With it being the last day of the regular season and both the Angels and Phillies eliminated from playoff contention, I felt like this point just needed to be made...
It is notably ironic that when Albert Pujols signed his recent contract with the Los Angeles Angels, that his average annual salary tied him for third on the list of active players, with none other than Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee (A-Rod and Ryan Howard rank 1 and 2).
There was a concept that I've repeated back-to-back off-seasons, mainly to my younger brother and a few close friends; in winter of 2010 it was that Cliff Lee needed the Texas Rangers more than the Rangers needed him, and in winter of 2011 it was that Albert Pujols needed the St. Louis Cardinals more than the Cardinals needed him. The two players' relationships with their former teams held high levels of intangible value in different ways. It turns out that both of these players believed themselves to be bigger than their now ex-teams, and went chasing after what I deem as "fool's gold."
