LAS VEGAS _ Mere hours after manager Brad Ausmus gave a rave review of veteran Albert Pujols' pedigree, the Angels agreed to a preliminary one-year contract with free-agent first baseman Justin Bour.
Bour would share duties with Pujols at first base, should both make it through spring training healthy. Of course, Pujols' health has long been a point of concern. He had season-ending knee surgery last year and elbow surgery in September. He has not played more than 80 games at first base for the Angels since he played 95 games there in 2015, leaving a hole the Angels tried to plug with former players C.J. Cron, Jefry Marte and the late Luis Valbuena.
It appears the Angels were not ready to gamble on Pujols' vitals or even their depth chart, which includes first base prospect Matt Thaiss.
They chose, instead, to go with a left-handed power hitter who could serve as a platoon with Pujols. Over his five-year career, most of it with the Miami Marlins before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in August, Bour has slugged .466 with 84 home runs, 66 doubles, two triples and 277 runs batted in.
Bour, 30, was nontendered last month by the Phillies, with whom his slugging production dropped off.
Bour batted .227 in a career-high 141 games last season. It was the worst season average of his career. But his 20 home runs were only five few fewer than his total from 2017, when he played in the All-Star game home run derby and lost 23-22 to the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge in the first round.
When Shohei Ohtani makes his eventual return from elbow ligament-replacement surgery as a hitter next season, the Angels will have to get creative in their use of the designated hitter.
