I decided it would be fun to do an article going through several players to decide who ultimately will win the several awards handed out each year in baseball.  So this week we’re going to try and do an article each day, saving the best for last, more than likely the hot debate about the NL Cy Young will heat up on Friday just before the season ends, and since the AL Cy Young is a two horse race, we’ll probably knock that one out tomorrow.  But today we have the A.L. MVP.

The A.L. batting wise this year has been the league of mediocrity.  There isn’t a main guy that immediately jumps out at you as being better than all the rest.  You have only three guys that have a shot at hitting 40 home runs. Two of which won’t be going to the playoffs.  Three guys are close to hitting 130 RBI’s, two of them won’t be going to the playoffs, and the other has some ground to make up. Sixteen guys are hitting over .300, only one hitting over .330, only two are in the playoffs for sure, and two more have a hill to climb if they want a shot.  There is nobody who really jumps out at you to say pick me, and so now we get to sift through the mediocrity to find the best of not quite great, but still better than good.  A big thanks to www.baseball-reference.com for the listing of their stats.


Carlos Quentin OF Chicago White Sox

His Line:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG

.288     36        100      .394     .571

Why he should win:
This guy is a stellar player, and somebody that I’m sure the White Sox will want to keep around for a long, long time.  He is in the top ten in the AL in 6 different categories, and in all of the categories that really matter.  He’s 1st in Home Runs, 2nd in Slugging, 3rd in OBP, 4th in OPS and 9th in both RBI’s and Slugging.  The guy hits .311 when he has runners in scoring position, his team is 11-14 when hes not in the game, he hits .347 with runners on base in general, and when the bases are juiced, he hits .500.  He was pretty much consistent across the board when it comes to stats in months, except for June when he only hit .266 with 5 HR’s and 13 RBI’s.  The biggest stat though that jumps out at you about this guy is in games that are late and Close he has 74 at-bats that include a .351 BA, 8 HR’s, 20 RBI’s and and an OPS of 1.205.

Why he won’t win:
He’s hurt, down the stretch when his team needs him.  That may not seem like a big thing, but since he has been out here in September his team is playing .500 ball.  Which isn’t a knock against him, but the MVP typically stakes his claim during the last month of the season when a team needs a player the most, in this particular case he can’t be there.  Had he been hurt in June, and his team lost over half their games, and the numbers were the same, I don’t think there would be any doubt that he would be MVP.  Another knock against Carlos, could be that he doesn’t show up against his own division.  The only team he hits close to .300 against is the Tigers, where he hits .333.  Against everyone else he hits below.250.


Justin Morneau 1B Minnesota Twins

His Line:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.308     23        128      .380     .514

Why he should win:
He isn’t even the most beloved player here in the cities with the people I talk to.  Joe Mauer comes first, my friends jokingly consider Nick Punto to be the all around best, and then you have Justin Morneau.  He hasn’t missed a single game this year for the Twins.  Day in Day out, he’s the kind of player that Lou Gehrig would be proud of.  He hustles, he hits for average when he needs to, and belts home runs when it is necessary.  He hits better on the road then he does at home by about 20 points, and while it might not astound you too much, in a 3-0 count this guy has a batting average of 1.000, a pure hitter to be sure, but a smart hitter as well, chalking that up to the fact that he hits .348 when he’s behind in the count 0-2.  The guy hits an amazing .362 when there are runners in scoring position and .346 with runners in scoring position and two out.  This guy plays the game right, he’s not your typical 4 hitter that needs to come up and swat a home run, when his team needs runs, he chokes up on the bat, with runners and puts it where they can’t field it.  An incredible player, and one of the club house leaders, Morneau is far and away his teams best player.

Why he won’t win:
Late and close he is only hitting .293, which isn’t a horrible number, but his bb/k ratio is 1 to 2 in those games.  He leads the league in only one major category in RBI’s which is a testament to his hitting, but also to the guys that bat before him, Joe Mauer (.330) and Alexi Casilla, who for a majority of the season was batting early, and hitting well over .300.  His team also is just out of playoff reach.  Should he walk into this series with the White Sox and absolutely carry his team, it would go along way to convincing the voters that he deserves the award.  Many people in Minneapolis thinks he has already sewn it up if the Twins make the playoffs, but he might have a few hoops to jump through since he stole the 2006 version of this award away from Jeter, a fact that led to the greatest one liner comment I ever made to an opposing teams fandom, but we’ll cover that on a slow news day when I have nothing to write.

Miguel Cabrera 1B Detroit Tigers

His Line:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.294     36        125      .353     .543

Why he should win:
He’s first and second in the two main categories that tend to give you votes for the MVP(HR and RBI’s) and if he plays down the stretch, he could take over RBI’s very easily.  While it may not seem like much, Cabrera missed two games this year, and his team was able to muster one run in his absence, and they lost both games.  He is rather consistent when it comes to playing at home, or on the road, hitting 18 home runs a piece, 66 RBI’s and .294 on the road, while hitting 59 RBI’s and .295 at home.  With RISP he hits .304, and he’s a high note to a relatively luck luster season, for a team that many thought would make its way to the World Series.

Why he won’t win:
He’s a high note to a relatively luck luster season, for a team that many thought would make its way to the World Series.  His team is going to finish fourth in the central, and fourth from last in all of the A.L.  His hustle has been questioned at times, and on a team of veterans, he sure stands out as the young gun.  He only hits .212 in losses, .286 with two outs and runners in scoring position, and if its late and close, he’s only mustering a .256 average and striking out with a 3 to 1 frequency, compared to his walks.  Perhaps he needed some time to switch to playing first base, perhaps he is still trying to find his niche, but while he has had a good season for this team, and has played in all but two games, he still has a long way to go to learn how to be a member of a team, but then again, so do all of the Tigers.

Ichiro Suzuki OF Seattle Mariners

His Line:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.313     6         41       .365     .389

Why he should win:
The above stat line will never do Ichiro justice.  He’s a perennial gold glove winner, consistently hits well over 300 and loves to add those 200 hits up every year.  Arguments could be made to him being the best lead off hitter not only of this generation, but of all-time. 6th in the league this year in average, and 2nd in SB’s with 43, at the age of 34, Ichiro is proving why the Mariners justifiably have agreed to pay him all the way through the year 2050.  He played in every single game again this year, and when the Mariners go into the off season to figure out what they need to fix, his name, or position won’t even be brought up.  He average is .356 to lead off every game, and is the guy who has been a bright spot on an other wise dismal season.

Why he won’t win:
His team is the worst one in the AL, with runners in scoring position he only hits .291 and .261 when there are two outs with those same runners.  With the bases loaded he only hits a lousy .125, granted that was only in 8 AB’s this year when that happened, and the argument may be that his job isn’t to score the runners, his job is to put himself in position to make sure he scores.  This is true, and he does that very well, and had he not played, who knows how many fewer wins the Mariners would have, but its going to be tough to make the Ichiro Suzuki argument here.

Josh Hamilton OF Texas Rangers

His Line:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.303     31        124      .371     .531

Why he should win:
Who doesn’t love this guy?  His teammates love him, his fans love him, even the media loves this guy.  For comeback player of the year he is an absolute shoe in.  He’s in the top 10 in four main offensive categories including 8th in HR and SLG, 3rd in RBI’s and 6th in OPS.  He hits .302 when he has runners in scoring position, and when he is in the same spot with 2 outs, he hits .316.  He gave the Rangers a reason to believe in themselves again, he and his battery mate Milton Bradley, who also deserves some mention for MVP, have provided an incredible spark for this team, and have rangers fans believing that if they can get a closer, and another starter, they could be in hot contention next year, and give the Angels a run for their money.

Why he won’t win:
He is abysmal on the road.  He hits 80 points lower in batting average on the road then he does at home with a batting average of .260, which you can attribute to the physics that incorporate the stadium that he plays in.  He’s got a short porch in right, not to mention that with the offices that cover pretty much all of left all the way to center with glass panes, the wind that comes into the stadium is constantly blowing out inside the stadium, which also allows you to attribute to the massive amount of home runs he hit(although his pure swing sure did help him put on the display at the Midsummer Classic.)  He also fell off in the second half of the season.  His average dropped about 20 points, and he hit about half as many home runs and four 3 times as few RBI’s.  He hits only .262 in losses, and when it’s late and close he’s only hitting .256.  I think that there is no doubt in my mind that he’ll win comeback player of the year, but he plays in a easy hitting ball park, and he plays for a team, that like everyone else in the A.L. West, is getting blown out by over 20 games.


Mark Teixeira 1B Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

His Line Overall:

BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.304     32        119      .409     .546

His Angels Line:

G         BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
49        .348     12        41       .447     .618

Why he should win:
The Angels are 29-19 with Tex playing, thought that doesn’t say much for him, since they pretty much have the same record across the board with, or without him, and they’ve won three games while he was on the team, and he couldn’t play.  This guy is going to get a fat contract in the off-season, and at this point it’s a toss up as to whether he, or C.C. will get the bigger contract, not to mention, that both of them are going to bring up good debates about whether or not they should be in contention for the big awards in their new league.  He hit .386 in August, which was by far his best offensive producing month with 8 home runs and 23 RBI’s(there was a month where he hit the same number of RBI’s and one more HR, but his batting average was 100 points lower, you do the math.) He’s the almost the same as Morneau in that 3-0 count, he is hitting 1.000 in this situation, and has only not reached base once, when he hit a sac fly.  With RISP he hits .316, .329 when its late and close, and when the bases are juiced, the guy hits a whopping .615, one of the best in the majors.  At Angel Stadium, he hits .388 and when he’s playing during the day he hits an astounding .401.

Why he won’t win: 
If he had played for the Angels for the entire season, he’d be a shoe in.  The problem is, a majority of his overall home runs and RBI’s come from the National League.  While he has played absolutely phenomenally, its going to be tough to convince the writers to take it away from somebody like Justin Morneau or Dustin Pedroia.  The other knock I have against this guy, is I have heard that if he’s not happy he’s a clubhouse cancer in the worst way.  Even when this happens though, he still seems to produce.  He still played well in Texas when he knew his team wasn’t going anywhere, and even when he knew he wanted out, in both Texas and Atlanta he still showed up to play.  I have always been of the mind set that if you go out there and you do your job, it doesn’t matter your attitude sometimes, this is a business, and if you’re doing well, you’re doing your job, but from what I here, the Angels love him, and I can tell you this, he’ll be looking at A-Rod money from whoever signs him, top three, have to be Angels, Yankees and Red Sox.


Dustin Pedroia 2B Boston Red Sox

His Line:
BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.324     17        82       .375     .492

Why he should win:
53 doubles, the best of anybody in baseball.  He’s second in the league in BA only behind the great Joe Mauer, and he’s 1st in the league in runs scored(117.) The guy’s numbers are really just kind of astounding when you look at them close up.  He hits .340 at home, .309 on the road.  He hit .314 in the first half, and has hit .340 in the second half.  In August, when people were still talking about the Yankees, he put up a .374 average, with 10 doubles, 6 home runs, and 20 RBI’s from the two hole.  How bout his average for Pinch hitting?  Two for two, with two RBI’s.  He has reached a 3-0 count 15 times, and he has walked all 15 times.  .309 with Runners in scoring position, .500 with the bases juiced, and when its late and close, he’s hitting .366, lets not forget that he’s stolen 19 bases, and only been caught once.

Why he won’t win:
Listen, I’m not trying to take away the doubles, but Fenway is built for doubles, you pepper the wall it’s a double, a shot to right field it’s a double, you put it in the outfield on the ground, half the time it’s a double.  I’ve seen David Ortiz leg out a lot of doubles, I think 53 doubles is impressive, but his park is set-up for it.  He also doesn’t like batting leadoff.  He batted leadoff in 17 games this season and hit .209, which isn’t a positive, and he didn’t steal a base.  He does bat in front of Papi, which means that the pitcher isn’t focused on him as a runner, but moreover on the beast at the plate.  When there are RISP with 2 down, he’s only hitting .231, and in a similar knock against Morneau, Pedroia hits in front of one of the best hitters in baseball, and is bound to see more fastballs, and better pitches to hit, more often than not.  While Ortiz was out however in June, Pedroia did hit .350, however, he also had J.D. Drew and Manny hitting behind him.


Alex Rodriguez 3B New York Yankees

His Line:
BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG

.300     35        101      .391     .575

Why he should win:
The guy his almost as consistent as it gets from year to year.  12 straight years with at least 35 home runs and 100 RBI’s, and he makes the Yankees a better team.  He is in the top 10 of six different offensive categories. 1st in slugging, 2nd in OPS(.965), 3rd in home runs, 5th in Runs(103) and OBP(.391) and 8th in RBI’s.  Without A-Rod in the lineup, the squad is 7-13, and plays like the Royals.  His numbers are relatively consistent from the first half to the second half, but and are comparable being only a few numbers off in either direction.

Why he won’t win:
Boy what a difference a year makes, especially considering that last year was one of those lovely CONTRACT YEARS!!! Last year he hit at least four home runs in four separate months, this year he only did it once.  Last year he was consistent across the board, at home, on the road, in the second half of the year, and this year he is far from it.  Just to point out from last year to this year, look at these stats: 2007 numbers, RISP (.333), Bases Loaded (.500), Men on Base(.329), RISP w/2out (.318) and Close games late (.357) .  Now take a look at this years stats; RISP (.259), Bases Loaded (.286), Men on Base (.271), RISP w/2out (.232) and Close games late (.257) .  There is just such a drastic difference from last year to this year with this guy.  I like A-Rod, and I think that when Yankee fans actually cheer for him, he plays better, but this year despite the great numbers in Home Runs again, it just wasn’t the same kind of season from A-Rod, and the fact that his team isn’t going to make the playoffs, doesn’t help either.

Aubrey Huff DH Baltimore Orioles

His Line:
BA       HR       RBI      OBP    SLG
.306     32        107      .361     .557

Why he should win:
Maybe the most surprising candidate to make the list here.  I didn’t even see him coming.  He ranks in the top ten in four categories, he’s 5th in RBI’s, Slugging, and Ops (.918), and he ranks 6th in home runs.  His team was 1-5 without him playing this year, which granted he is playing for the Orioles, but nevertheless, its tough for them to win without him.  He opened with two bad months to the season, and then took off, averaging over .330 in batting average, .400 in OBP, and over .600 Slugging. His numbers are consistent at home, and on the road, and he has a .320 batting average with Runners in Scoring Position. He has more doubles than Morneau, more Home Runs than Pedroia and Morneau, and more RBI’s than Pedroia, and he increased his BA over 50 points from the first half to the second half.

Why he won’t win:
He plays for the Orioles.  Just like Cabrera above, he’s in dead last in his division, and it doesn’t look pretty.  He hits .286 with RISP and 2 down, bases loaded he only hits .278, and if its close late, he’s only hitting .221.  He looks good this year, and it’s a monster improvement over last year, but his team just doesn’t have the numbers to keep up with the rest of the league, which is unfortunate.



So who’s actually going to win:
The AL MVP essentially comes down to a two horse race, you toss out Ichiro, Huff, Cabrera and A-Rod because of poor team performance.  Teixeira gets tossed out I think, because he’s only played 49 games on this side of the league, but if he had the whole season, this award would be his, and unfortunately for Quentin he got hurt at the worst possible time for his team during a stretch run, and while the voters may give him a sympathy pat on the back, ultimately I think he falls to third.  That leaves two men, Justin Morneau and Dustin Pedroia.  Both have arguments to be made in their favor. Minnesota sports writers seem to think that if the Twins win the central, Morneau will be the far and away winner, and the east coasters are already crowning Pedroia the champion.  What do both have against them?  Morneau has Mauer batting in front of him, which is good for him coming up with a runner on at least 33% of the time, and he plays on a team that really needs him to function, while Kubel finally hit his 20th HR last night, Morneau is the only real big bopper on this team, and he’s as clutch as they come.   Pedroia has the pleasure to bat in front of the best 3-4 combo in baseball for a while.  Which means if he gets on base, he’s more than likely going to score.  On paper it’s a tight finish.  Pedroia had a better second half, Morneau a better first, but Morneau drives in more runs, and is more clutch with men on base, Pedroia scores more runs, and has the ability to change the game with his bat, and his legs.  Both are deserving, if I had a vote I’d give it to Tex, but I think when it comes down to it, the Twins have to win the Central, and Morneau has to be the reason.  This one is going to be a close race though, if I had my ballot here is what it would look like.

1.Mark Teixeira
2.Justin Morneau
3.Dustin Pedroia
4.Carlos Quentin
5.Aubrey Huff
6.Josh Hamilton
7.Ichiro
8.Alex Rodriguez