Would Ramirez even have a shot, having spent less than half the season in the National League?
Moreover, Rodriguez didn’t have that great of a year. He got thrown into an incredible amount of save situations, but in terms of effectiveness it was pretty much his worst year yet. It’s hard to support a guy for MVP when a number of other players at his position would have had much better statistics in his place.
I wouldn’t vote for him, but he’s widely perceived as having turned the Dodgers completely around in the second half of the season.
He’ll definitely get some votes.
Shannon Stewart actually got a few first place votes when he joined the Twins and had a few hot weeks. Ramirez was immensely more valuable to the Dodgers this year than Stewart was to the Twins. So expect him to get some votes.
I’m going to have to go with Pujols to win the NL MVP.
He won, and rightfully so. This coming from a Phillies fan.
I love being wrong.
Woo-hoo! And he won by a fair margin too: 369 points to Howard’s 308.
It makes you wonder… are sportswriters actually coming around, and starting to pay attention to the new statistics?
Numbers crunchers were pretty much all for Pujols, but I expected old schoolers to be swayed by Ryan Howard’s homers and RBIs, and by the fact that he played for a championship contender.
Maybe even the old schoolers are starting to crunch numbers just a little.
I honestly think it might be inevitable that they start to notice them a little. They’re starting to be everywhere.
Joe Posnanski at SI has an interesting article arguing that Pujols is the best player in the game but noting that scouts and executives don’t seem to pay much attention to him.
“Didn’t really think about him”? Yeah, I know he plays in a smaller Midwestern market, but still. Of course, the other prominent column on SI’s web page yesterday goes on and on about how great it was that Manny Ramirez came in fourth. That column didn’t mention Pujols at all. It was almost enough to make me wonder if there is some kind of coastal bias in the major sports media.
I hope those same execs forget about Pujols again in 2011 when the option year of his contract is up. Maybe the Cards will be able to hold on to him for the rest of his career instead of getting outbid by a bigger market. I’m not optimistic, but I can dream.
I did, too, but I’m happy with this result. Howard had an incredibly erratic year and I would have hated to see that rewarded with an MVP.
I find it funny that when Howard won the MVP, Pujols complained that the MVP should come from a playoff team (that year, the Cardinals were in and the Phillies were out). Now this year, Howard and Pujols have switched places. I don’t hear Howard making a fuss.
I’d push Pedroia for AL MVP. He certainly made my season well worth following.
If the NL MVP has been announced, what’s taking so long to hear on the AL MVP? Is there a reason they space them apart?
They announce one award a day. AL MVP will be revealed this afternoon.
I wouldn’t be against it (as a Boston fan), but if I had a vote, it’d go to Joe Mauer.
When was the last time someone garnered the most first place and second place votes (as Pujols did this year)? I can only find data back to 2001.
Pedroia won. So the writers got one out of two, as far as I’m concerned.
Who did you think should have gotten it?