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Pujols: Year 1+ Reactions

Hello Halo fans. I'm a Cardinals fan who is not here to troll. Seriously. Best of intentions. Let me say that I thought your boys really pulled it together at least a couple of times this year for extended stretches (I didn't follow your team closely), but were done in by what seems to be two dreadful strings, the most obvious being the one to open the year. Given Trout and Weaver, not to mention quite a few other really nice pieces, I'd say you're nicely positioned to compete in what is becoming a rather tough division. Not to mention that you'll have the chance to kick the Astros around next year. Incidentally, I'm a bit sad to see that Astros so crappy and leaving the NL Central since they were (A) easy wins this year, and (B) there was a spirited competition between them and the Birds on the Bat for several years.

ANYWAY, I am curious to get your takes on Albert's first year in Cali and how you feel about him going forward. Yes, the Halos are most certainly Trout's team (it must have been awesome to follow that all summer), but Albert will, of course, be expected to put up numbers (he never has been a 'clubhouse leader,' at least not outside of the lead-by-example model).

I suppose that gets to my question. What are you expecting from him, say, next year and the year after? More to the point, what sort of numbers do you think he NEEDS to put up in order to pull his weight (size of contract aside)? I look at his stats (traditional and advanced) and say to myself, "well, this year was very nearly the same as last year." Do you think that his 2011 and 2012 are the new normal for him, or are you expecting something more? Albert's 2011/2012: over or under?

Please forgive this cross blog fan-post, but after watching him for 11 years, I will probably always feel a little tied to El Hombre (I don't care what he says; a lot of us in StL always called him that).

I look forward to reading what you have to say. Best of luck next year and addressing an ostensibly dire bullpen situation (again, didn't follow the Halos closely) in the off-season (my respect of Izzy notwithstanding).

Wow- just reread this pre-posting and see there are 8 parenthetical additions. I'm sure whoever taught me writing at wherever is really something something about that. Screw it. Doing it anyway.

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