Based on his comments about Wrigley Field over the weekend, it doesn’t sound as if the Cubs will be on the list of teams that Albert Pujols puts together if/when he becomes a free agent after the 2011 season.

From the Chicago Tribune:

“The history and the field is all good,” he said. “I always look forward to play (here) because it’s a great rivalry. (But) the playing field and all that, it’s not in the best condition you know. You’re glad you don’t have to play here for the whole year.”

The field is freaking 96 years old, so it makes sense that it doesn’t offer the best playing surface (especially when compared to some of the newer stadiums around the league). But I wonder what Pujols means specifically. Is the grass to slow or too fast? Does the dirt not hold together? Is the field unkempt? I wonder if more players share Pujols’ opinion of Wrigley, or if this isn’t a case of a St. Louis player having fun while taking a shot at something Chicago is proud of.

From a fan’s point of view, Wrigley will always be a historic landmark. It’s become a tourist attraction to most hardcore baseball fans and it’s always fun to catch a game in the middle of the day while drinking with the rest of the bleacher bums. The place is old, but it’s hard to argue against its place in baseball history.

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With two outs in the eighth inning during a game last Friday night, Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa gave Ryan Ludwick the steal sign with slugger Albert Pujols up to bat. Ludwick, who has been unsuccessful in all of his steal attempts this season, kept his streak alive and was thrown out at second base, effectively taking the bat out of Pujols’ hands.

This angered Pujols, who then threw a tantrum in the dugout. During the midst of his meltdown, La Russa barked at his star first baseman that, “I know how to (expletive) manage.” Once word of the exchange was made public, Pujols quickly defused the situation and nothing more was made out of it.

But St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell suggests that the issue lies deeper than just a star player getting into a spat with his skipper.

Of far more significance is the reason La Russa saw fit to essentially take the bat out of Pujols’ hand. The fact that the manager felt the need to attempt to manufacture a run in that situation tells you that he knows how much is favorite player is struggling.

That’s what makes his most recent well-documented struggles so puzzling. Over the last 10 games, he’s without an RBI, and he has only five in the last 20 games. Through his last 11 games, Pujols is batting .222 (eight for 36) with only six runs scored, and two extra-base hits (one double, one homer) and two RBIs.

Even more alarming is his last 22 games this month, with a .256 average, one homer and 10 RBIs. So when we see a man who has been a hitting and run-producing metronome for so long, it raises several obvious questions like “why” and “what’s wrong”?

I don’t think we’ll ever hear it from Pujols’ mouth that he’s struggling physically, but La Russa needs to find a way to wake up his bat. I don’t know if that means sitting him down for a mental (or physical) break, or if the manager has any more psychological tricks up his sleeve. He is a master at finding ways to bring out the best in his players. He has spent most of the first few months nursing along Brendan Ryan, Skip Schumaker and Holliday with varying degrees of success.

Pujols is right in that he’s spoiled everyone with his consistency over the last 10 years. He’s been a robot when it comes to production so when he falls into a slump this bad, everyone immediately hits the panic button.

But he’s not immune to slumps, bouts of frustrations or (gasp!) poor play. He’s the best hitter in baseball and he’ll figure it out – he just needs time to work through it. And I don’t know if there’s anything La Russa can do, or needs to do.

Baseball has a way of humbling players. When you’re in the midst of a slump, you feel like it will never end. But it does and Pujols isn’t the only marquee hitter that’s struggling. Prince Fielder is also off to a slow start and Pablo Sandoval saw his average drop nearly 80 points since the month of May started. Slumps happen – even to robots like Albert Pujols.

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Speaking with Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Albert Pujols has intimated that while his future with the Cardinals remains up in the air, he would love to remain part of the team.

Here are the highlights of multiple conversations I had with Pujols this week; some of his comments came during his visit to my radio show on WXOS (101.1 FM).

— On his contract, which is up after 2011:

“People in St. Louis and our fans around the country know where I want to be. And that’s St. Louis. There’s no city like St. Louis to play baseball. And the way the city has embraced me, and my family and our charitable foundation has been unbelievable. I am blessed. So why would I want to go anywhere else?

“I appreciate being a Cardinal. I appreciate wearing this uniform. I appreciate being part of the legacy over the last nine years and I want to continue to do that. I appreciate being around the Hall of Famers. I don’t think there’s many organizations who have that. I think we have the most (living) Hall of Famers, and they come around. You see Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst all the time. They spend time with us. You appreciate talking baseball with all of those guys. So why would I want to go anywhere?

“Do I want to do this right now and take care of this so we don’t need to worry about it? Of course. If it happens, it happens. But there are some things I am able to control and there are other things that are out of my hands that I can’t control. And that’s the truth.”

Pujols is entering his tenth season as a Cardinal, the team with which he has spent his entire career. I’m all for Pujols staying in St. Louis, solely because I appreciate when players and their fans maintain a connection. How many current players have spent ten consecutive seasons (at least 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched) with the same team? They are listed below with their respective team and the number of seasons spent with that team.

Lance Berkman (Astros) – 10
Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) – 11
Andruw Jones (Braves) – 11
Chipper Jones (Braves) – 15
Kerry Wood (Cubs) – 10
Jim Thome (Indians) – 10
Omar Vizquel (Indians) – 11
Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners) – 11
Jamie Moyer (Mariners) – 11
Luis Castillo (Marlins) – 10
Melvin Mora (Orioles) – 10
Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers) – 12
Jason Varitek (Red Sox) – 12
Tim Wakefield (Red Sox) – 15
Todd Helton (Rockies) – 12
Paul Konerko (White Sox) – 11
Derek Jeter (Yankees) – 15
Jorge Posada (Yankees) – 13
Mariano Rivera (Yankees) – 15

I might be forgetting a few, but the supplied data speaks for itself: gone are the days of firmly establishing a collection of players. Oh, and the Yankees find a good thing and stick with it. Yes, they have have the money to make it happen, but they’ve utilized the same strategy since their inception. It’s great for both the fans and business.

Update: I did some more research and found some surprises. While the list has expanded, it’s still disappointing that many teams haven’t kept a player (granted, there are the retirees and those serving the remainder of their contracts) longer than ten consecutive years in the recent past.

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