things can always make a turn for the better when the two teams ahead of you are notable choke artists the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.

There is basically no hope for the division crown. They're 11 games behind the Cubs with just a month left to play. Although they are currently 6.5 back of the Brewers as the Cardinals hold a 5-3 lead over Arizona as I type, this race is not over yet!

As my fellow blogger Luis has pointed out many times before, Ned Yost is one of the most incompetent managers in the history of baseball. Let's be honest here, the man is an idiot. As long as he is leading the way of the Brew Crew, The Birds have a chance.

In other Redbird news, Albert Pujols is currently battling Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones for the NL batting title and currently leads Chipper .364 to .358. Albert's consistency has played with all season leads me to believe he will come out on top.

Albert's continued dominance of National League pitching has to make him one of the top candidates for the NL MVP, right?

My vote says yes. 

Chase Utley is having a good year (.293 31 HR 87 RBI) and teammate Ryan Ludwick has played just as well (.301 32 HR 98 RBI), but in a season where no player is truly dominant, the award goes to Albert. Right?

Plus, he deserves one for all the trophies he got screwed out of during the Barry Bonds Era, when Bonds got the awards that rightfully belonged to Pujols.

That's all I've got for today ladies and gents. Hope you enjoyed.