AL MVP – Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
Ian Kinsler and Milton Bradley are playing very well for the Rangers. However, I believe that it is Hamilton who is the backbone of that team’s lineup. Take him away and the Rangers wouldn’t be nearly as deadly.
NL MVP – Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
Sure, the Astros are a bad team and chances are slim that they will make the playoffs. That said, Berkman is having a career year and is the best hitter in the NL to date this season.
AL Cy Young – Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
Mariano Rivera might be having …read more

I seem to be on a Hall of Fame kick lately. Maybe it’s because I actually visited the place this summer. Or maybe there’s not much else going on right now (seriously, don’t make me bust out some transaction haiku on the Darin Erstad and Miguel Olivo signings). Whatever the case, that’s where my head is at, so let’s take a look at another worthy candidate, Rich “Goose” Gossage.
On second thought, let’s take a look at someone else taking a look at Gossage. In this case, we’ll check in on a couple of guys with a vote, ESPN’s Phil Rogers …read more

The voters went 50-50 this year. They got one right, the other not so much.
Your 2007 AL MVP is Alex Rodriguez, which makes sense because with all due respect to Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez, A-Rod dominated the league in every conceivable way. His was an easy choice.
In the National League, things were complicated by the Mets’ historic collapse. If David Wright’s team had reached the playoffs, I’m convinced the voters would have chosen the right guy.
As it stands, they were sure to make a mistake, the only issue being whether it would favor Colorado’s Matt Holliday or Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins. As …read more

I haven’t done one of these in a while. Time to turn the electrons over to you; here’s what y’all have been saying at Knuckle Curve over the past couple months or so:

The latest MVP breakdowns have been posted at Vegas Watch. Good stuff from VW, as always.
The AL race is (or should be) a slam dunk. I’m fascinated that some folks have voted against A-Rod in our poll. I’d love to hear reasons behind that (”Yankees are teh suck” isn’t a reason).
I also find it surprising that Chase Utley still ranks so highly in the NL race. There’s no way he’ll win it, and if the Mets somehow slip out of a playoff spot, I’m not sure about David Wright either. I agree with VW’s assessment of Matt Holliday (who is …read more

{democracy:20}

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the National League MVP race, while perhaps neglecting the AL side. It feels, at times, like a one-man race, but is it?
ESPN’s Jayson Stark assembled a list of key contenders a few weeks ago, and most of ‘em make sense (not sure about David Ortiz this year, and he’s a little too excited about J.J. Putz for my taste), although my personal opinion is that the real battle here is for second place. Then again, the writers are full of surprises, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Who do you …read more

That’s the question Jacob at Vegas Watch asks. Actually he asked it earlier in the week, and I’m just now getting around to it. Yes, I’m lame.
Jacob’s analysis is solid, but I disagree with the conclusion, mainly because it gives voters too much credit. Specifically, I don’t know that Prince Fielder will be penalized much for his defense if he keeps leading the league in homers, nor do I have confidence in voters’ ability to understand (or care) just how much Matt Holliday has been helped by Coors Field.
I think the race will come down to Fielder, Holliday, and last …read more

Sure, it’s early. But is it really? I mean, don’t we pretty much start speculating on who will win the MVP as soon as the season begins?
Heck, some of us do it even sooner than that.
Jacob at Vegas Watch has devised a quick-and-dirty system for identifying the top position players in each league using adjusted WPA and UZR. I’m still digesting this, but it’s a fascinating technique with pretty reasonable-looking results: AL | NL.
I’m particularly interested to see so many of the young hitters I talked about at The Hardball Times before the season show up on the NL list. …read more