TEMPE, Ariz. — For the past few years, since Vladimir Guerrero and his big hands and his pine tar-smeared batting helmet drifted east, the Los Angeles Angels have been missing something. Primarily, they’ve been missing production in the middle of their batting order, but there’s something else.
They’ve been without a presence, a name-brand star who can not only sell tickets on the road, but give the team someone to line up behind. When the Angels gave Albert Pujols a 10-year, $250 million contract to sign in December, it was about that as much as it was about his massive arms and menacing bat.
