The Angels' signing of free agent Albert Pujols adds another superstar first baseman to the AL for the next decade. The position was already stacked, with reigning batting champion Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and former home run champ Mark Teixeira of the Yankees muscling for position.
Those two were out-voted by Gonzalez last season, but that was before Pujols, one of the greatest players in the history of the game, had the power of the Los Angeles media market behind him.
There's also sure to be a sizeable chip on the 31-year-old's shoulder after he was not invited to the All-Star Game last season for the first time since 2002. Pujols was batting just .280 at the All-Star break in 2011, although he increased his average by almost 20 points the rest of the season.
Gonzalez led the AL with 213 hits in 2011, riding a torrid start to a .338 batting average and 117 runs batted in, along with a career-high .410 on-base percentage. Teixeira's batting average continued its three-year plummet from .308 in 2009 to .248 last season, but he kept slugging away with 39 homers and 111 RBI. At 31, Big Tex is still four months younger than Prince Albert.
Cabrera might get lost in the shuffle, but he was arguably the most productive hitter in the AL in 2011. The 28-year-old slugger led the league in three categories: batting average (.344), on-base percentage (.448) and doubles (48). He also played in 161 games, the eighth consecutive season he's appeared in at least 150 games.
Who will start at first base for the American League at the 2012 MLB All-Star Game?
