Why The Angels RELEASED Albert Pujols

Wow, it's the end of an era. Or is it? Albert Pujols hasn't been good in years. He's been a below average hitter since all the way back in 2017 and only had one good year in his contract with the Anaheim Angels. I'd argue that the Albert Pujols era of him being a thing ended a while ago. It's pretty insane, but it all kind of makes sense when you think about it. Albert Pujols was one of the best hitters in baseball history when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals. Although that was always true, there has been a rumor for years now that Albert lied about his age, was really much older than he said he was, which many think contributed to why he has been so bad throughout the back end of his career. So what has made Albert Pujols so bad over the last several seasons? Did he actually lie about his age and say he's younger than he actually is? And why was Albert Pujols randomly released now rather than earlier or later? Take a second to like this video and if you're new to the channel, be sure to hit that subscribe button for future baseball content. Albert Pujols didn't necessarily live the easiest life growing up. He was an only child and really only knew his father of his two parents, who was an alcoholic that Albert used to have to take home after his own games due to his dad getting drunk during them. Growing up, Pujols didn't practice baseball with the typical equipment that an American kid practices with, as Pujols used limes for baseballs and a milk carton for a glove. Skip ahead to today and Albert Pujols has had a pretty incredible career. At least the first 12 years of his MLB career were incredible. The other 8? Yikes. There's also the big age controversy with Pujols and if you haven't heard of this before, strap in. Albert Pujols is apparently not the age he says he is. According to a former Major League Baseball team executive, David Sampson, who served as the Miami Marlins president from 2002 to 2017, said no one in baseball believed Pujols was telling the truth about his age when he signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels after the 2011 season. Sampson also said he knew Pujols was not the age he said he was when the Marlins tried to sign him in free agents in December 2011. We knew when we did the calculations for that deal that we didn't care about the 2019, 20, or 21. It was so far into the future that it did not matter. We knew he'd be unproductive. We knew that he was not the age that he said he was. We had all the information. There have been instances in the past where this kind of fraud has been confirmed, such as in the case of former pitcher Juan D. Rodriguez. Rodriguez was 19 at the time and through in the mid-80s, which is hardly impressive for a young Dominican prospect. But Rodriguez did find a way to boost his profile among Major League Baseball scouts by not only lying about his age, but also taking on a brand new identity. Rodriguez quote-unquote borrowed the identity of his friend Enny Cabrera, who was two years younger than Rodriguez. A mid-80s fastball for a 17-year-old was suddenly more attractive to MLB scouts and he signed a contract with the Houston Astros. Rodriguez later acknowledged his true identity to the organization, but still went on to pitch in the majors for 10 years from 2005 to 2015. Another example was with the former shortstop and 2002 American League MVP Miguel Tejada, who also lied about being 17 when he was 19 to land a contract with the Oakland Athletics in 1993. Skip ahead to the current day and Albert Pujols is most likely a retired man, as he got released by the Angels on May 6, 2021. Apparently, it was more mutual than you would probably assume. The Angels were planning to not play him as much and Albert made it clear he wanted to be released if his playing time would be diminished. The Angels had no choice to make a decision like this on Pujols. He's been a very consistent player over the last several years, a consistently below average one. Ever since 2017, he hasn't had an OPS over 734 and hasn't had an OPS over 790 since 2013, which was just his second year in an Angels uniform. Now, I'm not going to say that Pujols definitely lied about his age because we truly don't know that and we may never really know that, but the bottom line is that he's been really bad for years now, with his big contract the only thing keeping him on a roster. The Angels are trying to win as they have a once-in-a-lifetime talent in their team in Mike Trout. If winning means getting rid of Albert Pujols for a better player, you gotta do it. So, why did they do this now rather than later or earlier on? Honestly, the Angels themselves probably don't even have a clear answer for that. They probably wanted to just ride it out and see what happens because nobody in their right mind would have paid for any of that contract back then. As for not dropping him at all and just letting him finish his career this season, the Angels, like I just mentioned, are trying to win and get to the postseason with Mike Trout for the first time in over six years. Pujols was not helping with that, so why keep him around? Either way, you're going to have to pay him. You might as well pay him while someone else fills in, putting up more productive numbers. So, the Angels really made a bad decision when signing Pujols. The obvious argument against that would be to say that he was arguably baseball's best hitter at the time of the contract signing. After hearing what David Sampson had to say, it's pretty clear that his age may have had a little something something to do with his extreme decline, if he did indeed lie about that. It's sad to see such a legend like Pujols end the last year of his career like this, but he will forever go down as one of the more clutch and all-around ridiculously good hitters in the history of this game, at least in the first 12 years of his career. This also really all makes me appreciate guys like David Ortiz even more, who was able to put up some of the best numbers of his career, hitting .315, popping 38 home runs, and leading his team to the postseason, all in his final season at age 40. Albert Pujols, once a legend, always a legend. It sucks to see him end off his final year this way, but we honestly should have seen this coming years ago.