A Discount Year?

There is no denying that Albert Pujols' body of work over the past decade has made him arguably not only the best player of this era, but one of the most elite of all time.  When locking up a player of such a caliber (if possible), there is no denying you look at the whole and not one year.  But I think you'd be hard pressed to argue against the "contract year" problem.  The guy who had a great year, it keeps sticking in your mind, and the flavor of the week gets a monster deal.  So while with a player like Pujols I don't think this year makes or breaks his deal in any way shape or form, it is much easier to remember yesterday than yester-year.

I point this out, because through 9 games this season, Albert is batting an atrocious .143 with 1 homer and only 4 RBIs.  This is by far his worst start ever outside of 2007, a year where he hit the fewest homers and RBIs of his career (note he still had a great year with a bad lineup around him.  A down year for AP is a great year for most).  But Albert is not hitting the ball well this year and after going 2/12 in San Fran this week, is Albert just slumping?  Is this the beginning of a downward trend?  A look.....

Possible Reasons for Worry

There are a few reasons that I am actually slightly worried.  Perhaps not even so much as this year, but moving forward should the Cards make AP a St. Louisan for life.  

1)  With 10 years of experience and his 31st birthday passing last January, Albert is not getting younger.  Now, something to also point out, which I in no way am pushing on Albert, is that often times the age of Dominican born players can be inaccurate.  While I don't think this is the case with Albert, it still plays in the back of your mind due to players like Miguel Tejada.  Unfortunately, I think it weighs heavily with lots of fans also.  This isn't a racial point, but an institutional issue involved in the Dominican Republic.  There just isn't the clarity and organization in the medical and government systems that the US has.  Also, see A-Rod and ManRam for some samples of aging.  

2)  Albert has averaged a phenomenal number of games every year despite nagging elbow issues.  But, are this issues still nagging?  Is the problem possibly getting to him again?  He's been rolling over almost every swing this year, hitting nothing but weak grounders to the left side.  Could he be favoring this elbow and getting off with his timing?

3)  In 2007, the only year Albert has had such a start to a season, the Cards were not a good team.  There is no denying it, and the record would prove my point.  That year is where the infamous Tony line of "we need protection in the 4 spot" rung all year and in the future.  The thing is, Albert has that protection now.  Matt Holliday is amazing.  Colby appears to finally be on the break out season I predicted last month.  Allen Craig continues to impress and Skip seems to have bounced back early.  I know Matt missed a couple games, but Albert just seems to be well off in his swings despite being surrounded by much more power.

Reasons to Relax

1) It's a 162 game season.  We're on game 10.   

2)  It's Albert Pujols.  This is the guy whose career line(yes, career) is .330/.425/.622.  He'll bounce back.  He is still the greatest player in baseball regardless of where you think he may progress.

In 2007, it took Albert until June 13th to return to the .300 mark in his average.  For the calendar impaired, that's 2 1/2 months.  I hope he returns quicker, especially with the Reds pounding the ball currently,  and I believe he will.  He's still good.  But, there are some aging signs of concern here.  I'm not going to pipe dream Albert will hit .330 for the next 10 years.  He won't. But if he has a down year, does he come a little cheaper?  I'm going to say probably not.  But I can hear the cat calls from Cardinal nation asking to let him walk growing and growing all year.  The St. Louis crowd could get mighty anxious if he doesn't have an average year.  AP would be well advised to silence those people, and I think that's the major issue.  He knows things could get ugly if he doesn't.  Maybe this new pressure is making him press.  We saw it in 2007 when he thought he had to carry the team.  He picked it up when we were 6 games under and maybe had written off the season (no pressure there).  Just a thought, but maybe.  

Thanks for reading. Go Cards!