Albert Pujols plans to fulfill his 10-year $10 million personal services contract with the Angels, despite owner Arte Moreno’s intentions to sell the team and the disappointing end of the slugger’s nine-year tenure in Anaheim.
“He intends to fulfill it all,” said a person familiar with Pujols’s thinking but not authorized to speak about it publicly. “He’s excited to see who the new owner is.”
Pujols’ Hall of Fame-worthy, 22-year career came to an end on Saturday-evening when his St. Louis Cardinals were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies in a National League wildcard series.
Pujols, 42, announced during spring training that he would retire after this season and reiterated several times this summer that he would not change his mind despite his strong finish in the second half.
Pujols hit his 700th home run at Dodger Stadium on September 23, joining Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) in baseball’s exclusive 700 Homer Club. He hit a sharp single to left field in his last at bat in the Cardinals’ 2-0 loss at Busch Stadium on Saturday-evening.
Pujols hit .328 with a percentage of 1,037 on-base-plus-slugging, 445 home runs, 2,073 hits, 455 doubles and 1,329 RBIs in St. Louis from 2001 to 2011, winning three NL most valuable player awards and leading the Cardinals to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011.
He signed a 10-year $240 million deal with the Angels prior to 2012, and although he scored his 3,000th goal and 500th and 600th home runs as an Angel, his tenure in Anaheim was marked by a dramatic decline in production, a string of lower body injuries, one post-season appearance in 2014 and zero playoff wins.
Pujols hit .256 with a .758 OPS, 222 home runs and 783 RBI’s in 1,181 games with the Angels and was released in May 2021.
He rejuvenated his career with a strong five-month stint with the Dodgers and returned to St. Louis this season, hitting .270 with a .895 OPS, 24 home runs and 68 RBI’s.
His personal services contract with the Angels is with the team, not Moreno, who announced in August that he was investigating a sale of the team after 20 years of ownership.
Angels general manager Perry Minasian said on Thursday that the team “absolutely” wants Pujols to honor the personal services contract and that he would be “a great asset to myself to have in this organization”.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
