Albert Pujols

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

The news Thursday morning may have been absolutely stunning a Albert Pujols, the premier player baseball, to the Los Angeles Angels, on a 10-year free-agent contract worth somewhere worth a reported $250 million a but the Angelsa motivation was perfectly logical.Read full article >>

St. Louis has handled the post-Albert Pujols era just fine until this point, but health concerns threaten to bring it all down.

A new hitting coach may or may not wake up Albert Pujols, but L.A. had to try something with a season slipping away.

Unsure when his first homer will come, Albert Pujols can only stick to the process that’s made him the game’s most feared hitter.

Albert Pujols hoped to do something “special” Friday, but instead was lifted by his Angels teammates in his AL debut.

A freak fractured ankle and two surgeries later, Morales appears ready to return to the middle of the lineup.

Albert Pujols welcomed his new hitting coach to town with a go-ahead three-run homer and Vernon Wells added a two-run shot to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

The Los Angeles Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher on Tuesday after Albert Pujols and many of his teammates got off to dismal offensive start this season.

Ervin Santana struck out nine during 7 2-3 innings of four-hit ball, Albert Pujols drove in two runs with infield singles, and the Los Angeles Angels rebounded from yet another shutout loss with a 4-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Angels began the season confident Albert Pujols would anchor a powerful lineup.

1. In todayas Post, I wrote this column about being at the domestic season opener last night between Carlos Beltranas Cardinals and Jose Reyesa Marlins, and sensing the stability of St. Louis and the sensationalism of Miami are so different right now from where the Mets are.

In the aftermath of the Cardinalsa 4-1 win, when my friend, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, asked Reyes if he missed the Mets, the shortstop said, aNo chance.a

He said it with a smile and good nature. But also honesty. He is in a place now where he is being paid lavishly — $106 million over the next six years a and the optimism and expectations abound after a few dreary years closing his Mets career.

So is there anything for Mets fans to look forward to in a season that begins today? Yes. There are always surprises and maybe the Mets will surprise. But more realistically what can occur this year is that more building blocks go into place as the Mets try to construct something long-term.

Here is what I feel good about as the season opens for the Mets: I do think Ike Davis is going to be a very good two-way player who challenges for Gold Gloves on defense and hits 30 homers. I think within the NL East it will be interesting to see who turns into the better long-term player among Davis, Atlantaas Freddie Freeman or Miamias Logan Morrison, who probably is best suited to play first rather than left.

In the Morrison ilk is Lucas Duda, who I think is miscast in right field, but not as a major league hitter. I think he has a chance to join Davis in giving the Mets two lefty-swinging 30-homer men. Understand what it would mean if Davis and Duda could actually do that. No team has had multiple lefty hitters reach 30 homers in a season since 2009, when the Phillies had three men do it: Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Chase Utley.

In Daniel Murphy they have another strong lefty hitter who could be a .300/60 extra-base hitter if he could stay healthy and not be such a liability at second base.

I feel Ruben Tejada will make all the plays at short and get on base at a pretty good clip; and might even muscle up for 30 doubles. Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee could be mid-rotation solutions. And by August, the Mets could be working some or all of Jeurys Familia, Matt Harvey and Jenrry Mejia onto their pitching staff (for those wondering, Zack Wheeler is beginning at Double-A and, thus, less likely to make it all the way to Flushing this year).

That is nine homegrown products who all, interestingly, were brought to the Mets during Omar Minayaas administration.

If all of this were to actually happen then even if the Mets meet the low expectations and finish last in the NL East, this would not be a lost season. It would be a season of growth toward what their suffering fans could hope is a better tomorrow.

2. I watched Miamias Giancarlo Stanton take batting practice twice in the last few days at Marlins Park and what stands out for me is not just how far he hits the ball, but how high.

For example, if you watch Alex Rodriguez take batting practice, he hits what you would more describe as missiles than moon shots. With Stanton, there is a majesty to these drives watching them arc seemingly as high as they go far. In this way, they remind me of watching Mark McGwire take batting practice during his historic homer run in 1998. Of course, that run is tainted now. But whatever I think of how McGwire amassed his power, I cannot erase from my mind being part of large, awed groups who would watch McGwireas BP sessions.

What stood out in last nightas actual game, however, was that Stanton hit two balls to center that off the bat looked as if they would be homers and died on or near the warning track. It reminded me of watching David Wright in the first year of Citi Field and seeing drives that, to him, felt like homers in his hands and to his muscle memory when struck, fall short. The Mets believe he altered his swing to try to compensate to generate the power to get the ball over the fence and ended up hurting his approach, leading to more strikeouts and less effectiveness.

Reyes, in fact, likened how Marlins Park was asimilar to Citi Field, big.a He also added, aThis is nicer. It is beautiful.a

However, when I asked him about Stantonas non-homers last night, Reyes said, aHe is going to hit his homers. There is nothing to worry about.a

That is likely true. Stanton is so big and strong that probably no stadium can contain him and we have not seen fully how weather conditions will impact Marlin Park and what the vagaries will be of when the retractable roof is opened or closed.

However, owners of teams have to be careful that they are not building their stadiums just to fit their fantasies of, say, Ebbets Field or a piece of modern art and actually a you know a enhance their teams and players. You do not want to build a stadium that you plan on being around for generations for specific players on a current team. But you do want to remember that it is being built for players to perform within, including the current ones. And not just for the ownersa egos.

3. In order to accommodate Reyes at shortstop, the Marlins had to move Hanley Ramirez to third. All indications were Ramirez did not initially like that plan, but slowly moved to acceptance and then to embracing the challenge.

But as the season opener displayed, there will be growing pains. Carlos Beltran hit a squibber in the short-third hole in the second inning. Ramirez took a few steps and then halted, looking toward Reyes as if this were the shortstopas ball. But Reyes also had pulled up. There was no chance Reyes was going to play the ball that deeply on a relatively slow-moving grounder and make a play against even this slower version of Beltran. Thus, it was incumbent on Ramirez that he make every effort to reach the ball.

Rafael Furcal led off the fifth inning by pushing a bunt toward third and beating Ramirezas throw. In that situation, with a leadoff man up who can run and bunt, Ramirez has to be cheating in a little more and, generally, be way more alert for the bunt.

And Ramirez is not alone in trying to adapt. Detroitas Miguel Cabrera, after a four-year hiatus, is moving back to third from first and the Angelsa Mark Trumbo is attempting the same cross-diamond transition. They are accommodating the only free-agent position players paid more in the offseason than Reyes a Prince Fielder with the Tigers and Albert Pujols with the Angels.

The Cabrera case is particularly tricky. One element that has made him so valuable is his ability to get on the field. He has played at least 157 games in each of the last eight seasons. But in spring training, he fractured a bone near his eye off of a bad hop. He has made it back for Opening Day. But what other physical landmines are out there for him, including just the sheer exhaustion of playing a more demanding position? Anything that detracts from his bat would negate some of the bonus of having Fielder. Also, Ramirez is a better athlete than Cabrera, so you wonder if Ramirez will frustrate himself and his pitching staff by what he cannot do at the position. In fact, you wonder if either man grows so frustrated and/or embarrassed that he no longer wants to accept playing the hot corner.

It does give a greater appreciation of A-Rod, who instantly embraced the shift to third base in 2004, knowing he could not be traded where he wanted, to the Yankees, without accepting that Derek Jeter was not coming off of shortstop. Rodriguez endures a lot of criticism. But his work ethic is generally admired by even his detractors. And Rodriguez worked hard to become a good third baseman and still works hard at the craft.

1. In todayas Post, I wrote this column about how the Matt Cain extension impacts the Yankees. Hint: More and more teams are signing their best young starters long term, which means fewer elite starters are reaching free agency in their prime, which means you better be developing good starting pitching. This is especially true now for the Yankees, who have gone frugal at a time when more and more teams have shown a willingness to spend big.

That trend is likely to continue since the Yankees are trying to drop under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014 to gain financial benefits that are part of the new collective bargaining agreement. Meanwhile, fueled by local TV money, in particular, more teams are becoming part of the big-spending brotherhood.

For example, it is no longer outlandish that more than $330 million could be guaranteed in a day a as it was yesterday a and the Yankees have nothing to do with it. Cincinnati gave a 10-year, $225 million extension to Joey Votto and the Giantsa extension for Cain covered five years at $112.5 million.

When Mark Teixeira signed his eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees after the 2008 season, he was the highest-paid first baseman in history by both total dollars and average annual value ($22.5 million). Now he has the fifth-highest annual value behind Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Votto. Those last three a Pujols, Fielder and Votto a have joined Alex Rodriguez in the $200 million club. International stars Yoenis Cespedes and Yu Darvish signed with hardly a peep from the Yankees.

There was a time when the Yankees had signed four of the five largest contracts ever given (A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Teixeira and Sabathia) and traded for the fifth, the original 10-year deal signed by A-Rod with Texas. Now the deals for Pujols, Votto, Fielder and Joe Mauer are mixed into the top nine.

The Yankees, of course, remain a financial heavyweight. But they no longer are in a class by themselves when it comes to spending.

2. Next yearas free-agent starting pitching class is not particularly good with Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke standing out. A very unscientific survey of executives thought it was much more likely Greinke would stay put in Milwaukee than Hamels would stay in Philadelphia.

What will be interesting is how intact subsequent free-agent starting classes will remain. Right now, Chris Carpenter, Dan Haren, Josh Johnson, Tim Lincecum and Adam Wainwright can all be free agents after the 2013 campaign.

But the one to really keep your eyes on is the class that would have their walk year in 2014, which would be highlighted by arguably the three best starters in the game in Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander with a pretty good secondary group of Josh Beckett, Justin Masterson and James Shields. Now, with new, rich ownership, the Dodgers will probably make a big pitch to keep Kershaw long term and Detroit owner Mike Ilitch has shown he is willing to spend to go for championships. Thus, he probably would do what is necessary to retain Verlander, though the righty had shown an affinity for bright lights and might want to try life outside of Detroit.

Here is where this is interesting for the New York teams. For the Mets, will they have the financial house in order enough to make a play for a dynamic ace? Their current two big-ticket items, Johan Santana and Jason Bay, will have had their contracts expire by then and the Mets will have had to make a long-term decision on David Wright.

As for the Yankees, at minimum, they want to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014. There are other benefits if they do it longer. But if they do it in just 2014, it would mean rather than pay a 50 percent tax on every dollar spent above the $189 million, their rate would fall to 17.5 percent in 2015 if they went over the threshold. In other words, they could go after one of those big starters (if they are truly free) and go over the threshold and not be punished nearly as severely.

3. As part of todayas column, I wrote that the season within the season was to watch how Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda did in the majors, and close-to-the-majors prospects such as Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Graham Stoneburner and Brett Marshall did in the minors. Because the Yankees need several of those cost-effective youngsters to come through as a way to keep from having to delve into spending big on starting pitching.

There will be one other season within the season having to do with the Yankee older starters: Freddy Garcia, Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte.

If any or all of them pitches well this year, the Yankees wouldnat mind bringing back one or more on a one-year contract. Because one year mitigates risk. It also keeps the Yankees from spending any long-term money as they keep the 2014 luxury-tax threshold in mind.

Photo by AP

Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols slides in the dirt chasing a hit down the line by San Diego Padres’ Chase Headley during the eighth inning in an interleague baseball game Saturday, May 19, 2012, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Read story

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