It won't be announced until 2PM or so, but I'm thinking about the AL MVP a bit this morning. My gut feeling is that Justin Morneau is going to walk away with it because (a) he has a lot of RBIs; and (b) the Boston guys are going to split the east coast vote. If this happens, Morneau -- who I don't think is even the most deserving MVP candidate on his own team in light of Joe Mauer's season -- will win his second undeserved MVP in three years.
Which would be weird this year because, despite all of our grousing about down-ballot weirdness, the BBWAA has gotten the winners right this year, and that isn't always the case. Here's hoping they prove me wrong with the AL this afternoon.
I still think it's going to Pedroia.
ReplyDeleteI agree, if there's anything writers like more than RBIs, it's hustle/grit/heart/scrappiness (being under 5'10").
ReplyDeleteScrappy will win this time
ReplyDeleteBut Morneau was clutch down the stretch
ReplyDeleteScrappy v. Clutch -- duhn duhn DUHN!
craig, who would your "correct" choice be?
ReplyDeletep.s. can we stop calling pedroia scrappy?
Tough question, Eric, mostly because there are a lot of good choices. I'm kind of partial to Mauer because that offense comes with great defense at a premium position. Given that there's no single standout this year, however, I'm not going to slag on the writers for choosing, say, Pedroia or Youkilis.
ReplyDeletePedroia has the GG and was pretty clutch (down the stretch as well) and Youkilis changed positions and the team didn't see a drop in performance at third as well as his place in the batting order (also pretty clutch). So while I will agree with bigcatasroma that Morneau was clutch I cannot say his performance surpassed either Pedroia or Youkilis in tangibles (i.e. stats) or intangibles (i.e. clutch factor).
ReplyDeleteAll three are deserving so I will tip my cap to whoever wins and can appreciate and celebrate what they did to earn the award. Morneau has a slightly better chance because Pedroia and Youk will compete for the same first place votes.