An icon is headed home.
Three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols is finalizing an agreement to return to the St. Louis Cardinals on a one-year deal pending a physical, The St. Louis Dispatch’s Derrick S. Goold and The Athletic’s Katie Woo report.
Per Woo, Pujols would not serve as an everyday player but as a right-handed hitter off the bench. Pujols, 42, last played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he slashed .254/.299/.460 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 204 plate appearances last season.
Pujols played the first 11 seasons of his MLB career with the Cardinals, where he won three MVPs and two World Series titles from 2001-11. He joined the Los Angeles Angels at 31 years old on a 10-year, $240 million deal in 2011 and remained with the team until his midseason release in 2021. He then signed and finished out the season with the Dodgers.
Pujols made nine All-Star teams as a member of the Cardinals, but never flashed his MVP form in Los Angeles, where he made a single All-Star team in 2015. He’s expected to join the Cardinals in Florida for spring training this week.
