The envelope, please:
NL MVP
My picks
1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2. Brad Lidge, Phillies
3. Ryan Howard, Phillies
4. CC Sabathia, Brewers
5. Lance Berkman, Astros
6. Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
7. Carlos Delgado, Mets
8. Geovany Soto, Cubs
9. Chase Utley, Phillies
10. Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
I'm sick of everyone searching for reasons not to give the award to Albert Pujols. Yes, the award is for most valuable, not best player, and Pujols is a cleaner pick for the latter distinction.
But while I prefer my MVP to at least experience pennant-race pressure, if he does not play for a postseason qualifier, the Cardinals contended practically all season, greatly exceeding every expert's (ahem) expectations. Remove Pujols from the equation, and the team would not have been nearly as competitive.
If the award were for second-half MVP, then the cases for Ryan Howard and Carlos Delgado would be much stronger, as would the cases for CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez.
But Howard's batting average/on-base/slugging line on June 12—with 42 percent of the Phillies' season complete—was .204-.306-.436. Delgado's surge effectively began on June 27, nearly halfway into the Mets' season. Neither is as good a defender nor baserunner as Pujols.
Sabathia and Ramirez? My friend Joel Sherman of the New York Post challenged me about Ramirez in the Mets' clubhouse a few weeks back, saying, "You tell me, how can anyone have been more valuable?" Clearly, the same question applies to Sabathia.
But here's the problem: While the MVP ballot states, "There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means," it also lists five criteria. The first is, "Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense." The second is, "Number of games played."
Of course, that still doesn't settle it: Pitchers actually won the A.L. MVP four times in a 12-year span between 1981 and '92. Those pitchers, however, were with their teams for an entire season, and three of them were relievers who appeared in nearly half their team's games.
Brad Lidge, to me, is that type of candidate—if you think he isn't valuable, ask where the Mets or Brewers might be if he were on their clubs.
The contributions of Sabathia and Ramirez are too significant to be ignored; that's why I've got them in my top six. Yet, for all that Ramirez has accomplished, he will end up playing in just over 50 games for the Dodgers. C'mon.
The amazing thing about the N.L. ballot is the number of strong candidates that I failed to include in my top 10. In fact, I can give you, in no particular order, other contenders: Chipper Jones, Prince Fielder, Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Ludwick, Matt Holliday, Adrian Gonzalez, Johan Santana, and David Wright.
And I'm probably missing a few more.
AL MVP
My picks
2. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3. Joe Mauer, Twins
4. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
5. Francisco Rodriguez, Angels
6. Carlos Quentin, White Sox
7. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
8. Carlos Pena, Rays
9. Grady Sizemore, Indians
5 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
John Lorge 9 months ago
Thanks for giving Lincecum his props from the 425! I also like the CC mention for MVP. Tatis was a big surprise this year, especially when I saw him hitting .240 for NO in a AAA game in Tacoma.
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JJ Stankevitz 9 months ago
Don't forget Kenny Williams' acquisitions of Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel, and Orlando Cabrera in the offseason. Linebrink and Dotel, while they were given overpriced contracts that could come back to bite the Sox in a year or two, were huge reasons why the team stayed in contention early in the season. Trading Jon Garland for Cabrera not only gives the Sox a higher supplemental draft pick (Garland is a Type B, Cabrera Type A free agent), but it freed up about $3 million in salary (which could pay 75% of Alexei Ramirez' contract) and opened the door for both Floyd and Danks while shoring up the shortstop position for the year. Meanwhile, Garland struggled mightily in Los Angeles, and while I wouldn't mind having him in the rotation down the stretch with Jose Contreras hurt, not having him ultimately helped the team early in the year.
I'm not saying Williams deserves GM of the year—Freidman wins that by a mile—but he's certainly done everything in his power to put together a contender this year.
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Ben Weixlmann 9 months ago
Couldn't agree with you more about Pujols!
Awesome stuff Ken!
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Bryn Swartz 9 months ago
Liked it a lot. I'm a diehard Phillies phan...but Brad Lidge as number 2 in the MVP voting? I mean, I love the idea, but he doesn't deserve to finish that high. But then not number 3 in the Cy Young? You don't like relievers winning the Cy Young, but you'll give them the MVP vote? That's an even bigger award. I also find it interesting how David Wright is consistently kept out of MVP talk. Number 20 or whatever you have him? I think he's more valuable than Delgado. And you had to have just forgotten about Brad Lidge for Comeback Player of the Year...because he did win it today...and I can't possibly fathom that you would pick Fernando Tatis over him. I also don't like the Ludwick pick because, as you said, he never was great.
And I don't like how Howard keeps getting penalized for how low he has batting in the middle of May or June or whatever date you want to focus on. Just think about what he hit over the last few months of the season to bring it up then. If Pujols ends the year batting .350, but hypothetically hits .208 from April 24 to June 11, nobody notices, or if they do notice, they forget, because it's the middle of the season. But when a player starts off slow, it's criticized by everybody. Which leads me to....
I'd love to have your opinion on my “Ryan Howard: MVP?.....Absolutely!” article, especially since you write for ESPN, and that's a dream job of mine someday.
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Taylor Lunemann 9 months ago
I like your ratings a lot, you definitely have the obvious ones in Joe Maddon, Evan Longoria, and Cliff Lee, but you have to give Josh Hamilton some more love than #10, he is on the Rangers and still spazzed himself to top the AL in RBIs. I would put him at minimum at #4, sure, if you have your arguments as to why he is that low (maybe the losing season), but that team was definitely dangerous offensively, with any sort of pitching, they would be decent. Morneau, Mauer, Pedroia are all solid candidates for MVP honors, I will agree with you there and the NL MVP picks are up in the air, but Pujols is a definitely spaz in that category, he and Ryan Howard were insane for both of their teams, but I think you ranked Lidge waaay to high, being that he is a closer (a successful one) but still, he does not impact a game that Howard can. Overall a good article, I enjoyed it.
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