Source: Pujols to sign with injury-plagued Dodgers

A person with knowledge of the deal says the Los Angeles Dodgers are signing veteran first baseman Albert Pujols to a major league deal.

The source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Saturday because the deal isn’t expected to be finalized until Monday. The

Los Angeles Times first reported the agreement.

The 41-year-old Pujols left the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month after nearly 10 seasons with the Dodgers’ Orange County rivals. The oldest player in the majors batted .198 this season with five homers and 12 RBI for the Angels.

Pujols was in the final season of a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels, who didn’t win a playoff game during his tenure.

The slugger is making $30 million this season, and the Dodgers will pay him only the pro-rated portion of the major league minimum salary for the rest of the season, roughly $420,000. The rest will be paid by the Angels.

Pujols is fifth in major league history with 667 career homers and 13th with 3,253 hits, but he has been a low-impact contributor to the Angels for the past half-decade. The Angels said Pujols requested his departure from Anaheim because he didn’t want to be a backup, instead intending to play every day for another team.

Yet there’s almost no chance of the three-time NL MVP Pujols playing every day for the defending World Series champion Dodgers, who have veteran Max Muncy as their everyday first baseman along with former NL MVP Cody Bellinger, who has been out with an injury since the first series of the season.

Pujols is also moving back to the National League, where the 10time All-Star can only help as a designated hitter in interleague road games.

But Muncy can also play other positions in the infield, and the righthanded-hitting Pujols could perhaps assuage the Dodgers’ relative struggles against left-handed pitching this season. They have .663 OPS against lefties this season, significantly lower than their mark against right-handers.

For all their talent, the Dodgers have been hit hard by injuries early in the season, and Pujols could fill some innings until they return to full

strength.

SATURDAY’S GAMES INTERLEAGUE

A Rays 12, Mets 5: Joey Wendle hit three doubles and a single, keying two big innings that sent hostTampa Bay past New York, which has lost two in a row at Tropicana Field after a seven-game winning streak.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Twins 5, Athletics 4: Miguel Sanó snapped a 19-game homerless drought with a three-run homer in the eighth inning and host Minnesota came back to beat Oakland and snap its five-game losing streak.

A Red Sox 9, Angels 0: Alex Verdugo hit a solo homer in his first at-bat on his 25th birthday, Xander Bogaerts also went deep with a game-breaking, three-run shot and hostBoston beat stumbling Los Angeles. The Red Sox won their third straight and matched their season high by climbing nine games over .500. ... Looking to bolster the majors’ worst pitching staff, the Angels acquired right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland from Tampa Bay for a player to be named or cash. The 32-year-old Strickland has a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings with the

Rays this season.

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