Los Angeles Angels: Where Does Albert Pujols Rank All Time?
By Jason Burke
When Albert Pujols signed with the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2012 season, he had already established himself as one of the all time greats. Now on the verge of 600 home runs for his career, he is set to enter very exclusive company.
Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome and Sammy Sosa. That’s the list of players that have accomplished what Albert Pujols is looking to do with the Los Angeles Angels. This is one exclusive list to be on, so where will adding his name to this group put Pujols all time?
According to JAWS, bWAR and WAR7, Albert is the second-best first baseman the game has ever seen behind Lou Gehrig, with nearly all of that production coming at the plate. Currently in his age 37 season, Pujols has accumulated a career bWAR of 100.9, while Gehrig’s 112.4 reigns supreme. If Pujols were to finish out his current contract with the Angels, he would have to average a little under three wins per season over the next four years, which doesn’t include the rest of 2017.
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While that feat seems very attainable for one of the best to ever swing a baseball bat, last season Pujols totaled just a 1.4 bWAR, and this year Baseball Reference actually has him as below replacement level at -0.2. There is still plenty of time for that to change this season, but without Trout in the lineup, Pujols becomes seemingly the only threat in the Angel lineup, and that may not even be true at his current age.
Reaching 600 home runs will certainly cement Pujols into an echelon of greatness, but it seems as though the public perception of him is down over the last few seasons as his production at the dish has seen a decline as he has aged in recent years. Injuries have played a part in that as well, slowing him from his 91.2 bWAR output from 2001 to 2012, to just 9.9 over the past four seasons.
Sticking with Baseball Reference measurements, Pujols currently sits at number 30 among the all time greats in terms of WAR, just ahead of Warren Spahn and Joe Morgan and just behind Christy Mathewson and Randy Johnson. If he were to catch Gehrig, that would also entail moving up to number 18 on the list, and a place in the top 20 players the game has ever seen.
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I often find myself guilty of holding the past in higher regard than current day players, but when it comes to Pujols and his teammate Mike Trout, we should really take some time to smell the roses along the way, because these players are definitely special, even if they are playing for a team that struggles to win at times.