Angels To Sign Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson

27 Comments + Add Comment

• any December 8, 2011 at 11:17 am

  proving once again, don’t believe the rumor mongers.
  • Joe D December 8, 2011 at 11:35 am

    I call out rumor mongers when they are wrong, in fact I enjoy doing it every chance I get. But to whom are you referring to here? Are you saying that the Marlins and Cardinals didn’t have offers out to Pujols? I can assure you they did, and the Angels were always a darkhorse according to Heyman and Sherman.
    • jessep December 8, 2011 at 11:48 am

      Yeah The Angels were always in the mix here so I’m not sure what the rumor monger comment is about. The Marlins clearly drove the price up on Pujols.

      By the way, if I’m STL today… I get on the phone and get Prince in a uniform today. Don’t even let the thought of no Pujols linger… go get yourself the Prince. He’s 4 years younger than Pujols, he’s a better value over long term.
      • Joe D December 8, 2011 at 11:51 am

        I’d bet a king’s ransom that the Cardinals are going to do just that. Fielder will be a Cardinal in my opinion.
        • jessep December 8, 2011 at 11:56 am

          It’s the most “no brainer” move of the off-season.

          The loss of Pujols is going to rip the hearts out of those fans. Right now, they likely don’t even care they won it all last year.

          The only way to fix that and help heal that fan base is to get Prince. Prince is no slouch, 5 years from now he will be more productive than Pujols probably.

          Call Prince give him 8/160 and have yourself a merry christmas.
          • Joe D December 8, 2011 at 12:00 pm

            I don’t know if Freese could move to another position, I seem to recall him coming up as a 1B? But anyway, if they don’t get Fielder, I bet they’d pay a lot more for David Wright than some of the offers Alderson turned down. A lot more. Fans may take a quick liking to him and he could potentially revert to his 2006-2008 form in that lineup which is still a good lineup.
            • Metfan Lou December 8, 2011 at 12:42 pm

              What do you think olf Adam Wainwright for Wright. I know he is coming off an in jury but if healthy-Wow!
              • Joe D December 8, 2011 at 1:10 pm

                Lou, I love Wainwright and the irony of him becoming a Met wouldn’t be lost on us. I hear he is healthy and actually wanted to be activated for the postseason but the Cards felt it was best for him to not push it. Hell yeah I would do that, but would the Cardinals?
                • Metfan Lou December 8, 2011 at 1:49 pm

                  I would hate to package let’s say Wright and Duda for Wainwright but I would throw Parnell or Pelfrey into the mix.
        • trs86 December 8, 2011 at 11:53 am

          I am not sure what the Cards do at this point. Regardless of Pujols or no Pujols that division is winnable for the Cards. Perhaps they trade someone for one of the Angels excess 1B now? Kendry if healthy would most likely be someone they would be interested in. Then go spend that money on pitching.
• Donal December 8, 2011 at 12:32 pm

  From Rosenthal

  “High-ranking #Marlins official says team is not and will not be on Prince. Prince can’t drive Latin market like Pujols could have. #MLB”

  If true, that is awful and the Marlins should be ashamed of themselves. It shows they are less about actually winning and more about pandering to certain fans.
  • USMF December 8, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    Yeah, but Fielder could draw the “Overweight Vegetarian” market to the park…I can’t think of any other player in MLB who could do that.

    Besides, listen to the news…Latino’s don’t have any money anyways…so why draw them? I didn’t work for the Los Mets…

    …and before people get upset, the Latino remark was a joke…not do much the Los Mets Crack though…
• Metfan Lou December 8, 2011 at 12:39 pm

  It has always been a “boil” on Pujols butt that A-Rod commanded more money when he considered himself the Best player in MLB. He wanted bragging rights over A-Rod and now he has it. The Angels are the Yankees of the West coast and he just sent the Rangers into apoplectic shock. You can bet the Yanks are a little shook up too along with the Red Sox.
• Sammy Garcia December 8, 2011 at 12:57 pm

  The owner of the Angels is a much better business person than Mets owners and he knows how to keep the fans coming into the park…we will never be a credible team unless we get a new owner with the fans in his mind…for now will be just a last place team with loyal fans that believes that we will definite give a good fight…
  • jessep December 8, 2011 at 1:15 pm

    Actually Sammy, as somebody who has followed LAA closely because they are the ideal model I’d like NYM to follow… you should know this is he first time in the team’s history they spent over $100mil on a player and during the time that Moreno has owned LAA they have averaged 90 wins a year.

    That’s without a $100mil contract and includes letting home grown guys like KRod, Lackey, Figgins (fake home grown, traded to them as minor leaguer) go via free agency because they were getting overpayed.

    What you’re not seeing is LAA is very much like the Mets because they will ALWAYS be #2 in their market, however the chance to make a splash before the Dodgers get a new rich owner who will likely look for a quick impact is right now.

    Plus, the Angels are getting a bigger tv deal soon from Fox for over $80mil a year.

    Think about that. The Angels will be getting in revenue as much as most teams spend on their teams payroll. That’s without ticket sales.

    Now I want new ownership here as well, but I think you have to be fair and look at the entire picture before passing judgment
    • jessep December 8, 2011 at 1:56 pm

      Keith Law just posted this and it’s dead on

      Arte Moreno bought the LA Angels coming off a WS win for $180 million

      He just bought Albert Pujols for $250m
  • trs86 December 8, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    The owner of the Angels still made money last year and is not broke. So while yeah at the moment he is obviously in better financial shape due to his decisions you can’t compare what they are doing this off-season to what the Mets are doing. I still don’t get where some fans think the Mets can get money from to spend like that? They are in too much debt because of baseball decisions and can not bail the team out because of personal decisions. Seems pretty easy to understand.
• trs86 December 8, 2011 at 1:13 pm

  So reports are now that the Marlins offered both MUCH more money. Man if that had happen the Marlins while winning a championship MAYBE would in a few years be in debt worse than the Mets. 275M for Pujols? 100M for Wilson? What in the hell?

  Also seems strange that even signing Reyes and Bell did not make players want to take the Marlins money.
  • jessep December 8, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    I’m tellin ya I think they are over shooting how well they expect the stadium to do. How can a Miami fan trust ownership?

    If they offered more $ they gave the union an easy way out because they don’t offer no trade protection.

    If the Marlins don’t win right away and the stadium isn’t filled, you’re going to see Reyes in a different uniform before that contract is up. I’d bet on it.
    • theonlymaskman December 8, 2011 at 1:58 pm

      How did the Wilons and the Mets make out regarding Citifield? Before you spend so much time worrying about what the Marlins are doing and how misguided they are, why don’t you worry more about what the Mets are doing and how misguided the current owners and mgmt are?
      • trs86 December 8, 2011 at 2:01 pm

        I thought that was what you were doing? Wouldn’t having others do that as well be overkill?
  • Donal December 8, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    That and the no trade clause hang ups should tell people tons about Loria’s true intentions.
    • USMF December 8, 2011 at 1:34 pm

      Look at the way the deal was divided up…

      6 years/$106M (2012-17), plus 2018 option- 12:$10M, 13:$10M, 14:$16M, 15:$22M, 16:$22M, 17:$22M, 18:$22M club option ($4M buyout) deal does not include no-trade protection

      That’s a low ball trade after a couple of years deals if I ever saw one…it’s strangely similar to the Delgado deal in 2005-the last year that the Marlins brought in a bunch of FA’s and made a run.
• theonlymaskman December 8, 2011 at 2:00 pm

  OK, so now that Pujols appears to be headed to Ananheim, errr LA, it seems the Cards will be needing a first baseman. So how will SA leverage this into a trade-away of Ike Davis to the Cards?
  • trs86 December 8, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    Depends on how much the Cards offer. If they panic and make a ridiculous offer then I am sure Sandy will pull the trigger.
• Trade Wright for Nolan Arenado December 8, 2011 at 2:40 pm

  It’s nice watching all of these big market teams spend money and get better like the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies…oh wait…nevermind, besides the Phils signing Paplebon and Old Man Thome, these teams have done nothing and Miami and LAA are the teams making big splashes…Aaaaahhh, if only the Mets played in a big market and not tiny, little New York City.
• Chuck December 8, 2011 at 4:24 pm

  Personally I dont know how any team can pay ONE player (Albert P.) that kind of money for THAT long a deal. It will be a waste of money in 5 yrs. These type contracts have hurt baseball so badly.