Column: Albert Pujols deserves a fitting farewell — as long as it’s not with the Chicago White Sox

News of Albert Pujols’ departure from the Los Angeles Angels spread Thursday afternoon, and it didn’t take long for the Chicago White Sox rumors to begin.

“Perfect landing spot,” tweeted MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, one of dozens of observers who linked the longtime St. Louis Cardinals star to the Sox because of his relationship with manager Tony La Russa.

Despite the early connections, Chicago is actually an imperfect landing spot for Pujols. The Sox already have a star first baseman in José Abreu and a productive and popular designated hitter in Yermin Mercedes.

The perfect landing spot would be in St. Louis, where Pujols began his career and would finish it with five months of standing ovations at Busch Stadium in a pinch-hit role.

But Pujols and La Russa are as close as it gets, so even though the Sox need another outfielder after the hip injury to Luis Robert, the possible reunion of the Sox manager and his former slugger seemed possible.

Of course, Pujols did play 113 games in left field in 2003, when he was still a healthy young man and the game was much different. And he has played 110 career games at third base, including one inning in both 2020 and ’21.

But at 41 years old he’s well past the stage where he can play anywhere but first base or DH for more than an inning or two.

So can we stop the Sox rumors before they start?

Not in this age of Twitter, and not with La Russa in the Sox dugout.

You can never underestimate La Russa’s influence on Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, but fortunately the word from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale is sanity will prevail.

Nightengale, who first reported the Sox’s hiring of La Russa, wrote that Sox officials said there was “nothing to” the speculation.

The Sox have a history of signing old sluggers near the end of their careers, including Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey Jr. and Manny Ramirez. Pujols obviously is at or near the end of the road. He was hitting .198 with five home runs in 24 games with the Angels. He was reportedly upset Tuesday night about being benched against a left-hander despite the decision coming from the front office, not manager Joe Maddon, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Signing Pujols would no doubt get Sox fans in an uproar, especially if he came in and took away playing time from “The Yerminator,” the new fan favorite on the South Side.

But it would be no bigger than the uproar that accompanied the signing of the 76-year-old La Russa last October, and the Sox could’ve rationalized the signing by saying they needed his “leadership” in the clubhouse and Mercedes needed to rest on occasion.

Pujols also is friends with Abreu, who talked to him last fall about what it’s like to play for La Russa.

“When we hired him, I reached out to Pujols,” Abreu said in November. “And Pujols just told me that he was a great manager, an outstanding person, a manager that I would like to play for. And I’m just looking for forward to it.”

Pujols has 667 career home runs, which rates fifth on the all-time list behind Alex Rodriguez’s 696. His 2,112 RBIs are third behind Babe Ruth. And Pujols, who ranks 14th with 3,253 hits, was on his way to surpass Willie Mays (3,283) for 12th place until he was designated for assignment.

Next month will mark 20 years since then Sox general manager Ken Williams signed the 37-year-old Canseco, who was out of the majors after being released by the Angels and playing with the Independent Newark Bears. Slugger Frank Thomas was gone for the season with a torn triceps, and the Sox needed another bat in the lineup. The price was also right as Canseco signed for $135,000.

“Jose explained to me that it was not about (money),” Williams said that day. “He wanted to play, he wanted to catch Cleveland and Minnesota. I think what we’re getting is a very motivated person and if all things go well, we’ll get a productive person. At this point, I think it’s worth the gamble.”

Canseco was indeed motivated, saying: “I have no idea to this day, to this second. I’m still trying to find out why it happened the way it did — why I was released.” He offered to play center field, an idea that Williams and manager Jerry Manuel quickly dismissed.

Canseco said he just wanted to help the Sox win and would not be a problem.

“My star days are over,” he said. “I’m just one of the guys trying to help out.”

Canseco wound up hitting .258 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI in 76 games on a team that was never really in contention. It turned out to be his final year in the majors. Four years later he wrote “Juiced,” where he took credit for introducing steroids to several prominent players — and quickly became a pariah.

Pujols is not Canseco, but if he’s motivated to prove the Angels wrong and wants to continue playing and be “one of the guys,” maybe some team will find a place for him on their roster.

It’d be nice to see him get a fitting farewell, as long as it’s not with the Sox.