Angels release Pujols

[Tim]

Yaz and Ripken are both really close.

 

Ripken was almost worth 40 WAR from 30-40. Same for Yaz. Pujols was worth like 11.

 

That's insane considering he played every single game (except 1 in 1998) in 8 of those 11 years and was playing a premium defensive position in 6 of those 11 years. I realize that playing every game at a premium position allows him to accumulate more WAR than someone playing 140 games in LF but the wear and tear of playing every day at SS combined with the inevitable decline from aging makes it impressive to me.

 

Moreover, he was not an elite hitter most of the time. In 1992 at age 31 he had a .689 OPS and still accumulated 3.7 fWAR. Outside of 1991 where he was a monster and had almost 11 WAR, he was consistently a 3-4 win guy throughout his 30s.

I should have looked those up instead of going from memory. I just remembered what a generally mediocre offensive player Cal was during those years.

[Post Count Padder]

It really was wild how much he fell off a cliff after signing that contract. Like, even his BB numbers took a dive.

 

And yeah, I still remember seeing shots of the crowd at Wrigley the summer before (was it 2012?) and there were dudes in custom Cubs Pujols jerseys. I think we made out just fine.

[Bull]

Amazing how everything gets effected when you move away from your supplier.

[sneakypower]

for players that qualify on fangraphs pre-29 and post-30 Jonathan Lucroy (lol) has the biggest dropoff in WAR per 650 PA

 

Lucroy 7.6 to 1.7

Pujols 7.5 to 1.7

Griffey 6.7 to 1.3

Nomar 6 to 1

Banks 6.6 to 1.9

Andruw Jones 6 to 1.9

 

some other old-timers mixed in there: Frank Thomas (PIT), George Sisler

 

other notable crash & burn in recent memory: Ryan Howard, Mauer, Wieters, Piazza, Hanley, Darryl Strawberry, Mark Kotsay, Prince Fielder, Matt Kemp, Bobby Abreu, Vlad Sr., Andre Dawson all had 3+ WAR difference in production level after turning 30

 

Kotsay's is funny because he wasn't even that great younger but then he averaged -1.2 WAR per full season in his 30s

[NOLA]

horsefeathering Nomar. I can’t remember being as excited then ultimately disappointed as his drop off after the trade.

[OleMissCub]

horsefeathering Nomar. I can’t remember being as excited then ultimately disappointed as his drop off after the trade.

 

Yeah, that was brutal.

[We Got The Whole 9]

horsefeathering Nomar. I can’t remember being as excited then ultimately disappointed as his drop off after the trade.

 

Yeah, that was brutal.

Yeah, his injury was devastating. He was still good in 2004. Not as great as his peak years, but, something I didn't pay attention to back then, he was already 30 years old. His decline should have been expected.

 

99-2000 he was probably on horsefeathers anyway.

[Post Count Padder]

I distinctly remember my younger brother who was I think like 13 or 14 at the time telling me he guaranteed Nomar wouldn't hit better than .250 with the Cubs after the trade and he insisted on betting me $5 and it was some pretty easy money so I think back on Nomar fondly for that.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

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