Angel with a message
Pujols says his fat new contract won’t affect his hunger to lift new team into rarefied air
TEMPE, Ariz. — Albert Pujols drives his Rolls-royce Phantom into the Los Angeles Angels parking lot and waves to the security guard outside the club- house. Within minutes, Pujols has changed out of his polo shirt and shorts and is in the gym.
It’s barely 7 a.m. Most of his teammates are just getting up. It’s a grueling workout, intended to ensure no one sees him sweat during the year.
Pujols has the second-richest contract in baseball and a home filled with MVP and All-star awards and World Series rings, but it’s as if none of that matters to him. He feels like it’s 2001 all over again, trying to make the major leagues while showing that every club in baseball made a horrific mistake, passing on him until the 13th round of the draft. He wasn’t selected until the 402nd pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999.
“I always have that chip on my shoulder, no matter what kind of success I’ve had,” Pujols says forcefully. “This is going to be an extra chip on my shoulder that I’m going to have the next 10 years, maybe for the rest of my life. I don’t want to ever
change that attitude.”
Pujols has a guaranteed contract from the Angels that will pay him $240 million over 10 years — along with another $10 million when he retires — but he wants to prove people wrong again.
If the Cardinals couldn’t, or didn’t want to, come up with the money to keep him, perhaps Pujols, 32, intends to remind them what they’re missing. No hard feelings. He won’t even mind if someone wears his former uniform, No. 5. There’s no reason for a special trip by a team official to deliver his World Series ring, either, he says. Just let former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa drop it off at his locker with a handshake.
“It’s just a number, so if someone else wants to wear it, that won’t hurt my feelings,” Pujols says. “Would I be shocked if St. Louis gave that number to somebody? No. They can do whatever they want. I don’t play there anymore. I’m being honest; that won’t bother me at all.
“I’m an Angel now. I work for this organization. I want all of the players to know I’m not satisfied with the numbers I’ve put up and the World Series I won. I’m hungry for more. I want to win a championship here. These guys haven’t won a World Series since 2002. It’s time.”
Pujols backed his sentiments all spring. He was among the first players to arrive every day for workouts and was one of the last to leave. He took more bus rides than any other Angels veteran this spring, refusing to stay back and play in only home games. He wouldn’t even bring his car to depart road games early, insisting the Angels not give him preferential treatment.
“He’s come in here and fit right in,” says Angels right fielder Torii Hunter, laughing at the frequency with which they made Pujols buy lunch. “He showed he was not bigger than the game. He rode the buses with us. He joked around and laughed with us. He’s really humble. Really, he reminds me of (Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer) Kirby Puckett. Just his professionalism.
“Here’s a guy who has three MVPS, two World Series rings and did some real damage in the National League. But now that he’s with a new team and a new league, he wants to do even more damage. He’s a beast.”
Star power
Pujols’ arrival produced the largest spring training ticket sales in Angels history, and he put on a hitting clinic in the Cactus League, batting .386 with six homers and 18 RBI.
It reminds Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy of the days when home run king Barry Bonds was with the San Francisco Giants, completely altering the game. Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington already is talking about pitching around Pujols at all times.
Two Angels teammates, second baseman Howard Kendrick and center fielder Peter Bourjos, confess their man crushes, refusing to take their eyes off him during batting practice.
And the club projects seasonticket sales increasing from about 19,000 last season to almost 25,000 and overall attendance increasing from 3.1 million to 3.4 million.
“Hopefully we can do what we’re supposed to do and I can do what I’m supposed to do,” Pujols says. “We do that, and it can be an exciting season. I’d love to get to the World Series again this year. Maybe we can play the Cardinals. I’d love that.”
Pujols laughs nervously. He keeps in touch with a few of his former teammates and exchanges text messages with Cardinals coaches Jose Oquendo and Mark Mcgwire. Yet there’s an awkward disconnect. Pujols has not read his fan mail all spring to gauge the sentiments of Cardinals fans, saying only, “There’s a lot of haters.”
Pujols says his preference was to stay a Cardinal for the rest of his career, envisioning the day he would be revered in the city, just as Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Red Schoendienst were. He would have his number retired and have a statue erected outside Busch Stadium along with the other greats.
“Who knows, maybe I can get one of those (statues) in Anaheim now,” Pujols says. “Let’s see what I can accomplish here.”
Pujols is hurt that the Cardinals didn’t make a stronger effort to retain him. He’s annoyed at the Miami Marlins, saying they lied when they pulled their $275 million offer off the table.
“I’m kind of disappointed how people work in the business,” Pujols says. “Sometimes when they don’t accomplish what they want, they throw the player under the bus or their agent under the bus.
“What was so sad is that Miami said they backed off a week before I signed. That was all baloney. They were still waiting on my decision. Obviously, they need to protect themselves.
“Everybody knows the whole story. It was about a commitment. For an owner like Mr. (Arte) Moreno to come and make a commitment for 10 years to me, knowing that I don’t have to go through free agency again, meant everything to me. Obviously, the Cardinals didn’t think that way. They went their way. I went my way.
“I had choices, believe me. . . . People like to talk because they feel they have to say something. Oh, well. I just move on.”
The Marlins insist their offer was pulled before Pujols agreed to the contract with the Angels, according to a high-ranking Marlins official involved in the negotiations. Yet if Pujols had suddenly decided he wanted to play for the Marlins, the official said, the offer likely would have gone back on the table.
La Russa, who retired as Cardinals manager after winning the 2011 World Series, says St. Louis fans’ criticism of Pujols is unfair, if not cruel. La Russa says he has attempted to make Cardinals fans understand Pujols’ decision in several speeches in St. Louis.
“I feel the Cardinals made a decision that they couldn’t afford him,” La Russa says. “It’d probably be better if they made that public. They were just hoping the market wouldn’t be there and they could afford him. He offered St. Louis a sizable hometown discount, but people paint him like he was a bad guy for leaving. That’s not right.
“I’m a huge fan of Albert’s. Albert deserves to be truly honored for what he’s done for the Cardinals organization. What distinguishes Albert from everyone is his commitment to winning. He plays the game to win. He did that every day in St. Louis. He’ll do that for the Angels.”
The Cardinals, whose guarantee offer to Pujols was about $200 million, including player options, say they harbor no grudge. They said they sincerely tried to keep him, and until the day he signed with the Angels, they thought they had a legitimate shot.
“For it to end the way it did is part of where baseball is today,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak says. “Not every story has a perfect ending.” ‘I’m prepared. I’m ready’
Pujols has had nearly four months to grasp the concept that he is gone from St. Louis. Yet a few days before Friday’s season opener, he doesn’t have a home in Southern California.
He plans to stay at a hotel resort for the first month of the season, maybe longer, as the family house hunts. They likely will rent while trying to decide whether to remain in St. Louis, buy in Southern California or maybe move to Arizona.
“I haven’t made that decision yet,” Pujols says. “It’s a process. You don’t want to just pack your bags. Who knows, maybe (the Phoenix area) is where I’m going to start spending the offseason. Maybe Southern California.
“I can’t worry about that. My focus is to play baseball and not let the little things outside the game bother me. Just take care of what you can and go with it.”
Pujols has heard all about the pressure of living up to a megacontract while switching teams and leagues. Baseball is filled with horror stories of All-stars who crumpled under the duress and were never the same.
Pujols insists it will not happen to him. He’s too strong mentally, too focused, to let anything interfere with his quest for greatness.
“I know people are expecting a lot from me and a lot from this team,” Pujols said. “It’s been like that since Day 1 for me when I got to the big leagues. But I’m not going to get caught up in those things. Every day is a challenge, but it’s something I’m built for. I’m prepared. I’m ready.
“In the end, all you can do is give 110% and do what you’re capable of doing. If you still fail, there’s nothing you can do about it. You just stay focused. I learned that last year. I started off slow, but look at the numbers I put up (.299 batting average, 37 home runs, 99 RBI). Nobody thought I was going to reach the numbers I had at the end of the year. I did that because I stayed focused. And won the World Series because our whole team stayed focused.
“I know it’s a new league and new pitchers, but I know how to hit. I know you have to battle. But this game is about making adjustments and surviving. It won’t be any different this year.”