I enjoy the writing of Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice, but he occasionally gets carried away, as with this note on his blog today:
“Andruw Jones will be the National League’s Most Valuable Player. The balloting won’t be close if voters have been paying attention. He’s leading the NL in both home runs and RBIs. He carried the Braves while their young players were establishing themselves. He’s the man.”
Andruw Jones for National League MVP? Yes, he did hit his 48th and 49th homers yesterday and is having his best season, but Jones (32 RCAA/.360 OBA/.612 SLG/.972 OPS) is not even close to being the best hitter in the National League this season. The best hitters are the Cubs’ Derrick Lee (84/.422/.670/1.092) and Albert Pujols (76/.434/.631/1.065), both of whom have created over 40 more runs for their respective teams than Jones has for the Braves. Heck, Andruw Jones is not even clearly the best hitter named Jones on the Braves — Chipper is hitting 30/.418/.570/.988. There are at least eight other players in the National League — including the Stros’ Morgan Ensberg (34/.384/.564/.948) — who are having at least as good or better a season hitting the baseball as Andruw Jones.
Inasmuch as Pujols has been the best player in the National League not named Bonds over the past several seasons, he should win the National League MVP this season. Lee would not be a bad choice, either, although my sense is that he is having a career year and Pujols deserves it more because of his previous MVP-quality seasons. However, one thing is clear — despite all those taters, Andruw Jones is not the National League MVP this season.
Ah, now see, it all goes back to how you define MVP. Is it the best hitter? Or is it the Most Valuable Player? I would argue that without Pujols, the Cardinals would still be atop the NL Central. Without Andruw, the Braves would probably NOT be anywhere close to winning the NL East.
Pujols is the better hitter, no question. But Jones has been more valuable to his team this year.
While I don’t disagree with you, don’t forget about Miguel Cabrera. He just became the youngest player to hit 30+ HRs in consecutive seasons. Younger than Pujols, even.
Sarah, look at it this way. If both Pujols and A. Jones did not play for their respective teams and were replaced by an average National League hitter (certainly no sure thing — just look at the Stros’ hitters!), then the Braves would have had 32 fewer runs while the Cards would have had 76 fewer runs. Thus, the impact of losing Pujols would have been far more harmful to the Cards than losing Jones would have been for the Braves.
Moreover, given your selection criteria for Jones, Morgan Ensberg would be more deserving of the MVP than either Pujols or Jones — he was the only truly above-average hitter for the Stros this season until Berkman returned and hit his stride, while Chipper Jones has had as strong a season as A. Jones throughout the season for the Braves.
TP, Cabrera is one of the other players mentioned in the post having a much better season than A. Jones. He is third on my MVP list behind Pujols and Lee.
On a side note of trivia, anybody notice how Cabrera is a might bit chunkier this year? It almost like what happens to most people in their middle-to-late-twenties, of course, we all know Cabrera is really 21. At least that’s what his birth certifcate says.
Pujols should be MVP. The Cards lost a great player in Rolen, and they have hardly missed a step. Incredible.
Baseball Prospectus was all over this today. Look for the article called “Moments over Merit”.