Friday, September 09, 2005
these awards for the baseball : opinions I pass off as future fact
Okay. The MVP should go to the player most valuable to his team, whereas the Cy is merely an award for individual performance. Therefore, your awardees are as follows: Vlad, Santana, Pujols, Carpenter. Sorry, Andruw; you almost single-handedly lifted this team into first place, but Pujols’s non-HR and RBI numbers are so far beyond yours’ that I just can’t make a case for you. Plus, the Cardinals have had as many key injuries as the Braves, and if it weren’t for Chipper’s extended absence and the rotation problems Andruw wouldn’t be taken seriously as a candidate. Pujols, on the other hand, would still be Pujols, but the lack of Rolen, Edmonds, Walker, etc., has merely high-lighted his excellence. In the AL, Vlad gets the edge over Alex Rodriguez because, like Andruw, he’s basically carried his team to the top of the division. Even with a ridiculously stacked line-up, A-Rod and the Yankees are struggling to take the wild card. Forty-odd homers are nice, and all, but if they don’t take you to the play-offs, what good are they? David Ortiz gets serious consideration here, but you could make a legitimate MVP case for three of his teammates, so it’s hard to give him the nod. Santana can’t match Colon, Buehrle, or Garland for wins, and his ERA is comparable, but he blows the competition away in most every other category. He remains the most dominant starter in the American League, and deserves to be recognized as such yet again. In the National League, you could easily make a case for Clemens, but good luck getting me to listen. Okay, yes, perhaps this season will become legendary, as John-Stossel-with-a-better-stache lookalike Jayson Stark says. He has been absolutely amazing. But Chris Carpenter has been almost as amazing, and, with twenty-four or so more innings pitched than Clemens, and a better strike-out ratio, his overall numbers are more impressive. Plus, unlike Clemens, he’s not a dick-head with an ego the size of the mountain of drugs he’s (potentially) injected into his butt.
Oh, and when it comes to rookies, Huston Street and a Duke/Francoeur split. Had they called up Felix Hernandez in July, it’d be all his. Instead, he'll have to console himself with the half-dozen Cy's he'll win over the next decade, along with the relief of not actually having to share a clubhouse with Bret Boone.
Okay. The MVP should go to the player most valuable to his team, whereas the Cy is merely an award for individual performance. Therefore, your awardees are as follows: Vlad, Santana, Pujols, Carpenter. Sorry, Andruw; you almost single-handedly lifted this team into first place, but Pujols’s non-HR and RBI numbers are so far beyond yours’ that I just can’t make a case for you. Plus, the Cardinals have had as many key injuries as the Braves, and if it weren’t for Chipper’s extended absence and the rotation problems Andruw wouldn’t be taken seriously as a candidate. Pujols, on the other hand, would still be Pujols, but the lack of Rolen, Edmonds, Walker, etc., has merely high-lighted his excellence. In the AL, Vlad gets the edge over Alex Rodriguez because, like Andruw, he’s basically carried his team to the top of the division. Even with a ridiculously stacked line-up, A-Rod and the Yankees are struggling to take the wild card. Forty-odd homers are nice, and all, but if they don’t take you to the play-offs, what good are they? David Ortiz gets serious consideration here, but you could make a legitimate MVP case for three of his teammates, so it’s hard to give him the nod. Santana can’t match Colon, Buehrle, or Garland for wins, and his ERA is comparable, but he blows the competition away in most every other category. He remains the most dominant starter in the American League, and deserves to be recognized as such yet again. In the National League, you could easily make a case for Clemens, but good luck getting me to listen. Okay, yes, perhaps this season will become legendary, as John-Stossel-with-a-better-stache lookalike Jayson Stark says. He has been absolutely amazing. But Chris Carpenter has been almost as amazing, and, with twenty-four or so more innings pitched than Clemens, and a better strike-out ratio, his overall numbers are more impressive. Plus, unlike Clemens, he’s not a dick-head with an ego the size of the mountain of drugs he’s (potentially) injected into his butt.
Oh, and when it comes to rookies, Huston Street and a Duke/Francoeur split. Had they called up Felix Hernandez in July, it’d be all his. Instead, he'll have to console himself with the half-dozen Cy's he'll win over the next decade, along with the relief of not actually having to share a clubhouse with Bret Boone.
