Pujols to decide his future after season
41-year-old in final season of 10-year deal with Angels
Albert Pujols woke up from a nap last Monday in Arizona to find several hundred messages and missed calls on his phone.
While he was sleeping, the Angels slugger’s wife, Deidre, had put up a complimentary Instagram post about her husband that was widely interpreted to mean Pujols had decided to retire after this season, his 21st in the majors.
“Hey, that’s the life we’re living on social media,” Pujols said Saturday with a chuckle. “It’s sad that everybody just had to run with it.”
The 41-year-old quickly reiterated what he has been saying for months: He hasn’t decided whether he will continue playing after the conclusion of his 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels this fall, and he won’t make or announce a decision until after the season.
“I think our organization, my friends, people that follow my career for 21 years deserve better than just me or her posting something on Instagram,” Pujols said in his first interviews of spring training. “This thing just got blown out of proportion. My mind is not even there. My mind is on staying focused, healthy, and hopefully trying to help this ballclub win this year, and that’s it. If I feel at the end of the year that that’s it, I’ll announce it (and) go home. But I’m not even there yet.”
The fifth-leading home run hitter in major league history says he has more pressing concerns on his mind, primarily the chase of his first playoff victory with the Angels. Not playing in October will never stop grating on Pujols, who begins the new season with 662 homers along with 2,100 RBIS, third-most in baseball history.
“I don’t even get to watch (the postseason), because I get so mad because we should have been there,” he said.
Pujols has at least one more chance to get the team success he craves alongside Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani. The 10time All-star is in the midst of five consecutive losing seasons and six straight non-playoff campaigns with the Angels, but there is cautious optimism around the bigbudget franchise heading into manager Joe Maddon’s second season in charge.
Even if Pujols attempts to play in 2022, he knows he is close to the end of the underwhelming second act of his career after 11 stellar seasons in St. Louis. He batted .328 with 445 homers while winning three NL MVP awards for the Cardinals, but has been a .257 hitter with 217 homers over nine years in Anaheim.
Last season, Pujols batted .224 with a .665 OPS — both the worst marks of his two-decade career — while playing in just 39 of the Angels’ 60 games.
This season also brings the distinct prospect of even less action for Pujols, who has remained injuryfree and fairly effective as a fielder at first base over the past two years.
He’s certain to split playing time at first with Jared Walsh, who batted .337 with nine homers and 26 RBIS in 22 games as a rookie last September, and with Ohtani as the Halos’ designated hitter.
Pujols says he’s fine with whatever role he gets in 2021 from Maddon, who praises the veteran slugger for his maturity and leadership.
Yankees: DJ Lemahieu and the Yankees are happy there will be a little bit of normalcy when spring training games begin on Sunday. As in, fans in the stands when the Yankees host the Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field. Due to restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, it will be the first time fans will see the Yankees play in-person since a spring training game last March 12. “To me it’s just Major League Baseball with fans,” Lemahieu said. “Last year I’m glad we played. Glad we were able to get in as many games as we could and I thought the playoffs was cool but just missed that adrenaline and excitement.” The limited crowd due to safety protocols for Sunday’s game is expected to be around 2,800 in the ballpark that has a capacity of more than 10,000. “You can definitely tell how excited people are to go to baseball games, especially to watch the Yankees and that’s what I’m excited about,” Lemahieu said. “I enjoy the game but I know how much it means to a lot of fans to watch the Yankees and baseball.” Social distancing and mask wearing rules are in place and there will be no close interaction between players and fans like signing autographs. “I definitely miss that,” said Lemahieu, who led the majors in batting last year. “It’s not always my favorite thing to do but I know how much it means. It’s something I look forward to. Hopefully that kind of interaction returns.”