how will the new division affect alberts stats?

[dominik]

What do you think? I could imagine that his stats suffer a little not only due to a beginning decline but also because of the new division.

-The al is stronger than the NL to begin with
-angel stadium is a pitchers park
-the other teams besides Texas have pitchers parks
-the opponents have good pitching (even the bad teams from Oakland and Seattle have ok pitching)

I think an aging pujols will have a pretty tough time to repeat his stats in a stronger, pitching and pitching park heavy division. What do you think?

[Joltin' Joe]

His splits whether it be LHP, RHP, home, road, day, night, etc etc is so amazingly consistent I doubt it will make any difference to him. The man is a machine.

[RaysFan_98]

Playing in the west? I think his stats will go up till the pitchers figure him out. Will be a learning curve for everyone.

[dominik]

Playing in the west? I think his stats will go up till the pitchers figure him out. Will be a learning curve for everyone.

Yeah but don't forget that there is so much scouting out there. pitchers are told what to throw against him before opening day. so figuring out doesn't take long in these days there are no secrets anymore in baseball. AL west scouts have probably watched 100s of video hours of albert this winter.

[GiambiJuice]

Is Angel Stadium much more of a pitchers' park than Busch?

I think Albert's stats may depend largely on how well Kendry Morales, Vernon Wells and others can bounce back. If Morales escpecially is back to his 2009 form and is hitting cleanup, it will bode well for Albert in the #3 hole. I think if he's patient at the plate, he will have an excellent year (1.000 OPS or higher) but he might start to press a little and swing at more pitches outside the zone to try to live up to his contract. We saw it happen last year when he was playing for the big contract. He was swinging at way more bad pitches than ever before.

I think Albert will win the MVP this year. I predicted in the 2012 Awards Prediction thread a couple weeks ago and I'm sticking with my pick.

[UnderPressure]

He'll hit plenty of HRs again at Minute Maid Park starting next season.

[Seattle1]

Well, you have to admit, he is going to have a tough time against the Seattle Mariners pitching staff. This isn't exactly like hitting against NL Central pitching (cough cough).

[Captain Cold Nose]

Yeah but don't forget that there is so much scouting out there. pitchers are told what to throw against him before opening day. so figuring out doesn't take long in these days there are no secrets anymore in baseball. AL west scouts have probably watched 100s of video hours of albert this winter.

That never stopped him in the NL. Why would that work now?

[dominik]

That never stopped him in the NL. Why would that work now?

Yeah that works in both ways. I don't think there will be much figuring out. Anyone knows or thinks thinks he knows how to pitch him. If the figure him out it won't take long however I don't think that kind of hitter can be easily figured out. They adapt all the time.

I think the bigger problem will be the parks (except Texas which is a launching pad) and the better pitching in the new division. Of course he won't suck but I think his stats will suffer a little.