Christof's 2006 NL MVP - Ryan Howard

agreed, but you can't give MVP to a player on such a crappy team or I guess you can

I'd agree with Phillyfunk...very rare that a non-contending team has an MVP winner on their squad. With that being said, Howard is rediculous! He should be a shoe-in for 50hrs if he stays healthy.

Yeah Mo! finally got R-Ho out!

in related news, the phillies lost again.

he's on a 35-36 team, it's called the Most Valuable Player, he had a great game today, his tema still lost. This is the same way Big Poppi should have won instead of A-Rod. If Pujols is injured long enough, it should go a player on the team with the best record in the N.L., the Mets. They have so many valuable players they take away from each other. But the most valuable player, the clutch player, the player that is the reason they won as many as they have is David Wright. But we don't about Pujols, so to say Howard over Pujols is crazy. And even if you discard Pujols, look up at the N.L. East standings.

I love Ryan Howard, but it has to be either Pujols or Beltran. Howard doesn't contribute outside of his offense like Beltran(baserunning/defense) and Pujols(defense).

Howard and Dominance...two words that seem to belong together...

I think that to name a player for such a bad team the MVP, it has to be someone that dominates more aspects of the game than Howard does. For example, ARod a few years ago with the Rangers. He won the MVP in 2003 while playing for one of the worst teams in baseball. Right now, Howard has comparable numbers to many of ARod's. He's batting .298, as did ARod that year. ARod's OBP was a little better than Howard's (.396 to .365), and Howard's slugging is a little better than ARod's (.631 to .600). ARod let the AL with 47 homeruns that year, and Howard is on pace for 57. Howard is also on pace for much more RBIs. But, Howard has 0 stolen bases in his Major League career, and ARod had 17 his MVP season. Howard has a .985 fielding percentage at FIRST BASE. Arod's fielding percentage was .989 his MVP season. ARod had 8 errors all of that season, and that's already been surpassed by Howard's 10 errors through just 69 games.

He is definitely a dominant hitter, but I think that a player needs to be more balanced to win the MVP if they play for such a bad team.

Ryan Howard isn't the MVP and it's not because of his team. He's not as good as Beltran, Garciaparra, Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Jason Bay, Nick Johnson, or Lance Berkman. Yeah, he's up there, but MVP? No.

I think as much as I agree if it is a Mets right now it's Beltran, like I predicted he'd do the same thing as A-Rod, bad year, MVp. BUT I think David Wright has to be at least in the conversation as far as VALUABLE because you can sya he s been as valuable to the Mets as Beltran. But right now it still Beltran if it's not Pujols.

There's no denying that Ryan Howard simply hasn't been as good as Nomar, Miggy, Jason bay, Nick Johnson, and Lance Berkman. He also hasn't been as good as Dan Uggla, David Wright, Matt Holliday, or Scott Rolen. I mean, he's in that group, he's around there, with guys like Rolen and Holliday. He's nowhere near the MVP.

I agree that Howard deserves consideration but so do several others (Pujols - in spite of time missed, Cabrera, Soriano, D Wright - most total bases in the NL, and even Scott Rolen for putting the Cards on his back). It is WAY to early to annoint one man. Let's see how the season plays out, shall we?