Saw this on ESPN today:
Albert Pujols is encouraging the St. Louis Cardinals to sign Manny Ramirez….
Pujols passed along Ramirez’s telephone number to St. Louis manager Tony La Russa.
“Maybe St. Louis doesn’t have the money to sign him, but he could give them a discount because St. Louis is a great city that supports its players,” Pujols said.
Albert has no business weighing in on this. As I said to brody, it’s not his job to weigh in on who should or shouldn’t be on the team — that’s up to Mozeliak and, to a lesser degree, LaRussa. Before this, Manny wasn’t even on the Cards’ radar; now, Albert has put the team in an awkward position no matter what they do: if the Cards do sign Manny, it’s going to look like they did it because Pujols told them to, and if they don’t, it’s going to upset a fair number of fans (who, let’s be honest, care more about Albert than they do about Mozeliak). Basically, it doesn’t matter what Albert thinks the team should do — he should keep his opinions private and not discuss them with the press.
FWIW, I love the idea of Manny on the Cards. I’d love to see him bat 5th, with Ankiel sandwiched between him and Albert, forcing opposing managers to burn a LOOGY. Knowing LaRussa, though, the order would probably be more like Ankiel batting 2nd, followed by Albert, Manny, and Ludwick.
mixusutep…
Chain Saw Mcculloch …