St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols is an all-time great

The St. Louis Cardinals were wise to move on from their once-great first baseman as he is growing older. This wise move does not diminish the all-time greatness that he embodied.

The St. Louis Cardinals were once the home of the man known as “the Machine,” Albert Pujols. Pujols manned first base from 2001 to 2011 for the Cardinals. In this time he set amazing records for the Cardinals and on Wednesday, August 23, he set the all-time record in MLB for home runs by a foreign-born player.

For all of his great work since leaving the Cardinals, Albert was a record-breaker while with the Cardinals. This piece will take a deep look at these outstanding moments of Albert’s career with the St. Louis Cardinals.

As a point of history, Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 amateur draft from Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, MO. He was just 19 at the time. In 2000, Albert flew through the minors starting at A, moving to A+, and then leaping all the way into AAA.

He made his MLB debut just one year later in April of 2001. In 2001, through 590 at-bats, Albert posted an outstanding slash of .329/.403/.610. Imagine if the 2017 St. Louis Cardinals had these numbers in their ranks; how different would this season’s outlook be?

In 2001, to go along with his amazing season slash, Pujols won Rookie of the Year, a Silver Slugger, and an All-Star appearance.

For his St. Louis Cardinals career, Pujols set career records in 2003 for number of runs (137), number of hits (212), number of doubles (51), batting average (.359), and total bases (394). These numbers earned him his second All-Star appearance and second Silver Slugger.

He followed this great numbers in 2004 with 133 runs and 389 total bases. These earned him his third All-Star appearance and third Silver Slugger.  In these first four seasons, Pujols appeared in left field, right field, third base, and first base.

While he did not earn a Silver Slugger award in 2005, Pujols replaced this with his first MVP award. This was earned behind 129 runs-scored and 27 intentional walks. Pujols’ power was being respected and his defensive prowess was on the rise.

Pujols was unstoppable from 2003 to 2010 in terms of All-Star appearances as he played in each contest each season during that span.

2006 saw Pujols earn his first Gold Glove with the St. Louis Cardinals at first base. In addition to showing just how great he was at first base, Pujols posted his best slugging percentage of his career at .671 behind 33 doubles, 1 triple, and 49 home runs. 49 (his career-best)! His offense accounted for 137 RBIs in 2006.

2008 saw Pujols receive his second MVP award. Additionally, a .653 slugging percentage earned Albert yet another Silver Slugger recognition (the 4th of his career). 2008 was also Albert’s career-best OPS+ season at 192.

He followed the record-setting 2008 with near-similar numbers in 2009. These numbers earned his another All-Star appearance, his 3rd MVP, and yet another Silver Slugger award. In 2008, Pujols appeared in 700 plate appearances which tied his career-best– repeated two other times in his career (2005 and 2010).

Speaking of 2010, while Albert did not lock-down the MVP (he came in second in the voting), he did lock in his second Gold Glove, another All-Star appearance, and another Silver Slugger award.

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2011 was Albert’s final year with the St. Louis Cardinals and, at age 31, his numbers were slowing down. 2011 was a season in which Pujols appeared in 147 games. After holding his batting average in the .300s during his St. Louis Cardinals career, Pujols dipped one point shy at .299 for the 2011 season. His OBP (.366) and SLG (.541) were also the lowest of his Cardinals time.

These down numbers, in addition to his age, saw the St. Louis Cardinals grant Pujols free agency rather than signing him to an extension at the close of the 2011 season. While many fans, myself included, felt that a gentleman’s agreement existed wherein Albert would play the FA market and the Cards would match the highest bidder, this was sadly not the case.

In the winter of 2011, the Los Angeles Angels signed Albert Pujols to a 10-year contract with an additional 10-year rider at his contract’s conclusion. The St. Louis Cardinals had paid $14.6M to Pujols in 2010 (the highest paid) and then $14.5M in 2011. The Angels signed Pujols at a starting salary of $12M rising to a highest of $30M in his final year.

In the six years with the Angels, Albert has appeared in the All-Star game only once in 2015. His game numbers have also been in a steady decline since his 2011 season. Many believe he will not see his contract through to its conclusion.

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Regardless of his current contract, Albert Pujols is one of the best- if not THE best- first baseman that ever patrolled position number-three for the St. Louis Cardinals. After his departure, the St. Louis Cardinals have sought a bat and fielding replacement without great success.