Washington manager Jim Riggleman said he was determined not to let Albert Pujols beat him when he walked the St. Louis Cardinals slugger Tuesday night, bringing the winning run to the plate in the ninth inning of the Nationals’ 8-6 win.
“I just wouldn’t have slept good tonight if he had homered there,” Riggleman told reporters after the game.
Here’s a way the Nationals can be sure Pujols won’t beat them. Here’s a way Riggleman can sleep better at night.
Pay the man.
Unless something changes between now and the end of the season between Pujols and the Cardinals, this will be the Winter of Albert, who will be a free agent.
The winter may not live up to the Summer of LeBron, but it should prove interesting, and one of the players in that drama likely will be the Nationals.
It will likely prove to be more flirtation than romance. It is still difficult to believe the Cardinals and Pujols won’t make a deal for him to stay in St. Louis. But if Pujols is going to be serious about his shopping spree, one of the stores has to be the Nationals if for no other reason than to inflate his value (as if it needed inflating).
Washington served that role well two years ago, when the franchise inflated the value of Mark Teixeira, pushing the Boston Red Sox out of the bidding and helping Teixeira land an eight-year, $180 million deal with the New York Yankees.
The Nationals’ interest in Teixeira stunned some in major league baseball — but not as much as their move last winter, when the Lerner family paid an absurd $126 million to Jayson Werth.
It was a deal that Werth couldn’t refuse, which was the point. It was an offer the Nationals had to make at least to prove they are serious about being foolish with their money.
They say there is no crying in baseball, but I can assure you tears were shed in front offices around the league when Werth got that deal.
Consider this — if you are going to pay Werth $126 million, what should you pay Pujols? Double? Is Pujols in such rarefied air that not even the Nationals could raise his value?
The buzz around the league is that the Nationals, having flushed out much of the damage left behind by former general manager Jim Bowden, are on the verge of being worth watching. The anticipated return of Stephen Strasburg next season, the possible arrival of Bryce Harper and the core of young players such as Jordan Zimmermann, Drew Storen, Wilson Ramos and Danny Espinosa have made an impression among players around the league.
It’s probably not enough to impress Pujols, who likely also will be a prime target of Angels owner Arte Moreno, who could strike a devastating blow to the nearly bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers in that Southern California market.
Washington? A supporting role in the drama that will be the Winter of Albert.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
