Last updated: 9:43 am
June 29, 2008
Posted: 4:14 am
June 29, 2008
WE HAVE reached the midway point of the schedule and the awards landscape reflects the season: There is a lot of unexpected excellence and a lot of races that are way too hard to call.
Let's put it this way, nobody has enough delegates in any category yet to coast to an electoral victory. The competition is being convoluted by three factors, in particular:
1. You have multiple players from teams vying for the same awards and, thus, potentially splitting attention/votes. It is possible to make the case that the Rangers, right now, are getting the three best offensive seasons in the AL from Milton Bradley, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler. The Red Sox are surviving the absence of David Ortiz because of the brilliance of J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis. How do you pick one side of the Marlins double-play combo (Dan Uggla) over the other (Hanley Ramirez)? Can you separate Joe Saunders from Ervin Santana, both of whom eased the loss of the Angels' presumptive Nos. 1 and 2 starters John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar.
2. You have a lot of excellence coming from near the bottom of the standings from Houston's Lance Berkman, San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez and Cleveland's Grady Sizemore, and traditionally, MVP voters - whenever possible - shy away from handing this award to players on losing teams.
3. There are so many surprising candidates that you just find yourself saying: Cliff Lee, really? Edinson Volquez? John Danks? Nate McLouth? Don't we just assume that with fully healthy second halves that the historically elite players such as Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols are going to shoot to the top? Nevertheless, a year ago, we thought the presidential race was going to be Rudy Giuliani vs. Hillary Clinton, so maybe it is just that kind of year.
The results of all this upheaval and murkiness are award races that are more than halfway good at this time of year. So let's take a closer inspection:
AL MVP
Hamilton, Rangers. Bradley's offensive ledger is more impressive, but it has been done mainly as a DH. Kinsler has a speed component (20 steals in 21 tries) and is clutch (.388 with runners in scoring position). But how do you give this award to a second baseman with 14 errors midway through the schedule? Hamilton, currently struggling with knee inflammation, leads the AL in homers and RBIs, and his RBI total was 15 more than anyone else in the league.
2. Drew, Red Sox. 3. Carlos Quentin, White Sox.
4. Bradley, Rangers. 5. Brian Roberts, Orioles.
ANTI-AL MVP
Robinson Cano, Yankees. He has shown signs of life recently, and others have had even worse halves then him. But the Yanks really needed Cano to be at least effective, if not a force, while Rodriguez and Jorge Posada were out. And he wasn't.
