Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols is relishing his final chance to face his good friend David Ortiz on the baseball field. Pujols, 36, grew up near the Seattle Mariners’ baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, and used to go watch the players there practice as a kid. Among those players was Ortiz (then known as David Arias), a teenager signed as an amateur free agent by the M’s. “I used to leave school early to watch them practice,” Pujols told the Orange County Register in a recent story. “He gave me a lot of advice, especially the times that I struggled in my career when I went to the American League.
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Report: Marlins, Other Major League Teams Believe Albert Pujols Is Actually Older Than He Claims
While money is generally the biggest issue in contract talks, the Miami Marlins are concerned with another number when it comes to prized free agent Albert Pujols. Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald wrote on Sunday that the Marlins are set on offering a nine-year deal to Pujols, although they, and other teams, are skeptical of the longtime Cardinals slugger's real age. "The total dollars are in dispute, depending on whom you believe, but the number of years offered is not," Le Batard reports. "Nine years. That's insanity, especially since, like a lot of teams, the Marlins believe Pujols to be older than the 31 he claims to be." Pujols, who has spent 11 years in the majors, entered the league in 2001, at