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MLB: Three Best Fits For Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols

By Sean Millerick

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols (L) is calmed down by manager Tony La Russa after striking out against Arizona Diamondbacks starter Randy Johnson in the sixth inning during game two of the National League western division playoffs 10 October 2001 in Phoenix. The Cardinals won 4-1. AFP Photo/Scott ROVAK (Photo by SCOTT ROVAK / AFP) (Photo credit should read SCOTT ROVAK/AFP via Getty Images)
St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols (L) is calmed down by manager Tony La Russa after striking out against Arizona Diamondbacks starter Randy Johnson in the sixth inning during game two of the National League western division playoffs 10 October 2001 in Phoenix. The Cardinals won 4-1. AFP Photo/Scott ROVAK (Photo by SCOTT ROVAK / AFP) (Photo credit should read SCOTT ROVAK/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) /

One of the best MLB players ever is suddenly without a team. Where will Albert Pujols end up?

If you’ve seen more than three MLB players better than Albert Pujols, at least one of the following three things are true:

You are over the age of eighty.

You are under the age of ten.

You are wrong.

Admittedly, there’s some overlap between those second and third points. And as for the octogenarians joining us, full kudos on finding your way to the MLB blogosphere. But while there might be some overlap with the above, there is zero hyperbole.

Albert Pujols is one the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball, and might be the greatest in the last thirty years. I’d say it’s neck and neck between Pujols, another past his prime legend in Miguel Cabrera, and Pujols’ former teammate Mike Trout.

That’s right, I did say former teammate Mike Trout. For Thursday afternoon saw the Los Angeles Angels make the somewhat shocking decision to outright release the future first ballot Hall of Famer.

Again, one of the best of all time. As for where he ranks on some baseball-wide or first base specific Mount Rushmore, I’ll leave the litigation of that to others. Something tells me those articles won’t be in short supply. What is of particular interest to me is what happens to the legend in the here and now, and whether or not Pujols has in fact played his last MLB game.

If he did, those May 4th ticket stubs just became collector’s items, and Rays reliever Hunter Strickland just achieved a small piece of baseball immortality. Strickland induced Pujols to popout in his last at bat with the Angels.

However, I would be extremely surprised if that was the last MLB at bat we’ll see from him. Something tells me Albert Pujols will want to go out slightly more on his own terms than what unfolded Thursday afternoon. So, assuming we don’t find out in the next few days Pujols just walked into Joe Maddon‘s office and told him he was done, here are the three best fits for the third and final act of Pujols’ MLB career.

Starting with….

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