Barring a disaster, St. Louis Cardinals legend Albert Pujols will take a July 2028 trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., for his Hall of Fame ceremony. Whether or not he’ll spend the rest of his summer in baseball stadiums around the country as an MLB manager remains to be seen, especially after he’s failed to get a job thus far this cycle.
Pujols interviewed with the Los Angeles Angels, his former team, earlier this month before the club hired ex-Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki instead. Then, Pujols reportedly met with the San Diego Padres, who are yet to hire a manager as of Oct. 28. The Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, and Washington Nationals all also have managerial vacancies, but Pujols hasn’t been credibly linked to any of the three.
Don’t shed a tear for Pujols, though. The three-time MVP remains with the Angels as a special assistant, and he’ll manage the Dominican Republic in next year’s World Baseball Classic. He’ll keep busy even if an MLB team doesn’t name him their next skipper — and, upon further reflection, maybe Pujols is better off staying exactly where he is.
Albert Pujols should be glad if he’s not a manager in 2026
To be clear, we’re not suggesting that Pujols wouldn’t be a successful manager. He’s long been a well-respected, intelligent baseball figure, and we’d like to think that teams wouldn’t consider interviewing him if they didn’t believe he could succeed. To their credit, most MLB organizations avoid bringing in potential managers just to say that they did; the Chicago Bears interviewed 13 head coach candidates last offseason before hiring Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
However, there are two key aspects that Pujols must consider if given the opportunity to apply for any of the remaining managerial jobs. Let’s start with resources and context. The Rockies are fresh off an abysmal 43-119 season, and they’ve lost at least 90 games in five of the last six non-COVID years. Only two players, catcher Hunter Goodman (3.7) and reliever Jimmy Herget (3.0), even topped 2.0 bWAR.
Both the Braves and Padres will enter 2026 with legitimate World Series aspirations, which only increases the pressure for Pujols to get things right. As for the Nationals, they have a solid young core in place, but they also share a division with the Braves, Mets, and Phillies. At best, the Nats are the fourth-best team in the NL East. Washington has lost at least 91 games each of the last five years, and the Nationals still lack reliable pitching; only the Rockies (5.97) had a worse ERA than the Nationals (5.35), and Colorado can at least use the altitude excuse.
Then, there’s the lockout component. The league and players’ union have yet to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, which could lead to a lockout after next season. Owners might decide that they don’t want to make splashy moves this winter if there’s no guarantee that the 2027 campaign will begin on time — or, if they’re cynical enough, that the 2027 season could happen at all.
If Pujols truly wants to be a manager, then the Padres make the most sense. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported that Pujols is “held in high regard” by Padres All-Star third baseman Manny Machado and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. With that said, we feel that Pujols shouldn’t be discouraged if things don’t work out, if only because there are too many factors that could doom his career change.