Albert Pujols' likely new destination might make Angels fans regret passing on him

The Los Angeles shocked the baseball world by passing on Albert Pujols in favor of Kurt Suzuki as their next manager, and there was good reasoning behind that decision. Suzuki is a beloved personality and baseball mind, who has made major impacts on players, coaches and front offices at every single one of his past organizations. Suzuki does not have managerial experience, but his resume is polished enough to have Angels fans convincing themselves that he will stick around long-term despite him managing on a one-year contract.

Torii Hunter will not take a managerial job elsewhere, as the Minnesota Twins brought on Derek Shelton to lead the team over Hunter (amongst others). Hunter will presumably stay with the team as special assistant to the GM. However, Albert Pujols was a frontrunner for the Baltimore Orioles job and reportedly just had a wild interview with another team that simply has to make him the favorite to leave the Angels soon.

Albert Pujols' likely new destination might make Angels fans regret passing on him

9.5 hours?? Nine...and a half...hours?!?! Geez. How does a guy not win a job after nearly a half-day of meeting with a team? Pujols and the San Diego Padres seem destined to team up and find immediate success given what the Friars already have in-place.

The Padres have a loaded roster, a long history of regular season success and a general manager in A.J. Preller who will stop at nothing to win a World Series. Pujols could very well be a hire to bring the team over-the-top. The Padres will have Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis, Xander Bogaerts amongst others in the lineup, and Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Robert Suarez if he picks up his $9.2 million player option, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam, Yuki Matsui on the pitching staff. Preller will make sure to add some splashy names this offseason, and this team will once again have World Series aspirations.

Conversely, the Angels have little-to-no hope of contending next season in Suzuki's first and possibly last year as the team's manager. The pitching staff needs an ace that Arte Moreno will not pony up for. Moreno signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63,675,000 deal that was their largest pitcher signing since C.J. Wilson over a decade ago. There's no chance Moreno will pay a free agent pitcher more than that, even if that pitcher could be a No. 1 who will slot down Kikuchi, José Soriano and Reid Detmers into more comfortable roles. The bullpen looks like it will be just as bad and probably even worse next year.

If Pujols is brought on to manage the Padres, he will make the Angels look bad for passing on him. Pujols seemed like a shoe-in hire for the Halos, and Moreno meddled too much on salary, which coaches he will add, etc. and went with Suzuki instead. Any decision Moreno makes has to be viewed as a bad one given his long history of poor decision-making. If Pujols goes to San Diego, he will definitely find immediate success and once again make Moreno look like the worst owner in MLB.