Quote:
Originally posted by Long_Long_Name
I'd give the MVP to Tejada. Niether Soriano or Giambi deserves it in my opinion. Be aware that it's not the "Best Player" award, it's the "Most Valuable Player" award, or else I'd give it to Mr. Rodriguez.
|
I don't understand how the qualifications for "best player" and "most valuable" differ. If you contribute the most to your team in terms of creating wins, you get the award.
Speaking of last place teams having MVP winners, the only one I can think of is possibly the least deserving MVP of the last 20 years - Andre Dawson. Quick tip to the voters - leading the league in HR and RBI doesn't make you a great player (see Dave Kingman).
Edit: Haven't mentioned Bobby Abreu lately, so here goes - not only did he have a better season than Soriano, he had a better season than Tejada.
I don't think the AL MVP race is cut-and-dry, but I disagree pretty strongly with most of the names being thrown about too. Rodriguez had a great season, but he's not the overwhelming player Bonds is in the NL. Personally, I'd give the award to either Thome, Ramirez, Giambi, or Rodriguez. No player has made the contributions to their team that those 4 have, regardless of where their teams finished in the standings. I'm not sure how Thome in particular has been largely ignored in the MVP voting when he's clearly had the best season in the AL as a hitter.
Edit #2: While I'm posting tired morning wank, here are my ballot for each league (assuming I'd get 3 choices, I forget how the ballots work):
NL MVP - Bonds/Giles/Edmonds
AL MVP - Thome/Rodriguez/Ramirez
NL CY - Johnson/Oswalt/Schilling
AL CY - Martinez/Zito/Halladay
Jason