Pujols quietly becoming elite 1B basestealer

[hooligan1]

I don't have Pujols in any of my leagues this year and I was just looking at his stats and HOLY CRAP!! Not only is he having YET another fantastic season in all cats he is normally strong in, but he has 14 stolen bases!! 14!! That's one more than his career total coming into the year. And he's only been caught stealing twice......Yikes.

Anybody have any thoughts on whether he continues this over the next few years of his career? Cause if he does......well, suffice to say he's THE preeminate fatasy player, as if he wasn't already in most peoples' minds..... I mean, other than Lee right now or Bagwell a few years ago, I can't think of many first basemen who put up these kinds of SB numbers.....

Anyway, just an observation......Hopefully this hasn't been posted about real recently. I just don't get onto the Cafe as often as I used to...

[Pogotheostrich]

I can’t see it continuing. Pujols steals bases cause he is smart and picks his spots. He isn’t fast at all. Once pitchers start paying more attention to him his SB will go down.

btw - Klesko put up some nice SB numbers for a couple years playing 1B.

[RAmst23]

I can’t see it continuing. Pujols steals bases cause he is smart and picks his spots. He isn’t fast at all. Once pitchers start paying more attention to him his SB will go down.

btw - Klesko put up some nice SB numbers for a couple years playing 1B.

Wow, I was going to use this argument in FAVOR of Pujols being able to steal 10+ year after year. I think Paul O'Neil said that any player in MLB can steal at least 12-15 every year if they just pay attention.

Pujols won't ever get more than say 12, but he'll be able to get double-digits because he's so good at paying attention and wanting that extra base. Pitchers will not constantly pay attention to him on the basepaths, he'll get around 10 year after year IMO.

[The Loveable Losers]

I agree with the general assessment...this isn't something where we're going to see Pujols sb #'s growing year after year. But as long as the foot problems stay manageable and he stays healthy he's just too smart of a player to not end up stealing 10-15 bases each year.

[stumpak]

That is exactly right, he picks his spots. And O'Neil is right, anyone can do this if they are smart. Eric Karros, who is incredibly slow, had a 15 Sb season and a season where he was 8 for 8 in SBs. He was able to schieve this by picking his spots.

An elite base stealer is a guy like Ricky Henderson who can successfully run on anyone. Pujols is not this, and frankly once every off-season scouting report notes his 2005 success, pitchers will be more diligent in holding him on and easy opportunities will dminish. I would not count on Pujols for 15 SBs next year.

[The Loveable Losers]

Not all pitchers have a good enough move to successfully hold runners on whether they are paying attention or not though. Guys will have mental lapses and since he's stealing bases opportunistically rather than based on game situation I'd have to say he'll get his 10-15 each year.

[The Jury]

That is exactly right, he picks his spots. And O'Neil is right, anyone can do this if they are smart. Eric Karros, who is incredibly slow, had a 15 Sb season and a season where he was 8 for 8 in SBs. He was able to schieve this by picking his spots.

An elite base stealer is a guy like Ricky Henderson who can successfully run on anyone. Pujols is not this, and frankly once every off-season scouting report notes his 2005 success, pitchers will be more diligent in holding him on and easy opportunities will dminish. I would not count on Pujols for 15 SBs next year.

Yes, we pretty much all have the same opinion. He'll slyly take his dozen bags a year, but as his totals get higher year to year, he'll get more attention and will be nullfied.

Ironically, the more bags he steals, the less bags he'll steal

[hooligan1]

That is exactly right, he picks his spots. And O'Neil is right, anyone can do this if they are smart. Eric Karros, who is incredibly slow, had a 15 Sb season and a season where he was 8 for 8 in SBs. He was able to schieve this by picking his spots.

An elite base stealer is a guy like Ricky Henderson who can successfully run on anyone. Pujols is not this, and frankly once every off-season scouting report notes his 2005 success, pitchers will be more diligent in holding him on and easy opportunities will dminish. I would not count on Pujols for 15 SBs next year.

I wasn't saying he was an elite basestealer, my point was he is becoming an elite basestealer AMONG firstbasemen. Thanks for everyone's input. Always interesting opinions to be found on the Cafe!!

[Pedantic]

As long as the Cardinals can continue to bat the likes of Edmonds and Rolen behind Pujols, I think that pitchers will find that little ol' Pujols stealing a base is the least of their worries.

[davidmarver]

I can’t see it continuing. Pujols steals bases cause he is smart and picks his spots. He isn’t fast at all. Once pitchers start paying more attention to him his SB will go down.

btw - Klesko put up some nice SB numbers for a couple years playing 1B.

Indeed, Klesko had back-to-back 20/20 season, I believe.

Still not worth the $10,000,000.000 he'll get next season.

Pujols, due to the SB, is really pushing ARod for the #1 fantasy slot.