Cardinals To Sign Albert Pujols

The Cardinals are finalizing a one-year deal to carry Albert Pujols again to St. Louis, according to Derrick S. Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Simply hours in the past, stories surfaced that the membership had a growing interest in a reunion. Now plainly it has come to fruition and the 42-year-old will return to the nest to be a Cardinal as soon as extra. Pujols might be paid $2.5MM, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Pujols, 42, spent the primary 11 years of his profession with the Cardinals, enjoying at an unfathomable degree and enshrining himself as a future Corridor of Famer. In that point, he hit 445 dwelling runs and put up an unbelievable .328/.420/.617 for a wRC+ of 167. He was a key motive why the membership was a continuous competitor in that point, making the postseason in 7 of these 11 seasons and successful the World Collection in 2006 and 2011.

Based mostly on that otherworldly run of success, he was signed by the Angels to a ten-year, $254MM deal protecting the 2012-2021 seasons. Pujols continued to hit at a degree above the league common for the primary 5 years of that deal, although a number of notches beneath what he did as a Cardinal. From there, issues solely received worse, as he hit simply .242/.291/.406 from 2017 to 2020, producing a wRC+ of simply 84. After 24 video games final 12 months, with only a few months remaining on the contract, the Angels launched him. Surprisingly, he was picked up by the Dodgers, who deliberate to restrict the veteran slugger to a bench/platoon function, primarily dealing with lefties. The technique labored out tremendous sufficient, as Pujols hit .254/.299/.460 as a Dodger, a wRC+ of 101.

The sooner report from Katie Woo of The Athletic indicated that the membership was interested by bringing Pujols again for a reunion, however in the same function to the one he had with the Dodgers final 12 months. Now that the Nationwide League can have the designated hitter this 12 months, will probably be simpler for the membership to implement Pujols on this method, getting used as a pinch hitter or within the DH slot, making an attempt to restrict his publicity to righties. Woo famous that that the membership has historically shied away from platoon methods prior to now, however that new supervisor Oliver Marmol is planning on altering that. Paul Goldschmidt is firmly entrenched because the membership’s common first baseman, which means Pujols might be within the combine for DH/pinch-hitting duties alongside Corey Dickerson, Lars Nootbaar and Juan Yepez.

For Yepez, he appeared poised to make the group after an incredible 12 months within the minors. Between Double-A and Triple-A final 12 months, he hit .286/.383/.586, for a wRC+ of 154. Then there’s Nolan Gorman, who additionally spent final 12 months between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .279/.333/.481, wRC+ of 115. Nevertheless, Woo stories that, provided that Yepez is simply 24 and Gorman doesn’t flip 22 till Might, the membership is contemplating a plan whereby they every spend a bit extra time within the minors getting common reps, ready for a possibility to open up because the season progresses.

Whereas Yepez and Gorman will certainly get their alternatives down the road, the narrative of the second is that one in all this technology’s biggest hitters is returning to the place he began his profession and flourished. He may even reunite with Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, long-time Cardinals who have been alongside Pujols for his biggest seasons, together with these two World Collection championships.