Pujols Wins MVP: Voters Got it Right
On the local sports scene, it’s been a rough fall, and it’s probably going to be a brutal winter. The Rams, already in the tank, are now being cut apart by a terrible run of injuries. Same with the Blues, who just lost Andy McDonald, who was having an excellent season offensively. The Blues can’t stay healthy, either. And they’re enduring the growing pains that inevitably occur when a team turns to a youth movement.
That’s why it was uplifting to receive some good news for a change: St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols was named the National League’s MVP in the annual vote held by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
I have to admit I was surprised by the outcome. I just assumed that voters would lapse into narrow-minded thinking and hand out the award based on team standings. But they didn’t. Pujols starred for the fourth-place Cardinals but won out over runner-up Ryan Howard, the slugger for the first-place (NL East) Philadelphia Phillies.
But obviously many voters thought this through. Why should Pujols be penalized because his bullpen had the most blown saves in the majors? If Brad Lidge (41 for 41 in saves) closed for the Cardinals instead of the Phillies, the Cardinals would have likely made it to the postseason. And if the Phillies had been maligned by the ninth-inning relief crises that doomed the Cardinals, Howard wouldn’t have been on a playoff team. It is utterly foolish to hold a great player’s inferior teammates against him.
And it’s not as if the Cardinals need to apologize for finishing fourth in a tough division. They won 86 games (two more than the NL West champion Dodgers), and finished 10 games over .500, defying all of those 90-loss preseason predictions. On a team plagued by bullpen and rotation issues, Pujols kept his team in the hunt until late in the year.
I also believed the voters would become infatuated with the month of September, which is often the case. Howard had a booming September, but he had many ups and downs over an inconsistent season, batting only .234 before the All-Star break. He also struggled mightily in late-inning situations. I’ve never understood the logic that places games played in April, May, June, July and August to the side in order to put all the chips on September. Don’t the games played before September count in the standings? Howard is to be congratulated on his strong season, and that fantastic September. But if you’re going to base an MVP award on September play, why not just give it to the guy who has the best final week of the season? Or maybe give it to the player who leads his team to the playoffs on the final weekend? If we’re going to be ludicrous, then let’s go all the way with it and throw out about the first 150, 155 games of the regular season.
But the voters took a step back and took a balanced view. Pujols was there ALL season, not just at the finish line. Here were his monthy batting averages: .365, .373, .302, .347, .398, .321.
Pujols finished second in the league in batting average (.357), led the league in slugging (.653), and was second in the NL in onbase percentage (.462). He also played superb defense, and was the gung-ho leader of a hard-driving team that pushed its way into contention.
The voters rewarded that consistency.
Granted, Howard is a tremendous power hitter, leading the league in HRs and RBIs. But it’s his only real skill. Do we really want to turn the MVP Award into a glorified home-run hitting contest?
Did the voters really want to hand the MVP to a minus-fielding first baseman who struck out 199 times, finished 61st in the league in batting average, 49th in onbase percentage, and only sixth (despite all of those bombs) in slugging?
Kudos to the voters for figuring out that it’s a 162-game season, and that the game’s best player shouldn’t be downgraded because his team didn’t have a closer.
Props to the voters for taking in the scope of Pujols’ entire season, rather than dwelling on homers.
And congrats to the voters for recognizing Pujols’ vast skill set and dominant brilliance that make him the best player in the game today. The best player has the most value to his team. It’s a simple concept. This time, the BBWAA got it right. Pujols, who has been underappreciated in his career, is finally getting his just reward.
-B
There’s four “ways” to pitch to Albert: Ball 1, Ball 2, Ball 3, Ball 4!
Next batter………
Well written B. No doubt that Pujols deserved the award. I am surprised that the BBWAA writers figured it out.
I was glad the BBWAA realized that Howard had a much better opportunity to put up those fat RBI numbers because of the team he played on.
Howard had 351 plate appearances with runners on base. There were a total of 483 runners on base in those 351 plate appearances (224 at 1st; 170 at 2nd; 89 at 3rd). That ranks 8th in MLB.
Pujols had 322 plate appearances with runners on base. There were a total of 438 runners on base in those 322 plate appearances (235 at 1st; 131 at 2nd; 70 at 3rd). That ranks 31st in MLB.
That means Howard had 45 more men on base. Furthermore, Howard had 259 men at second or third (in scoring position with a single) versus 201 for Pujols.
Of players with more than 300 plate appearances, Howard finished 6th and Pujols 7th in driving in players from 1st base (11.2 vs. 11.1%). Howard was much better at driving in players from 2nd base. He ranked 10th (24.7%) versus 142nd (16%) for Pujols. Pujols ranked was much better at driving in runners from 3rd base at 45.7% (40th among all MLB). Howard was ranked 180th (34.8%).
This doesn’t take into account the easier hitting environment of Citizens Park versus Busch Stadium.
Stats are from Baseball Prospectus.
Thanks for the great article. I’d also add the comment I read (can’t remember where), that said if you placed Pujols on the Philly team in place of Howard, and behind all of their bats, Phillies would have won the East Division going away instead of wrapping it up in the last week.