My Picks for MLB's 2008 Awards

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

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