Albert Pujols Injury: LA Angels With Buyer's Remorse After Early End to Season for Star

By Michael Moraitis--Featured Columnist

There are plenty of fans around baseball who believe that the 10-year, $240 million contract the Los Angeles Angels gave Albert Pujols was a mistake, and after a potentially season-ending injury, that will only add fuel to the fire.

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Pujols will likely miss the remainder of the season after suffering a tear in the left plantar fascia. Pujols may need surgery to repair the injury which has been a thorn in his side the entire season.

Source: Pujols has been told he's likely done for the season. Surgery possible, but undetermined.
— Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) July 28, 2013

It's been a rough go of it for Pujols, whose contract has garnered insane expectations of the slugger and rightfully so, that's what tends to come with big-money contracts like his. For the season, Pujols is hitting a disappointing .258 with 17 homers and 64 RBI.

On the bright side of things, Pujols' lackluster season may be attributable to his prolonged battle with this injury. It's very possible if not likely that a bad foot has made it more difficult for Pujols to be as effective as he normally is in the batter's box from season to season.

Still, no matter what may be holding Pujols back this season, there is still a whopping eight years left on his deal and it's becoming more and more apparent that Pujols will have a tough time living up to his massive deal that will take him beyond the age of 40 in L.A. because of his bad wheels.

Adding to the financial headache out there in the City of Angels, fellow big-money slugger Josh Hamilton is having a horrid season with 15 homers, 43 RBI and a .221 average.

In all, the Angels are in fourth place in the American League West and trail first place by 12 games, while they also remain eight games back of the second wild card spot. Clearly the $365 million investment in these two players hasn't even come close to paying off as of it and maybe it never will.

Los Angeles expected to get much more from Pujols and Hamilton for the money its spending, but it remains to be seen if the Angels will get a return on their excess. Until then, what was thought to be a World Series favorite will now be lucky to sniff the playoffs come October without Pujols.

As long as these two stars continue to struggle and/or get hurt, this will only serve to hurt the case for players seeking the same long term, high-priced deals for years to come.

At this point, it's safe to say the Angels are having buyer's remorse with Pujols and Hamilton, but there's no question Pujols' deal is far more destructive to the future of the Angels organization if this continues because of the length of his deal.

However, if it seeks to find comfort in the equal misery of others, all Los Angeles has to do is call up the New York Yankees (see: Alex Rodriguez, amongst others) and the two organizations can sob together in self pity.