Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRedChief
Just what the hell would we have done with $25 million of Pujols salary on the payroll?
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We would've put Craig in RF, Kelly in the rotation and let Westbrook and Beltran walk. We probably would've used Gast or Freeman as a LOOGY and would've had to figure out how to survive with Randy Choate - {gasp}
And yeah, ownership would've had to chip in a little money as well.
We'd have been just fine for the immediate future. Things would start to get a little murky in 2014 and 2015, but baseball's revenue trend is going to make that $25 million look a hell of a lot less onerous by then.
And who knows - maybe Albert would've made a difference in those three games last October when Craig was busy getting busted inside and rolling everything over. We missed winning the pennant by just one key hit here and there over that last few days - perhaps Albert gets one of them?
Then again, Beltran was a man on fire in October and from a lineup standpoint, Albert's bat would replace Beltran's, not Craig's, so it's a hard call. I think it's fair to say that Albert would've made a difference towards the end, but it is hard to say how much.