St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols struggling for form
What is wrong with the greatest player in baseball? This is the question that any stakeholder in baseball is currently wondering. Albert Pujols plays for the St Louis Cardinals and their latest defeat against the Pittsburgh Pirates has gotten everyone talking.
The Cardinals have not been performing up to the mark due to several reasons. First has to be Adam Wainwright’s elbow surgery. Then it was the news that Matt Holliday had an appendectomy which would take a couple of weeks to recover from and now its Albert
Pujols less than stellar performance.
Pujols performance is perhaps the worst hit for the Cardinals. The most feared batter in Major League Baseball is hitting a meager .125. He has had only two hits in 16 at-bats and has had a single RBI. His on base slugging percentage which has always stayed
above .950 now stands at .489. This is what he started off the season with, as even though it has only been a few games into the season for the Cardinals, it can be said that Pujols is not having a very good season so far.
There have been many speculations as to what caused this sudden slump that no one saw coming. Does his contract situation have something to do with it? Is the fact that fans are not worshiping him like they once used to? Has he lost his spark? Can his body
still cooperate with him in having those mind blowing seasons now that he is older than what he used to be a couple of years ago?
He has reportedly asked for $30-million per year to continue playing for the Cardinals. With the Cardinals unable to pay him that kind of money maybe it is the contract situating getting to him? Fans have been heard on radio stations and baseball stadiums
saying things like, "He wants how much to pop out with men on base?" and "For the kind of money he's wanting, you'd think he could run a little harder."
There is a chance that his contract demands have caused some sort of change to take place among his once-loyal fan base. He has been someone who has been admired to the point of almost being worshipped. Pujols is one of the very few stars in baseball who
are pious and respected and have remained unscathed by scandals as well as poor performance. All those things aside, it seems that the word ‘greedy’ is being associated with Pujols and many have said that he is not performing up to the mark because he is dissatisfied
with the Cardinals and the amount they’re paying him currently.
Maybe it is the fact that the fans are starting to realise that Pujols would not remain a Cardinal for life and that is not settling down too well with them. What the fans are forgetting is that Pujols is the same player who has taken the Cardinals to two
pennants and a World Series title and has put up record numbers for a very long and consistent time. Everybody just needs to give the player a break and stop blowing the matter out of proportion.
“It’s just a bad game, man,” Pujols said. “What, am I going to shoot myself up? It’s just a bad game, and that’s it.”
In the end, the only person that can answer these questions is Pujols himself. It is still early in the season, only time will tell to see if he can manage to improve his performance and give the Cardinals’ fan something to cheer about.
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