Will the National League MVP Please Stand Up?
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by Nejoshi
A little over one week remains in the baseball season, and the question as to the NL’s most important player remains just as jumbled – if not more -- now as it did at the beginning of the season. In April, most people would have guessed that two or three sluggers would be the favorites to claim the award, a list that included Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Jose Reyes. However, the list of potential MVP’s has grown much more cloudy, and with the pennant races still up in the air, it’s time for someone to steal the award in the season’s final 10 games.
The Nominees:
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers: The Prince has all the numbers that you would expect an MVP to have: .291/.387/.615 to go along with 46 homers and 111 RBI’s. The only problem is that his team has stumbled dramatically down the stretch and the fact that he may not even be the most valuable player on his own team. Rookie Ryan Braun has become a just as important bat in the middle of the order down the stretch as Fielder’s. However, if Milwaukee makes the playoffs, you got to give Fielder the edge in this race, based solely on how he paced this team to its blazing start at the start of the season.
Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies: Deep inspection of Philadelphia’s sudden ascent toward the top of the NL East reveals that this man has been just as responsible as anyone. Utley’s toughness and grit following the injury of his right hand has been inspirational in helping his club make a run at October. The second basemen was out for a month with the injury, yet is putting some incredible numbers. A cool .333 average with 20 homers and 97 RBI in 121 games plus some above-average defense would make Utley the favorite if he didn’t have the misfortune of breaking his hand.
Matt Holliday, Colorado Rockies: It’s been 40 years since someone hit for the Triple Crown (Carl Yastrzemski was the last, achieving it for the Red Sox in 1967) and 70 years since someone in the National League has done it. Holliday is not going to do it in 2007, but he is awfully close. Leading the league with his .338 average and 126 RBIs, the Rockies star is an insurmountable 13 homers behind Fielder for the home run crown, which would complete the unthinkable trifecta. Nonetheless, Holliday must be considered because he has carried Colorado into the conversation for the wildcard, although the ongoing Coors Field debate weakens his profile. Here are his home splits: .373/.430/.703/22/72 against what he has done outside of Colorado: .303/.370/.497/11/54.
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies: Howard, like the Phillies, got to a slow start and will not match his mind boggling sophomore campaign, but he has bounced back nicely ever since his batting average dipped to .200 on May 26. Howard is second in the league in homers (40) as well as RBIs (120) and would have a higher batting average than his .256 mark if Chase Utley hadn’t missed a month. Howard’s chances of repeating as MVP don’t look very high, but he has been an instrumental part of Philadelphia’s resurgence. His monster power numbers garner a considerable amount of attention, but so do his record breaking strikeout totals.
Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins: It’s downright impossible – actually it’s not, but it should be -- for a last place team to feature the league’s MVP, but watching Ramirez perform for the Marlins on a daily basis makes him a legitimate candidate for this award. The 23-year old shortstop became the first player since 1990 to hit 25 homers and steal 50 bases in a season, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story. Ramirez combines a unique blend of power with the usual savvy for finding ways to get on base as the team’s leadoff hitter. He will not win the award this year, but this kid deserves to be ranked in the top 5 in the balloting, something we should get used to for years to come. You think Boston would kill to have this guy at shortstop, rather than Julio Lugo?
Others considered: David Wright (New York Mets), Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia Phillies), Eric Byrnes (Arizona Diamondbacks), Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers)
My Pick: As of this moment, I would take Fielder, but only by a nose over Utley and Holliday. Milwaukee needs to make it to October for me to stay with Fielder, however.
