Craig Mitchell - Mitchell's Musings

 

Mitchell’s Musings

A FEW WORDS ABOUT ALBERT….

Last week the Los Angeles Angels released one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Albert Pujols. In 2012 they signed the slugger to a 10 year 240 million dollar contract. At the time it was a

massive amount to pay. But then again, Pujols was baseballs biggest star. The Halos got a 32 year old superstar fresh off a World Series win with a lifetime batting average of .328, with 445 homers, over 1300 rbi and a career OPS of 1.037. He was 32 and decline was sure to come, right? He wasn’t super human, right? Right. It did and he wasn’t.

With the Angels Albert batted .256 with 222 homers, 783 rbi and a OPS of .758. Essentially, numerically, they got an above average player but they paid for a legend. Pujols never batted over .285 with the Angels and was only an all-star once in 2015. May 6^th the Angels DFA’d Albert. No big farewell. No pomp and circumstance. Just buh-bye! In 2021 money, the Angels got bang for their buck. 

Despite his lifetime batting average dropping 30 points in his time in Anaheim, he was a productive player with the franchise. He just wasn’t the 29 year old version of himself. There’s no one to blame. I remember at the time there were concerns that you don’t sign a 32 year old to a 10 year deal, yet the Angels did. Now, there has been rumors and whispers that Albert may have lied about his age when coming to the majors. 

It’s not unprecedented. Both Miguel Tejada and Wandy Rodriguez shaved a few years off their ages to be more appealing to teams and scouts. Rumors persist that Pujols did the same thing. Well, that would help explain his “sudden” fall off after 2016. But it’s all academic now. Did Albert stay too long? I think so, yes. I also think he was trying to honor and live up to the deal he signed. 

 Albert is now without a team and is a scant 33 homers away from 700. Some are calling for some team, somewhere, to pick Albert up and give him a shot to reach that mark. I for one, think Albert should call it a Hall of Fame career. However, I would love to see the Cardinals sign Pujols to a 1 day contract, have an Albert Pujols day and let him retire in style. That would be fitting the true superstar that Pujols is and was. Thanks Albert, see you in Cooperstown.

KING RAT AND ROCKET RACCOON….

Friday night at Citi Field the Mets had an uplifting walk-off win against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But controversy did rear it’s ugly head. 

In the top of the 7^th, Jeff McNeil encroached on a pop-up that was clearly Francisco Lindor’s play. The two are still getting to “know” one another's moves on the field and this has happened before. However in the bottom of the inning both McNeil and Lindor got

involved in “something” in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse that had just about everyone guessing as to what. The broad assumption, and I might add, probably the true assumption, is that the two got into some kind of scuffle or fight that had something to do with that play. Gary, Keith, Ron and Steve Gelbs, Twitter, Sportswriters I follow...everybody deduced that there was fight between the two. Not knowing for sure we all awaited the post-game press conference for a clue as to what happened. That’s when we got it fresh from Lindor’s mouth. A rat. A big New York City rat. 

 Lindor claims he saw a rat so big that he summoned O’Neil to confirm, and O’Neil who has been in Flushing longer claimed it was a Raccoon….or a possum. Seriously. Both players were coordinated on this story and stuck to it. So we are to believe that during a close game on a Friday night, a rat or raccoon pulled the focus of nearly everyone in the dugout and those covering and watching the game. I don’t believe this story for a second. Clearly, O’Neil and Lindor had an issue. They worked it out and they are keeping mum. I gotta say I prefer that than to air

dirty laundry in the press or in public. But rats and raccoon's? That might fly in Cleveland, but not in Flushing. Maybe next time they can just say…”We had some words. We worked it out...Let’s play ball!” Sure it would have set off a flurry of follow-ups but that would have been the end of it. I know one person who is probably still pissed. Pete Alonso. 

I don’t think he was too happy of stories of a giant rat running around Citi Field on the night his 1600 calorie Polar Burger debuted. I wonder if the NYC Health Department was watching?