Report: Cardinals among teams with interest in Albert Pujols

Could a surprise reunion be in the cards for Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals?

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Cardinals are among the teams with interest in Pujols, who was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels last week.

Hearing Albert Pujols is drawing interest from his old team, the #STLCards

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 15, 2021

On Friday, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported that the Cardinals had internally discussed bringing back Pujols, though they had yet to speak to the player’s camp.

The Cardinals have had limited internal conversations about bringing back Albert Pujols,a free agent as of yesterday, I’m told. Nothing definitive. They have not reached out to Pujol’s camp. But it is a topic they have conversed internally about. Still appears to be a long shot.

— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) May 14, 2021

Pujols returning to St. Louis would definitely qualify as a surprise. He profiles as more of an American League player at this stage of his career, though he had made 20 appearances at first base for the Angels prior to his release. Even if the Cardinals do think Pujols can still play the position, they already have Paul Goldschmidt there. It’s likely that Pujols would have to accept a bench role as a pinch-hitter if he wanted to return to St. Louis.

That said, there’s still great affection for Pujols within the Cardinals organization and among the fans. You need only see the reaction he got in his first games back there to know that. It would be a great story, if nothing else.