Pujols, Cabrera, Molina and the future in the MLB

The sense of nostalgia will be provided by Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, two living monuments of Latin American baseball. Pujols is perhaps the greatest Latin American ballplayer of all time, while Cabrera is one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time, perhaps the best of his generation, and the only Triple Crown winner we’ve ever seen play in person.

While Pujols will be on his farewell tour, Cabrera is in his final year of his contract and his numbers over the last three seasons add uncertainty about his future beyond 2022. For that reason, the best we can do is enjoy these two monuments of Latin American baseball and pay tribute to them each time they take the field before it’s too late.

There will be a lot at stake every month they remain active. Pujols could retire as the second-leading run-scorer, will enter the top 10 all-time in hits, and is already in the top five in doubles (672) and home runs (679). Most impressive is that with all those power numbers and despite playing in this era, he never struck out more than 100 times in a season.

Cabrera is 13 hits shy of 3,000, three doubles shy of 600 and starts the season with 502 home runs, 1,505 runs scored, 1,804 runs scored and a .310 average, so he would have to strike out in 331 innings to get under .300. He comes in with four batting titles and a .920 OPS, Hall of Fame numbers as soon as he appears on the ballot.

The numbers will be there and it will be enough to look them up in these pages to remember them. What will be missed is the grace and elegance with which they played the game and most of all, their commitment to the fans, demonstrated in every outing.

2. IN ADDITION to these two giants, keep an eye out in St. Louis for the farewell tour of their ‘Core Three’. Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, who debuted in the early 2000s and were crucial to four trips and two World Series titles for the Cards this century, will collectively say goodbye.

In these new times it is a rarity to see a player in one uniform, rarer to see two and have them retire at the same time. Wainwright and Molina make up the battery with the most games in the last 60 years and the fourth in the history of the Majors.

Pujols’ return to St. Louis anticipates a great farewell for them, without being a distraction for a team that looks like one of the favorites to win the NL Central Division pennant and advance deep into the playoffs.

3. WHILE PUJOLS, CABRERA and Molina prepare their encore, the future has arrived. A very new generation led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Juan Soto, Yordan Alvarez, Ronald Acuña Jr, Randy Arozarena, Julio Urías, Rafael Devers and Fernando Tatis Jr, among many others, has been here for a while now. And there’s even more: they’re joined by newcomers such as Wander Franco and Julio Rodriguez.

Guerrero Jr. and Soto finished second in MVP voting in both leagues in 2021 and figure to be ESPN experts’ favorites to win the award this season. They would be the third Latin American duo to capture the MVP award: Pujols and Alex Rodriguez did it in 2005, while Juan Gonzalez and Sammy Sosa combined in 1998.

Acuña Jr. and Tatis Jr. will not start the season due to injuries, but keep an eye on this group of young Latin talents because either of them is ready for a huge season.

4. LAST SEASON, Francisco Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract as a free agent with the New York Mets. The Puerto Rican was an underachiever in his first season in Queens (.230, 20 home runs, 63 RBI, .734 OPS), and had to endure his round of boos from the demanding New York fans. With a year of adjustment and adjustment, Lindor, the Mets and their fans need him to return to the form of his best seasons with Cleveland.

Two other stellar Puerto Rican shortstops are in the same situation as Lindor in 2021, albeit with a ton less pressure. Javier Baez brought his magic to the Detroit Tigers, where he hopes to be part of a rebuild that will lead the Tigers to a playoff option. Baez was traded to the Mets before the deadline last July and although there were hopes that he would stay in New York with his friend Lindor, he decided to go to a place where he could play shortstop, away from the New York fans with whom he had a bittersweet relationship. With a World Series ring, quality bat and glove, it will be interesting to see how far the Tigers move forward with Baez.

The third member of the stellar Puerto Rican trio, Carlos Correa, left the Houston Astros and signed a three-year contract with the Minnesota Twins, with player options after the first and second seasons. The contract not only makes him the highest paid infielder in the majors for the time being, but also gives him the option to test free agency should he have a MVP-level season. Like Baez and unlike Lindor, Correa also avoided the pressure of a large and demanding market like New York. How much will this help them? In a few months we will see the results.

5. IF YOU WENT TO SLEEP in 2019 and woke up on April 8, 2022, you will be surprised at some of the things you will see in today’s games. It’s still 9-on-9, still the distance between bases is 90 feet and still the distance between the pitching rubber and the plate is 60 feet 6 inches.

But you will no longer see a pitcher standing at the plate trying to hit – unless that pitcher is named Shohei Ohtani – because there is a designated hitter in the National League. Also, at times you’ll see the catcher and pitcher passing signals through an electronic device called a Pitchcom and not signing. Also, if you like to bet, you will have the opportunity to do so on a daily basis. These are great advances in a sport that has been resistant to the addition of technology, as evidenced by the fact that it was the last to add instant replay to correct umpire decisions.

At least you’re lucky you didn’t see a runner on second starting the inning when extra innings were coming up. I hope you never have to see it again.

6. FOR THOSE INTERESTED in betting, here’s my nickel for you: according to Caesars Sportsbook, the Los Angeles Dodgers come in as +475 favorites to win the World Series. No other team has odds of less than 10-1, the first time in over 35 years that this has happened.
7. THE LIST OF players who will not start the season because of injuries almost makes for an All-Star roster, headlined by Ronald Acuna Jr, Jacob deGrom and Fernando Tatis Jr.

Acuna Jr., who missed much of last season with a torn ACL in his right knee, has not been cleared to return. There is no definite timetable for his return, but his bat, glove and energy are key to the Braves’ chances of returning to the World Series. At the time of his injury, Acuna Jr. had a .283/.394/.596/.990 offensive line with 28 home runs and 17 stolen bases in 82 games.

DeGrom returns to the injured list, which he visited twice last season. When healthy, the Mets righty is simply the best pitcher in baseball, but he has been unable to live up to that title due to discomfort in his throwing arm and the right side of his body. It is known that he will miss the opening game, but the longer he is sidelined, the less chance the Mets have of making the postseason. deGrom had a 7-2 record, a 1.08 ERA, an absurd WHIP of .554 and 146 strikeouts in 92 innings.

Tatis Jr.’s injury is the most complicated of all. The Padres have been adding talent to build around Tatis Jr. for several years, with their sights set on winning now. But even in 2021, when he was third in MVP voting Tatis Jr. has not been able to stay healthy and the new injury, a fractured wrist, provides no guarantee of a return this season. San Diego should have all the alarm bells ringing and rightly so: the Dominican would be going into the second season of a 14-year, $340 million contract with a physical problem that could affect him for the rest of his career.

8. JUST AS THERE IS A BIG group of ballplayers who started 2022 on the injured list, another all-star team returns to make their mark after a 2021 lost entirely or halfway through due to physical discomfort. The list is headed by none other than Mike Trout, the three-time MVP who was limited to 36 games by a calf injury.

Justin Verlander, Byron Buxton, Noah Syndergaard, Stephen Strasburg, Corey Seager and Kyle Lewis are among the more notable returnees. It would be refreshing if Acuna Jr. and deGrom also belonged to this group at some point this season.

9. YOU CAN FAVOR or OPPOSE Ronald Acuna’s comments to Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols about Freddie Freeman in a live Instagram interview, but there’s one thing you can’t deny: the Venezuelan’s candor and sincerity is refreshing. let him keep talking!