MVP Talk - NL

NL Playoff is still on, besides the NYM that has secured its place a wk ago. SD, LAD, STL, and PHI (an outside shot for HOU) are still chasing their spots in this competitve league. (many like to argue that NL is a weaker league, rather, it can be viewed as a more competitve league, where there are no out-of-contention teams like TB & KC. A great example is FLA this season. How many "experts" called that FLA would lose 100+ gms?!? Marlins got 76Ws with 6gms left, and had a shot at Wild Card until two weeks ago.) MVP considerations in the NL has not drawn as much media discussion vs. AL (that's MLB in general in the last few seasons). NL doesn't lack any studs, certainly...

NYM: Beltrán / Wright
Carlos Beltrán has a big comeback season from his below-expectation 1st season as a Free Agent Met. His 40HR & 114RBI plus gold-glove grade defense in CF has contributed to NYM winning the NL East in a big way. He is proving all those critics who compared him to Bonilla-like bust last season wrong. Beltrán is worthy of every penny in his contract as a franchise-level free agent.

Strength: tied-5th in RBI, 4th in HR in NL, .987OPS & .602SLG. Everyday CF who makes SportsCenter plays night in, night out. NYM clinched NL East first in NL & he is the best CF in New York (not even close, "Judas" Damon, if you mind to make your case).

Weakness: RBI & HR are good, but not great. There are a couple of guys (see below: Howard, Pujlos & Berkman) who put up monster #'s this season in NL...

Wright, merely 23-yr old, is the home-grown franchise player every team could only dream of having. His performance at the Home-Run Derby this summer shows his under-valued performance nature. He is the Mr. Met in Queens for years to come. The young stud-duo of José Reyes and Wright are the strong franchise fundamental of NYM.

Strength: .309AVG, .912OPS, 25HR & 113RBI as a 3B put him right at the top at the positions ( Aramis Ramírez & Garrett Atkins, both 3B for non-playoff teams, are having stong seasons, too). 20SB for a middle-of-lineup hitter shows his athleticism & team-first mindset (which other 3-4-5 hitters steals 20? Just Abreu, 20SB as a PHI).

Weakness: Not NYM's best hitter b/c of Beltrán, not a bad thing for NYM, bad for Mr. Wright's chance to win MVP. Like Beltrán, good #'s, not great in NL.

STL: Pujlos, who else is the best NL hitter in ?!
Albert was on track to break the HR record starting the season missed ~3wks in Jun. and still managed to put up HOF-like #'s.

		G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
April		25	81	27	28	4	0	14	32	28	7	2	0	.346	.509	.914	1.423
May		26	97	24	28	3	0	11	33	15	9	0	0	.289	.391	.660	1.051
June		10	39	5	10	1	0	1	2	5	7	0	0	.256	.356	.359	.715
July		25	97	17	35	9	1	7	20	13	6	2	1	.361	.441	.691	1.132
August		28	111	24	35	10	0	6	22	12	10	1	0	.315	.379	.568	.947
September		23	87	16	32	4	0	7	21	15	10	1	1	.368	.461	.655	1.116

		G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total		137	512	113	168	31	1	46	130	88	49	6	2	.328	.428	.662	1.090

STL is slowing fading, as it has lost its last 6gms. Cardinals will still make the playoff, forbid that HOU knocks STL out this last wk of '06 season. Pujlos' offense contribution is monster-like ever since he put on his MLB uniform. His per-gm #'s are just video-game-like. Imagine that he didn't miss any gms this season... He'd be chasing the HR record along with Ryan Howard and setting more records.

Strength: tied-2nd in RBI with 130, tied-2nd in HR with 46, 2nd best OPS in NL: 1.090, 2nd best SLG: .662, tied-2nd best OBP: .428. Are these #'s enough to convince you, yet??

Weakness: No obvious disadvantages, besides there is a guy named, Ryan Howard, who plays in NL, as well.

SD & LAD: no players have really been considered thusfar...
This is weird, but understandable in a way, because Pujlos & Howard are in NL.

Adrián González is a worthy mention for SD. He was traded for Adam Eaton (you may ask, "who??!!") with Chris Young before the start of '06 season. Both are big contributers to SD's playoff spot run.

Strength: Not much with only 24HR & 79RBI. He is SD's best hitter, that's about it.

Weakness: >100RBI & other mediocre #'s. Just not enough to convince the voters for MVP consideration.

J.D. Drew & Nomar Garciaparra of LAD have very similar #'s. Also, their #'s are not MVP-level-like. Enough weakness described already. Their advantage is obviously helping LAD making the playoff & Nomar providing dramatic walk-off performances late in this season.

		G		AB		R		H		2B		3B		HR		RBI		BB		K		SB		CS		AVG		OBP		SLG		OPS
J.D. Drew		141		477		79		134		32		5		19		93		86		102		2		3		.281		.392		.488		.880
Nomar Garciaparra		118		457		80		137		31		2		19		90		42		29		3		0		.300		.366		.501		.867

HOU: Berkman
Lance Berkman has been the under-covered NL stud for the past few seasons. Partly, b/c he plays in HOU & he's quite a low-key guy. HOU doesn't really have a good lineup besides Berkman (especially with Morgan Ensberg having a quiet season with unjury). His #'s help HOU to be competitive and its problem with scoring-runs.

Strength: .316AVG, 43HR, 130RBI, 1.044OPS, 625SLG & .419OBP!!! (forget about the help from MinuteMaid Park in HOU for now) If HOU takes over STL to win NL Central in this last week, Berkman's role on the playoff-bound team can't be ignored (at least, it shouldn't be).

Weakness: Same as for every other NL studs: Pujlos & Howard... This may be the case for Berkman's entire career if Pujlos & Howard stay in NL.

PHI: Howard
The '06 Home-Run Derby Champ plays big all season long. Ryan has a good chance to tying or breaking the 61HR mark with 6gms to go. His NL-leading #'s in various categories are MVP-grade, without any doubts.

Strength: NL-best 146RBI & counting, MLB-best 58HRs, 1st in OPS: 1.093 & SLG: .672. These are more than enough for voters to give him the 1st place ballot.

Weakness: if PHI doesn't make the playoff, some would use that against Howard. Reasonbly speaking, his #'s should earn him the MVP, regardless if PHI wins the Wild Card or not. PHI gave up on its playoff hope when they traded Abreu, Cory Lidle, David Bell & co. during the season. PHI still managed to win 82gms & have hope at the WC and that is because of Howard's strong 2nd half play.

		G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
April		24	85	12	26	1	0	5	12	12	24	0	0	.306	.388	.494	.882
May		27	102	17	29	3	0	13	35	6	26	0	0	.284	.321	.696	1.018
June		26	100	13	28	6	1	9	21	12	32	0	0	.280	.357	.630	.987
July		24	86	16	23	4	0	8	19	20	35	0	0	.267	.411	.593	1.004
August		29	112	25	39	3	0	14	41	22	33	0	0	.348	.464	.750	1.214
September		23	76	19	32	7	0	9	17	27	23	0	0	.421	.575	.868	1.444
		G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Pre All Star		84	316	45	88	10	1	28	71	31	97	0	0	.278	.341	.582	.923
Post All-Star		69	245	57	89	14	0	30	74	68	76	0	0	.363	.508	.788	1.296

Other worthy mentions: Miguel Cabrera, Andruw Jones, Carlos Delgado & Garrett Atkins
Besides Delgado, they will not received enough MVP consideration because of theit teams' records. In Delgado's case, he has a good season, but not good enough comparing to other top-MVP candidates, and he is not the best hitter on his own team, NYM. Cabrera & Jones are having strong seaons by any standards. If FLA could make the playoff, considering their almost-all-rookie-roster, Cabrera could have got more MVP thoughts. Also, if ATL could have repeated its AL East title run, Jones' season is very worthy of a MVP trophy.


COWBOP UP's PICK:
The young 26-yr old sophomore, Ryan Howard, PHI!!
Gotta give any HR-record chaser the MVP. The 146+RBI are just MVP-worthy in any season. He needs a good baseball nickname, by the way. Like "the New Hurt" (6'4, 250+) or "Cheese Steak Time" (another Philly's best) or "Show-Me-Howard" (from MO, the Show-Me state). A internet-poll finalist, "Broad Street Bomber" just sounds a lil' too general about Mr. Howard. "Howitzer" isn't bad, but we can do better than that.