If I had ballots, here’s how I’d vote:
AL MVP
Bautista
A. Gonzalez
Granderson
NL MVP
Braun
Votto
Fielder
Pujols
Berkman
AL CY Young
Verlander
Shields
Haren
Weaver
NL Cy Young
Halladay
Hamels
Lee
Kershaw
Players below them are TOO far back IMO.
I agree on Jose Batista, Ryan Braun, Justin Verlander and Roy Halladay.
My only quibble is, I’d have Verlander somewhere on the MVP ballot.
As much as I don’t generally like seeing pitchers on the MVP ballot, I agree that Verlander should merit some consideration. Dude’s having a hell of a season: third in the Majors in ERA, leading in strikeouts, opposing batting avg and WHIP, and on pace for 24 wins. That’s strong!
Should “Doc” get any MVP love?
I’d have Jacoby Ellsbury and Justin Verlander in the mix for the AL MVP. Like you, i would have Bautista at the top, but the fact that Toronto is going to miss the playoffs means that he might lose some votes. In my mind, Verlander gets some extra credit for being so much better than all the other Tiger starters. His ERA is almost 2 full runs better than the second-best Detroit starter, and his WHIP is 0.45 better.
I would have Matt Kemp in an NL top 5 this year. His line is .322/.392/.570 with 29 home runs, and his BVORP and WARP top all NL position players, according to Baseball Prospectus.
Also, much as i love Albert Pujols, i really don’t know how you can place him above Lance Berkman in the list. They play on the same team, so they’ve been facing the same pitchers in the same parks, and their lines for the year are:
Berkman: .290/.403/.573 29HR
Pujols: .289/.355/.538 31HR
I guess Berkman’s sub-mediocre defense might count against him in some people’s minds, but he’s been hitting like crazy this year and MVP voters don’t generally seem to care too much about defense except at positions like SS and 2B. Some MVP voters, however, do have a tendency to focus on the second half of the season, and Albert has hit .306/.353/.611 with 13HR since the All-Star Break.
Halladay
Kershaw
Lee
Lincecum
Hamels
Lincecum is better than all 4 pitchers you listed in ERA, and is ahead of Hamels in both IP and SO (34 more SO).
He could actually be higher if the Giants weren’t such a miserable offensive team. He gets no run support, including losses in which he went 7 innings and gave up 0, 1, 1, and 1 earned run. His IP might also be higher if giving up 1 run didn’t always mean the team would be down 1-0 and need to use a pinch hitter in late innings.
He also has been a stopper. The Tigers lost 2 or 3 in a row and were looking like they were in trouble. Then Verlander shut the door . He did that several times this season.
My votes in the main baseball thread were Bautista, Verlander (but Jered Weaver is very close), Matt Kemp, and I Dunno. I’ll stick with those.