Bernie: For Those Who Still Resent Albert Pujols For Leaving As a Free Agent, It’s Way Past Time To Get Over It.

When the news began to emerge about the possible reunion between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals, I was surprised by some of the reaction on Twitter.

The negativity didn’t really address his status as a player – his age (42), his decreased production, or his one-dimensional profile consisting of his ability to clobber lefthanded pitching.

The objections were more personal.

Basically, it comes down to this: Pujols doesn’t deserve to be part of a farewell-tour season with Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. Why? Because he left the franchise as a free agent, going for the big money. And Wainwright and Molina stayed. Which, presumably means they are more honorable and loyal and faithful than Pujols.

First of all, I know I shouldn’t use Twitter as a barometer. It tends to bring out the extremists, people who don’t necessarily reflect the larger and more reasonable view. But here’s the thing: I’ve had friends and acquaintances tell me the same thing.

And STLtoday columnist Ben Frederickson, who does an outstanding job, recently implied as much in a weekly chat. On the notion of bringing Pujols back, Ben wrote: “Part of me thinks it would be a little bit of a slight of both Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina, the guys who stayed, even if they were in favor of the idea.”

Perhaps I am out of touch … but with all due respect, I don’t understand this.

Sure, Pujols could have stayed. The Cardinals offered him a helluva 10-year contract after the 2011 season. It wasn’t as generous as Anaheim’s 10-year $240 million offer and included a significant amount of deferred salary that reduced the present-day value of the St. Louis proposal. Pujols was also angered by the nature of the negotiations and the way management slow-played the discussions.

The frustrated Pujols bolted. Based on his experience as an Angel, it’s safe to say he made a mistake. He competed in just one postseason in nine years – a three-game sweep by the Royals in the 2014 ALDS. And in the 10th year, 2021, the Angels released Pujols.

Meanwhile, Pujols’ departure worked out well for the Cardinals, who weren’t burdened by a huge contract being paid to a player that was entering his decline phase. The Cardinals didn’t win a World Series after Pujols made his exit, but their success continued to roll on with an NL pennant (2013) seven postseasons in 10 years, and four appearances in the NLCS.

I totally understand the initial outrage among the Cardinals fans when Pujols went away. And he didn’t help the situation by making some irritating comments that roiled the emotions in St. Louis.

In other words, the business of sports. But over time the tempers cooled and more positive instincts kicked in. As the years went by, the BFIB shifted into a more sentimental, sweeter view of Pujols – grateful for what he’d done for the franchise, and thankful for his family foundation’s generous charitable endeavors in St. Louis … even though he no longer played baseball here. And when the Angels and Pujols visited Busch Stadium for a series in 2019, and the Dodgers and Pujols came in for three games last summer, Pujols received an immensely loving reception that created more beautiful memories to go with the fantastic memories that inspired us from 2001 through 2011.

I believed that settled the matter; Pujols and the Cardinals and STL fans were at peace. And that’s the way it should be. Everyone worked out their feelings and accepted that it was time to move on, and let it be. As the title of a Little Feat song reminds us: Time Loves A Hero.

Except … I’ve gotten some emails from people who compared Pujols to Stan Kroenke. That’s insane. Truly insane. But putting that cuckoo opinion aside, there’s still at least some resentment out there, with dissenters stating up front or strongly suggesting that Pujols is unworthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with Waino and Yadi in 2022.

Molina plans to retire after the season. Monday in Jupiter, Pujols said 2022 will be his final season. Wainwright isn’t committed one way or another, but no one would be surprised if he decided to call it a career at the end of the ‘22 campaign.

Pujols is absolutely worthy of sharing in the celebration with his two close friends, and Wainwright and Molina used their considerable power of persuasion to recruit him to come back to St. Louis. They love Pujols. They lobbied for Pujols. They’re thrilled that he’s back.

Given the Wainwright-Molina enthusiasm for the Pujols homecoming, how could anyone on the outside object? If Waino and Yadi want Pujols to be an extra-special part of the farewell season, then does any disagreeable opinion on this issue really matter? No. Hell, no. And tens of thousands of fans had their say both times (2019 and 2021) when Pujols stepped into the batter’s box at Busch Stadium as a member of the visiting team.

The younger Cardinals are in awe of Pujols, and already are following him around down in Jupiter. This is good, yes? Skip Schumaker, the Cards’ new bench coach, was once a young Cardinal who switched positions and had to learn how to play second base. He knows all about what Pujols can do for teammates who are trying to find their way in the big leagues.

“He helped me like you wouldn’t believe playing right next to me, telling me what to look for and, by the way, giving me the confidence that I could play next to him on a championship team,” Schumaker told the New York Times last year. “That goes so far.”

Pujols should be fully embraced for no other reason than his lasting impact on this franchise. This is one of the short–list greatest players in the history of the game, and he gave us the best years of his career while restoring the competitive glory of Cardinals baseball.

OK, so he left because the Angels made his head spin with an offer that could only turn out bad for their team. Which it did. But those who want to turn that episode into a Loyalty Test and downgrade Pujols by comparing him to Molina and Wainwright, I’d like to ask two questions:

1) Was Molina ever offered a 10-year, $240 million deal by another team?

2) Was Wainwright ever offered a 10-year, $240 million deal by another team?

No and no. So the comparison is irrelevant. How can we possibly know – with certainty – what Wainwright and Molina would have done if presented with such a financial windfall?

Let’s get back to the heart of the matter.

The 11 seasons of Pujols in St. Louis were loaded with action and excitement and excellence and relentless success. With Pujols as the franchise cornerstone, those 11 seasons represented the greatest run of sustained brilliance in franchise history. And this franchise has won a lot through the decades – including 19 NL pennants and 11 World Series championships.

During the Pujols Years (2001-2011) the Cardinals’ lengthy list of accomplishments include:

– The No. 1 regular-season winning percentage in the NL.

– The third-most regular-season wins in the majors over the 11 seasons.

– Seven postseasons in 11 years.

– The most postseason games played by an NL team, 73. And Philadelphia, second on the list, was far back with 46 postseason victories.

– The most postseason wins, 40, by an NL team. Philly was second with 27.

– Five appearances in the NLCS.

– Three NL pennants: 2004, 2006, 2011.

– Two World Series titles, 2006 and 2011.

– The Cardinals won two World Series in a 38-season period from 1968 through 2005. The Pujols-led Cardinals won two World Series in six seasons.

Sure, Pujols had an abundance of good players as teammates during those 11 years. But let’s not kid ourselves, OK?

Over the 11 seasons as a Cardinal, Pujols ranked first in the majors in batting average, home runs, RBI, runs scored, doubles, total bases, extra-base hits, and Wins Above Replacement (the Baseball Reference version of WAR.) He was second in the majors in slugging percentage and OPS, third in hits, and fourth in onbase percentage.

Over the 11 seasons The Machine won three National League MVP awards, finished second in the MVP voting four times, was the 2001 NL Rookie of the Year, was named to nine All-Star teams and presented with six Silver Slugger and two Gold Glove awards.

Over the 11 years Pujols gave the Cardinals and their fans an average season that included a .328 average, 1.037 OPS, 40 homers, 41 doubles, 121 RBI and 117 runs.

As he returns home, Pujols ranks third in MLB history in RBI, fourth in extra-base hits, fourth in total bases, fifth in homers, fifth in doubles, 12th in hits, and 12th in runs. And he’ll likely move up in several of the all-time categories while wearing a Cardinal uniform in his final season.

And among players with 4,000+ career at-bats as a Cardinal, Pujols has the best OPS and slugging percentage and is second to Stan Musial in homers, RBI and doubles. He’s also among the top five in batting average, onbase percentage, runs and hits.

And there are people out there who think that Pujols doesn’t belong with Molina and Waino in the 2022 season jubilee? Astonishing. Hopefully most of our grumpy friends will come around to understand Pujols’ place in franchise history, and MLB history, and put him in their embrace.

Having Molina, Wainwright and Pujols do this together is incredible and extremely unlikely. The three have an average age of 40.3 years, have played an average of 18.3 seasons in the majors, and first appeared in the same game as teammates on Sept. 11, 2005. And now, 17 years later, they’re back together again.

We’ll never see anything like this again.

It’s truly unique.

And considering all that we’ve been through during the last two-plus years with the pandemic and related sadness and problems – not to mention all of the trouble in the world right now – why not treasure this as a baseball blessing? There are probably a thousand or more things to be miserable about in late March of 2022. And a Pujols-Waino-Molina reunion ain’t one of them.

Thanks for reading …

–Bernie

Bernie invites you to listen to his opinionated and analytical sports-talk show on 590-AM The Fan, KFNS. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the “Bernie Show” podcast at 590thefan.com — the 590 app works great and is available in your preferred app store.

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All stats used here are sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Stathead, Bill James Online, Fielding Bible, Baseball Savant and Brooks Baseball Net unless otherwise noted.