Struggling Angels cut ties with Pujols
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Albert Pujols was cut by the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, abruptly ending the 41-year-old superstar slugger’s decade with his second major league team.
The Angels surprisingly announced the move to designate Pujols for assignment one day after he wasn’t in the lineup for the slumping club’s fourth consecutive loss. The decision was made after Pujols, dissatisfied with irregular playing time, had a latenight meeting with General Manager Perry Minasian and team president John Carpino.
Pujols, who is batting .198 this season, is determined to play first base regularly for another team after he clears waivers, Angels Manager Joe Maddon said. Pujols is fifth in major league history with 667 career home runs and 13th with 3,253 hits.
“He wants to play, and he wants to be in the field,” Maddon said. “Hopefully he’s going to get that opportunity somewhere else, and believe me, we’re all going to be rooting for him.”
The three-time National League MVP for St. Louis
was in the final season of a 10-year, $240 million contract with Los Angeles, but Pujols’ determination was incompatible with the Angels’ desire to make everyday players out of first baseman Jared Walsh and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who have both significantly outperformed Pujols as two of the American League’s top hitters.
“Albert is not a bench player,” said Minasian, the club’s first-year GM. “Him being on the bench would not do him any good, and would not do the team any good. He’s as motivated as he’s ever been. If the situation was different and there were at-bats for him to play here, it would be different.”
A 10-time All-Star and the oldest active player in the majors, Pujols had five home runs and 12 RBI this year while playing in 24 of the Angels’ 29 games. After a decent start to the season, Pujols had been in a 7-for-43 slump since April 20, hitting three home runs in that stretch.
Minasian said the decision to cut ties with Pujols was “really difficult. These are never easy, especially with a guy like this who loves the game as much as anybody I’ve ever met, who works as hard as anybody I’ve ever met. But since I’ve taken this job, to me it’s about what’s best for the organization moving forward. It really weighed on me. I think it weighed on all of us.”
Pujols joined the Angels after 11 successful seasons with the Cardinals during which he earned two World Series rings, received nine All-Star selections, won an NL batting title and hit 445 home runs.
The Angels made only one postseason appearance in Pujols’ nine full seasons, winning the AL West title and promptly getting swept by Kansas City in 2014. The club is on skids of five consecutive losing seasons and six consecutive non-playoff campaigns since then.