His overall numbers this year are still great, but he has shown signs of being mortal the last two seasons with somewhat protracted slumps (well, slumps by his standards) And citing his back problems is hardly a reason to boost his value. Back problems don't improve, they get managed.
If you hold the #1 pick in an NL-only redraft next season and you pass on Pujols, let me know. This is one of those things that you can come up with straw man arguments to talk yourself into drafting someone else just for "something different' since he's been the best player in baseball for the better part of a decade. But when push comes to shove on draft day, you'll take the safety of Pujols.ETA: Clear this up for me a little. In your words, Pujols showed signs of "being mortal" last season with a .327/124/47/135/16 5x5 line. Meanwhile, David Wright is your #1 player posting a .307/88/10/72/27 line in the same season. This year really isn't much closer either, Pujols is still quite a bit better.
First off, you don't get to play with last year's numbers, and you certainly don't play with the numbers from two years ago. As for Pujols, right now I'd pass him up for both Wright AND Votto. I don't see this as a fluke year from Votto - he's just a monster. Wright has been hot and cold all season, but I expect another big time hot streak before the season. That would put 30/30 still in play, though 25/25 much more likely (though for some reason the Mets arent running as much as they did early in the year so I think the steals are less likely) No other 3B eligible NL player is going to come close to that production. So yeah, if you ignore positions then you clearly want Pujols, and he's the safest pick to put at the top. Its not like Im predicting some massive slide from the man, Im just not placing him at the absolute top of the fantasy world.
