Albert Pujols was apparently trying to secure another bag from the Los Angeles Angels.
The legendary former MLB slugger Pujols was in talks last offseason about potentially becoming the new manager of the Angels. But Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported this week that Pujols made a major demand of the team during negotiations.
“What I heard was he wanted not only a $6 million salary,” said Heyman of Pujols. “He wanted control of everything.”
Heyman noted that the 11-time MLB All-Star Pujols also interviewed for the manager job of the San Diego Padres around the same time. You can listen to Heyman’s full report on the situation here.
Pujols, now 46 years old, played for the Angels from 2012-21 and also had a post-retirement personal services contract with the team. At a $6 million annual salary though, Pujols would have immediately become one of the highest-paid managers in Major League Baseball (behind only Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Craig Counsell of the Chicago Cubs among active managers).
The Angels ultimately balked and hired Kurt Suzuki instead to manage on a rather bizarre short-term contract. We know that Pujols really wants to manage in MLB (recently being linked to another manager job as well), but he may have to come off his lofty demands if he wants to have a realistic shot at doing so.
