Quick Thoughts On Albert To the Angels

It seems that most of Marinerville is still in shock over Albert Pujols being signed by the LA Angels. While sock seems to be appropriate, especially considering they weren’t even in the running, I don’t believe there is any reason to panic.

Signing Pujols does make that team better, but surprisingly it doesn’t make them a lot better. As good as Pujols is, you have to also consider the player that he is displacing. Mark Trumbo was one of the Angels’ better players last season, and he now is out of a job. The switch from Trumbo to Pujols is only a surprisingly low 2.8 wins

Keep in mind that the Angels are not a team with infinite pockets. This signing was all about buzz. The recent news and Magic Johnson is trying to buy the Dodgers meant that no one in LA was talking about the Angels. Pujols was brought in solely to steal attention back to their team. Unfortunately for the Angels, the extra attention wont lead to more cash. Their attendance is just about maxed out as high as it can get, and they’ve already signed a long term TV contract. The only extra revenue is going to come from merchandise sales, and that wont begin to cover the $25 mil/yr that Pujols is costing them.

This means that the Angels will be forced to cut payroll around Pujols over the next few seasons, ultimately weakening that team and decreasing their chances of being competitive. This is especially true in 4 years when Pujols is in full age-related decline, and the Angels are still on the hook for 6 more years at $25 million.

Ultimately, this deal is likely to work out about as well for LA as the Alex Rodriguez deal did for the Texas Rangers.