Take A Seat Albert

Frightening play at first base yesterday when Albert Pujols reached for a ball and his left arm was run into by Wilson Betemit of the Royals. Clean play, nothing dirty about it. But it left Pujols with an a broken left wrist and sore shoulder. He was placed on the disabled list and will miss 4-6 weeks. He's likely due back in early August.
It could have been even worse. Think of the Cliff Floyd injury when he was with the Expos in 1995. He suffered a devastating wrist injury reaching a ball and it probably hampered what turned out to be a pretty good career anyway. But what would it have been without the injury?
Pujols, in a contract year, is hitting just .279, well below his lifetime average of .329. After a slow start, he has 17 homers and 45 RBI's. Most guys would take those numbers but for Albert it is not up to his standards.
How much will this effect his bargaining power when he becomes a free agent? If he comes back and proves he's healthy I would say not much. If he comes back and struggles, then it could prove very costly. When I say very costly it is relative. He either gets 27-million or so or has to settle for 22-million per year over how ever many seasons. He's still in a good spot financially.
Tony LaRussa said it best for all Cardinals players and fans. The skipper simply said, "I'm going to go find a place to cry."
The Cardinals were playing crappy with Pujols, having broken a 7-game losing streak when they won Saturday and Sunday. Now we'll see if they can keep the ship afloat with Albert on the DL.
Final footnote. 23-year old rookie second baseman Pete Kozma, playing in just his 11th Major League game, made the off-line throw to Pujols. He has to be feeling like the least popular guy in St. Louis right now. I fell sick for the guy, I really do.