Comments on: 10-year contract for Pujols an extreme deal for an extreme player http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/ Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball. Sat, 25 May 2013 01:24:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: stlouis1baseball http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230930 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:11:14 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230930 Sorry…clarification:
No one has started their careers with 10 straight seasons of .300/30/100.

]]> By: stlouis1baseball http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230928 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:10:02 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230928 Great points Generic: I think what people mean when they state A.P. IS in a class by himself…is the fact the no one as ever started their careers .300/30/100. Personally, that is what I am referring to when I state no one has ever done what he has done thus far. It just takes an incredible amount of time to get accustomed to the nuances of the big leagues. Specifically, the talent level, travel demands, number of games, etc.. Albert was lights out from day one.
Jimmie Fox was also a beast. As a Cardinals fan…I also take a great amount of pride in Alberts total plate awareness (his ridiculously low strikeout rate specifically). But also…he doesn’t seem to have any true week spots. Hitting the ball to the opposite field, low and inside, high and inside…he hits frozen ropes. Include his stellar defense and base running…and the Guy just seems to have no peers. But admittedly…I am biased.

]]> By: stlouis1baseball http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230914 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:59:03 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230914 Matthew: Now THAT is perspective. Last year (his worse year)…and he was still at 150.

]]> By: genericcommenter http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230844 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:31:05 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230844 In a previous post about his age and the length/size of his contracted, I wrote that no elite player has ever played well through 20 seasons/age 40- at least not without missing the equivalent of at least a full season worth of games. The closest I saw was Aaron. Almost everyone else had at least 1 terrible season by age 38 and some were done completely by 37-38.

I said that I thought Pujols might be the greatest, but if he manages to fulfill even a 9 year contract, that would literally put him in a class all by himself.

I was then told that Pujols IS in a class by himself, and no one has put up numbers like he has at this point.

However, Jimmie Foxx put up very similar numbers through his age 31 season, and many of his numbers were BETTER than Pujols through age 31. He did have 400ish more PAs, but he had hundreds of more runs, RBI, higher slash lines, and higher OPS+, with a couple over 200.

And Foxx, the most comparable, who did at least as well as Pujols through 31 and 7000-8000 PAs, was done by the time he was 34.

]]> By: Matthew Pouliot http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230803 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:05:31 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230803 Yeah, it’s a black mark on the list. However, Gonzalez was on a Hall of Fame path through age 31, even if he was never in Pujols’ class. He had 397 homers and 1,282 RBI at that point.

]]> By: presidentmiraflores http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230794 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:00:44 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230794 That is quite the achievement to be in the same company as Juan IGOR Gonzalez.

]]> By: Matthew Pouliot http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230775 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:45:30 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230775 What he said. OPS+ is adjusted for league and ballpark, too.

For reference, Pujols is at 170 for his career. He came in at 150 last year, which was his worst as a major leaguer.

Here’s the all-time leaderboard.

]]> By: 78mu http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230772 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:41:44 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230772 Basically 150+ means the player was 50% better than the average hitter. Those OPS+ numbers are all on the very good side.

]]> By: ras1tafari http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230760 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:31:24 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230760 Remind me what a good OPS+ is.

Are those on the list bad or good?

Sorry for saber-ignorance.

]]> By: xmatt0926x http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230673 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:27:21 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230673 Agree totally but since this is such an extreme case and the player likely wants to be able to say he finally makes more per year than everyone else ashe should then doing this might be what seals it for a team like the Marlins.

]]> By: istillbelieveinblue http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230670 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:22:00 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230670 Hardly fair to put Gehrig on a list highlighting decline due to age…

]]> By: skerney http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230669 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:17:02 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230669 it makes payroll a bit more flexible to string the years out to ten.

]]> By: xmatt0926x http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230659 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:06:52 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230659 We know alot of this contract is about Albert getting his due when these other players are getting $20-plus million per year. Even the best case scenario likely says that Albert may have 7 or 8 good years left (and that’s pushing it, lets face it). If that’s the case why not just give the same cash for 7 or 8 years which raises the annual value of the deal? This allows Albert to say he makes the most per season as the best player in the game and the club that signs him still gets him for the rest of his productive years. I don’t get the significance of the contract having to be 10 years.

]]> By: Matthew Pouliot http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230639 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:48:14 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230639 True. Baseball is backwards like that.

]]> By: 78mu http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/06/10-year-contract-for-pujols-an-extreme-deal-for-an-extreme-player/comment-page-1/#comment-230635 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:45:31 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=101128#comment-230635 In a fair world, Pujols should have gotten paid 250 million for the last ten years, not the next ten years.

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