St. Louis Cardinals Rumors: Team interested in Albert Pujols

The St. Louis Cardinals are interested in Albert Pujols, but as previously said, do not get your hopes up about a reunion happening.

Yesterday, I reported that free-agent first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols was drawing interest from 3-4 teams. Today, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that the St. Louis Cardinals are one of those teams, adding that there is “not much traction” toward a reunion.

Heyman’s reason for a potential reunion —  that the Cardinals may be on the verge of a special season — makes sense. They are clearly one of the National League’s elite teams. But Pujols wants to play, and have meaningful playing time, and he is not going to get that in St. Louis with Paul Goldschmidt at first base.

It makes sense, however, for the Cardinals to ponder. Pujols, 41, is a future Hall of Fame player. Having him return for a potential World Series run would be a storybook ending, for both the team and player, and could bring more fans into the Busch Stadium seats. He would also provide a capable bat off the bench and a battle tested player to fill in for Goldschmidt should he need a day off.

In fact, Katie Woo of The Athletic reported that the team has had “limited” internal discussions about bringing back Pujols and noted that such a move was considered a long shot. It should be noted that team’s internally discuss every player and every possibility, so do not get too excited about the fact the team has talked about Pujols.

Pujols is highly likely to eventually sign with an American League club so he can be a designated hitter. There are plenty of fits, including the Seattle Mariners, though they are not interested in him at this time.

But this (hopefully) will be the last time we hear Pujols and the Cardinals connected. From everything I have heard, a reunion has little to no chance of happening, and should be all but ruled out at this point.