[外電] Despite all he's done, Pujols thinks he can be better
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By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/11/2007
JUPITER, Fla. — Already, Albert Pujols has been a batting champion, a Most
Valuable Player, a defensive nomad who became a Gold Glove winner, a World
Series champion and the baddest hombre on the block.
This leads Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo to a ready conclusion:
"He can get better, and he will, because he wants to."
Better at first base, even though he cut his errors from 14 to six while
winning his first Gold Glove last season.
Better at running the bases, where he is among the club's leading risk-takers.
Better in the clubhouse, where experience may help him become more
approachable to teammates and more aware of what is the right thing to say
and when.
"He's still a young player," Oquendo said. "A lot of people don't look at him
that way because of what he's done. But he's learning, too. He is also a
leader. And there are things that come with that."
At 27, Pujols should be entering the prime of a career already defined by
superlatives. Yet he continues to evolve as more than a hitting machine.
"He's a really smart player," said manager Tony La Russa, whose Cardinals
have reached the postseason five times in six seasons with Pujols playing
three positions. "I say it so many times: He's a throwback to the old days
when they were just trying to win a game. This guy is just trying to win a
stinkin' game. He pays attention to how baserunning wins it, how defense wins
it, how handling the bat wins it, how his teammates have to win it.
"I think he's getting smarter and smarter because he pays attention to that.
I think he's better and better every year."
Six seasons into a career moving toward Cooperstown, Pujols remains one of
the younger position players within a veteran clubhouse. However, his service
time is long enough that he would have been a free agent last November if the
Cardinals had not signed him to a seven-year, $100 million deal in February
2004.
Sensitive to how security affects desire, La Russa was among those uneasy
about bestowing a long-term deal on a player just turned 23. But Pujols'
desire and his performance have not shown evidence of softening.
"I don't know how many more tests he has to pass for any of us, but that was
the next one," La Russa said. "To be given that kind of money and security
... it hasn't changed anything about it. I'm trying to think what would be
left."
A .334 hitter with 114 home runs, 381 RBIs, 367 runs and 227 strikeouts
versus 220 walks before signing the deal, he has hit .331 with 136 home runs,
377 RBIs, 381 runs and 273 walks versus 167 strikeouts since.
Pujols uses the word "greedy" only about his on-field approach. Often
impatient with his performance, he steadfastly refuses to credit any pitcher
"even if he strikes me out four times."
"I will respect a pitcher but I will never give him credit — never," Pujols
said.
Pujols knows his monstrous numbers can make him an intimidating figure to
younger or less accomplished players. His commitment to routine is almost
religious, leaving little time for diversion.
"When I got here, I asked a lot of questions," he said. "I asked Mark
McGwire, I asked Ray (Lankford). I asked everybody. What's the worst thing
they can say? No? I'm glad to talk to anybody who wants to know something
about hitting, about how to play the game right. I want to be that kind of
guy."
Perceived by some corners of his clubhouse last season as approachable only
to a few, Pujols has appeared more gregarious this spring.
"I want to be there for my teammates, the guys like Mike Matheny, Darryl Kile
and Placido Polanco who were there for me when I was a young player," Pujols
said. "If you want to know something, come talk to me. I'm not a selfish guy
that way."
Pujols insists he doesn't live for numbers, only rings. Ultimately, he
measures himself by his production.
"You can't be satisfied with the years you've had," said Pujols, who has yet
to finish lower than third in MVP balloting. "If I hit 49 home runs last
season, I want to hit 50 this year. If I hit .330, then I want to hit .331.
I'm not saying I'll do it, but it's how I want to get better. That tells me
instead of going back, I'm going to move forward."
Pujols hit 49 home runs with 137 RBIs in a career-low 143 games last season.
If not for a severely strained muscle on his right side, he may have
challenged 60 home runs, 150 RBIs and been named MVP for the second
consecutive year.
"It's something you definitely don't want to go through again. You hope it's
just once," Pujols said about his first stay on the disabled list. "I was
real excited by how I came back because I was supposed to miss three months.
It was definitely (supposed to be) more than the three or four weeks that I
missed."
Disappointed by his runner-up finish in MVP voting to Philadelphia Phillies
first baseman Ryan Howard, Pujols fights the temptation to say another 18
games would have changed the outcome.
"I believe that's what God wanted me to have," Pujols said. "Even if I hadn't
gotten hurt, I wouldn't have hit more than 49 home runs. That was my year. A
lot of people say they would have liked to have played those 20 games. But I
really believe what I had at the end of the season is what I would have had
if I played those 20 games."
Nor does he regret not waiting to play the market.
Pujols' first six seasons compare favorably to Alex Rodriguez's run-up to the
record 10-year, $252 million deal he signed as a free agent with the Texas
Rangers in December 2000.
Rodriguez, then 25, had hit .309 with 189 home runs, 595 RBIs, 627 runs and
1,753 total bases before agent Scott Boras extracted the breathtaking deal
from Rangers owner Tom Hicks.
Like Pujols, Rodriguez won a batting race without a home run or RBI title in
his first six seasons. Unlike Pujols, Rodriguez had yet to win a Gold Glove
or play on a World Series team.
Rodriguez was named to four All-Star teams before reaching free agency;
Pujols has appeared for the National League five times.
"There's no question he would have gotten more than $20 million a year," an
agent insisted. "The market has a limit, and it's difficult to know what that
limit is right now. But Pujols would have pushed that limit."
A rival West Coast agent believes Pujols' value eclipses Rodriguez's,
especially within a market that last winter gave Alfonso Soriano $136 million
over eight years and Vernon Wells $126 million for seven. The Astros stunned
the industry by awarding free agent outfielder Carlos Lee a six-year, $100
million deal, though he lacks a .900 on-base/slugging percentage in any
season.
Pujols owns a career 1.048 OPS and has strayed below 1.000 for a season only
once.
"There are no comparables for (Pujols)," the agent asserted. "You start at
Rodriguez and go up. Unless something significant happens between now and
then, once (Pujols) hits the market he becomes the best-looking blond out
there. It's only a matter of who wants her the most."
This winter's spending frenzy did not faze him.
"I got my money," said Pujols, who received the most lucrative contract ever
for a first-time arbitration-eligible player. "It was a lot of money back
then. Right now, they're paying a little bit more. I don't think I wasn't
overpaid. But I got a good deal. The Cardinals could have signed me for one
year if they wanted to. I'm happy with what I have right now. It's a lot of
money."
Pujols, due $15 million this season (including $3 million deferred without
interest), says he does not regret signing a long-term deal three years
before reaching free agency because of the security it provided him and his
family. He also gets another bite of the apple after the 2011 season if the
Cardinals pick up his $18 million option. He will be 31 by then.
"It's going to be interesting," Pujols said. "I just want to stay healthy.
Really, it's not about the money. It's about how many championships we can
win and how much better I can make myself."
That discussion has taken place. Oquendo and Pujols have discussed making
better "decisions" on defense and running the bases.
Pujols led the 2005 team with 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts. He stole seven
last season.
"He got a lot of those steals by being intelligent," La Russa said. "If the
pitcher wasn't paying attention, he got a great jump and he took it. But what
I look at is: When he runs, how often is that one stolen base worth the risk
to his legs? Not too often."
Hamstring problems have beset Pujols much of his career and already have
nipped at him this spring. He now labels himself slow with tactical speed.
"I'm not a Kerry Robinson or a Juan Pierre, but I know how to run the bases,"
he said. "I'm going to be able to score from first base on a double. I know
how to play the game the right way."
If Pujols is less of a threat to steal, that's fine with his manager. "I
worry more about the wear and tear on his legs," La Russa said. "This is a
guy who generates 200 hits, extra bases and is playing defense."
A guy who can become even better.
jstrauss@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8371
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