Pujols signed for rest of 2021
Low-cost move adds experience to Dodgers’ bench
LOS ANGELES » When the Angels cut him loose 10 days ago, Albert Pujols could have put his feet up and started working on his Hall of Fame induction speech. But he says he’s not ready for that.
“I feel like I still got some gasoline left in my tank,” Pujols said Monday afternoon after the Dodgers made it official, signing him for the remainder of the 2021 season.
This year’s Dodgers are already the first team in baseball history to have three former MVPs and three former Cy Young Award winners play for them. Now, the 2021 Dodgers are the fourth team in MLB history to boast four former MVPs (Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger plus Pujols), joining the 1978 Cincinnati Reds (Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, George Foster and Johnny Bench), 1982 Angels (Rod Carew, Fred Lynn, Don Baylor and Reggie Jackson) and 1996 Boston Red Sox (Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Kevin Mitchell and Jose Canseco). None of the previous three made it to the World Series and only the ’82 Angels even made the playoffs.
The Dodgers were an unexpected landing place for the 41-year-old Pujols but it is a low-cost move for the Dodgers at a time when injuries have depleted their roster, forcing them to use inexperienced young players in bench roles. The 41-year-old Pujols was released by the Angels last
week in the midst of the final season of his 10-year, $240 million contract with them. The Dodgers will pay Pujols only a prorated portion of the majorleague minimum (about $430,000). The Angels will pay the remainder of Pujols’ $30 million salary.
“We think there’s still life to the bat,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
“We feel like his body, his swing, the efficiency in his swing is better than it has been in the past. I think he talked about how much healthier he feels right now. And, he’s impacting balls. So when you have a big spot and you need to move the ball forward, he’s got a nose for that better than any player that I can remember seeing over the last 15, 20 years. His ability to move the ball forward, drive in key runs is real.”
Even at .198 (Pujols’ batting average in 24 games with the Angels this season), Pujols has fared better than a trio of the Dodgers’ current bench players. Luke Raley, D.J. Peters and Sheldon Neuse were hitting a combined .181 (17 for 94) with 36 strikeouts before Monday’s game.
During the offseason, the Dodgers failed to bolster a bench that lost outfielder Joc Pederson and utility man Kiké Hernandez to free agency. Their replacements were lacking in experience. Injuries (13 players have gone to the injured list) have put pressure on the bench players to contribute. With the exceptions of Matt Beaty and Zach McKinstry (who is sidelined for weeks with an oblique strain), they have not.
“We’ve got a lot of young players up right now and guys that we like and feel like will be really productive major league players. At this point, they haven’t really seized that opportunity,”
Friedman said. “These guys are accustomed to playing every day. So it’s not easy.”
Pujols has certainly been accustomed to playing every day for the past 21 years. He has just 41 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter in his career and it was a quarrel over playing time that reportedly led to the Angels’ decision to cut ties with him.
Pujols disputes that version of events.
“Let me tell you something — my goal over the last two years, it was never just to be the every-day first baseman,” he said Wednesday. “I told you guys early in spring training, whatever role they have for me, I’m going to go with. I understand they made that decision as an organization, a business decision. No hard feelings. I understand that. So they had a talk with me and that was it. Move forward.
“But I think there’s a lot of things out there saying, oh, that he wanted more playing time, that he wanted to play every day. That never came out of my mouth. You guys asked me that question over and over so many times and I was telling you guys, however the team uses me, I’m here for that.”
There might be some revisionist history in that statement. He told reporters this spring that “My expectation is to be in the lineup every day.”
Friedman said he and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had an “open and honest” conversation with Pujols about what his role will be with the team. That conversation came last Friday before outfielder A.J. Pollock and shortstop Corey Seager were lost to injuries, further amplifying the Dodgers’ need for help and likely increasing Pujols’ playing time at least initially. He was in the starting lineup at first base Monday with Max Muncy moved to second base.
The Dodgers made it clear to Pujols that “we don’t know exactly what things are gonna look
like a week from now, two weeks from now, a month from now,” Friedman said. No guarantees were made to Pujols that he will still have a spot on the roster when the Dodgers get all of their injured players back.
“I think that’s part of the wait and see,” Friedman said. “I think it’s really important that we’re honest with everyone that we don’t know what next week is gonna look like, much less next month, much less three months from now. So we were just really open and honest about how things could play out in different scenarios and walked through a lot of them.
“But, I think from our standpoint, and from his, we’re both going into it hoping and expecting the best.”
Pujols joins a long list of future Hall of Famers who made a late-career stop at Dodger Stadium — players like Jim Thome, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray, Greg Maddux, Rickey Henderson, Juan Marichal, Gary Carter and even a 48-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm.
“I think it shocked, like, everybody,” Pujols said of the way his time in Anaheim ended. “But at the end of the day, no hard feelings at all. I’m here with this organization and I’m excited about this opportunity. I’m not the only player, the last player that probably is going to go through this. So I’m just excited to get another opportunity.”
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The Dodgers also added first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to the roster and activated left-hander David Price from the injured list. Left-hander Alex Vesia, right-hander Mitch White and catcher Keibert Ruiz were sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Right-hander Tony Gonsolin was moved to the 60day IL in order to clear a 40-man roster spot. Gonsolin is working his way back from a shoulder injury and cannot be activated before May 31 now.