The continued greatness of Albert Pujols was not taken for granted as he earned his third NL Most Valuable Player Award in 2009.
One year ago, Albert Pujols’ status for 2009 was under question. He had undergone nerve transposition surgery in his right, throwing elbow before officially collecting the 2008 National League Most Valuable Player Award, his second. By January, pain in the same elbow due to bone spurs led him to require a cortisone injection.
Just as always since Pujols’ 2001 arrival, the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals needed their first baseman to have a competitive club. He did not disappoint, getting out of the gate quickly, winning the April NL Player of the Month honors while leading the Cards to a 16-7 start.
Pujols added one more chapter to his growing legend by breaking the letter “I” in the Big Mac Land sign in left field with a May 21 home run. He put together a record-breaking first half that culminated in him being voted to start in the All-Star Game at Busch Stadium.
Pujols led the Cardinals offense as he has done for nine seasons. In 2009, he was first in the major leagues in runs (124), on-base percentage (.443) and slugging (.658).
Though he endured a career-long home run drought that began on September 9, Pujols still hit a career-high 47 home runs, becoming just the second Cardinal (Mark McGwire, 1998-99) since 1940 (Johnny Mize) to lead Major League Baseball. His .327 average paced the Cardinals for a ninth consecutive season, something no other player has ever done.
Perhaps most impressive was Pujols’ 2009 production with the bases loaded. He batted 10-for-17 (.588) in that situation, setting team single-season (five) and career (11) records for grand slams.
Especially prior to the arrival of Matt Holliday, Pujols was pitched around often. Albert collected a team single-season record (44) intentional walks, surpassing his record 34 from the 2008 season. This also set the MLB record for right-handed hitters.
Defensively, Pujols continued to stand out, breaking the MLB record with 185 assists as a first baseman, despite continued elbow soreness due to bone spurs that required post-season surgery. He secured the record on the final day of the season, surpassing Boston’s Bill Buckner (184 in 1985).
On the bases, Pujols led the Cardinals club and all MLB first basemen with 16 stolen bases. He became just the second player in MLB history to have 100 RBI in each of first nine seasons, joining Hall of Famer Al Simmons (11).
In fact, Pujols is the National League’s Triple Crown winner for the decade, leading in batting average (.334), home runs (366) and RBI (1,112) despite playing in just the final nine seasons.
Concerns over Pujols’ elbow resurfaced on October 21, as he made the decision to undergo surgery to have the bone spurs removed from his right elbow. It was feared by some that Pujols might require immediate Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, which would have knocked him out of action for at least the first half of the 2010 season.
Instead, famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Alabama said Pujols’ ligament was in good enough shape that he would not need replacement surgery. This was great news, and contrary to previous belief that it would be required at some point to address the problem that first surfaced in 2003.
His post-season awards were numerous, including Player of the Year Awards from Sporting News and Players Choice, The Hank Aaron Award, another Silver Slugger Award and of course, his second consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Award. All 32 voters placed Pujols first on their ballot. In the process, Pujols tied the great Stan Musial with his third MVP Award, most ever by a Cardinal.
For a look at Pujols’ 2009 compared to the rest of his stellar career, check out my October article at The Cardinal Nation entitled, “Scout.com Cardinals 2009 Player of the Year”.
Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown
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[...] Mo and TLR 5. The failed finish 4. Holliday’s free agent romp 3. Cy close and closer 2. The repeat MVP [...]
Jeff Gordon has an interesting Job doesn’t he. Bernie manages to at least advance Mo’s posturing to, “yeah, we’ll just go to the corner story to fill our needs, or we’ll trade, yeah that it, we’ll make a trade.
John Smoltz, the proud hall of fame candidate, after competing with the team and listening to Cardinal propaganda surrounding his presents here, still believes that the Cardinals must be just trying to lower his price. He gracefully signals his receptivity by say he’s now leaning their way. This decision, to sign Hill, has nothing to do with baseball. It is the most outrageous stalling tactic with risks beyond reason to achieve one thing…………. quell public curiosity about the non signing of Smoltz, or anyone else for that matter.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/jeffgordon/story/E9FAB7C688C71F4D862576B900508F3E?OpenDocument
the reason articles like this are even written, is a sign of organizational vulnerability.
Last winter, we signed southpaw reliever Royce Ring, who ended up at Memphis. We also signed a reliever let go by the Nationals, who also spent 2009 at Memphis. A couple of years back, there was a journeyman southpaw circa age 30 who made one or two appearances for the Cards, but otherwise spent the season at Memphis; forget his name. Signing a southpaw like Hill is nothing new, its routine. We add a AAA guy who could move up, if 1) he pitches well, and 2) there is an opening in StL.
The Cards will look for a good value on any future signing. There are players out there looking for jobs and their prices are declining daily. Its a game of musical chairs. No player wants to be left standing.
I told all about the Johnny Damon story two months ago. That isn’t news. As it stands, the Cardinals are not really a better team than last year. The point is, they will eventually have to make a public offer to Pujols. It appears that they want to be absolutely sure of his answer. Thus a very weak showing in a hugely advantageous owners market.
I am well known here, as someone that really doesn’t care much about Pujols future. And I don’t. The real issue is whether we are going to be a competitive baseball team. A breakdown of Chris Carpenter sends this team back to the 3rd place. Smoltz is rich. He loves baseball. He would be our third most tenacious competitor behind Carp and Wanio. He doesn’t care what he is paid. It could be completely incentive based. He just wants to be part of something he admired.
Truth be known, if he pitched well, and the Cardinals were playing well, even with such a lame effort at signing talent, Pujols just might except the 200 million offer differed over 20yrs, and as I’ve said, I’m not so sure thats something they want. Holiday is starting to look like a conspicuously positioned replacement, something they had to be sure they had enough dollars and years to justify their commitment to winning. Boras doesn’t do differed contracts………….unless your just giving money away. That is what happened here. Holiday fires Boras if he blows that deal. He wasn’t pressing to the end for more years with differed money. It was BD that opened the garden gate……………….to fulfill his business plan. As with all arch conservative in this society, business is about appearances. The bottom line is their self esteem.
To me there is a strong appearance that Albert’s future has been decided, the only wild Card being the Angels. They are watching with interest at the activities of Boston and NY.
You are often the pessimist, WCBW. McGwire suggested Pujols might be worth $30MM per year. So what did the Cards do? They hired Mark. So now we have a team employee (batting coach) talking about Albert’s salary potential. The Cards are not going to low ball Pujols.
Smoltz is not a great fit. Hes a great guy, nearing retirement. We have a number of right handed relievers who are young. The Cards would not want to lowball a distinguished veteran like Smoltz, so he may land elsewhere. Mo prefers to add another position player, it is said.
Hey a minor league deal for Edmonds. Think Tony gave him the word? The tension mounts. I think Shumaker is going to get some outfield time this year.
Since it may not have been saluted already, Pujols had a wonderful season.
His effectiveness does seem influenced by elbow health. When he feels good, his results astound and are other worldly. When he is not feeling as good, he is still a good soldier and slogs on.
Thanks for the chuckle Jumbo. From a baseball standpoint, aside from toying with Lugo in the middle, not much platooning for Tony. I wonder if someone planned that? I want to see Mather, Craig and Fresse. Think about it………if these guys tunnel, BD is taking a real hit in the pocket book.
KMac doesn’t have the nerves to be a starter…….a reliever? I hope a few of the Hot Shot arms make an impression…………will we be risking early exposure? The only player I’m sure makes the team is Ruben G……………………. Give me one player that shaves…….and swears please. They could get two bats now for the powder they have…………….but then that pushes the kids back down. What do you think Albert.
The Cards performance enhancement strategy in 1942
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ObUKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aU0DAAAAIBAJ&dq=february%2023%2C%201942&pg=3866%2C4036628
“Players Go For Pills.”
“We didn’t want to make an issue of the pills”, Southworth replied with a smile, when asked about them, “but we’re not ashamed of them. The players took to them like ducks to water, they’d heard of them before.”
They are talking about vitamin pills, which I take it were new at the time. It says they are ‘guinea pigs’ and will take 3 pills a day for the first few days and 2 a day after that. Does this shed any light on the mindset of players and managers when it comes to trying to find majic in a bottle?
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oKoLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L1UDAAAAIBAJ&dq=1941%20cardinals%20roster&pg=3931%2C6050763
Pretty good blingboy, I agree with your conclusions and my own belief is that PED’s have been around and available to world class athletes since at least the 1870′s and probably since the first Olympics in ancient Greece.