At Home Plate - Quick Hits with Adam (Week 20)

Written by Adam Adkins (Contact & Archive) on August 14, 2008

So, who's gonna win the AL MVP? That's a loaded question, so take it slowly. Sometimes, the writers just... do the right thing and give it to the guy who's having the best year (Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez).

However, most times... they give it to the best story. It's all about the story. For instance, 2006. Derek Jeter led the AL in VORP. The Yankees made the playoffs. However, the story of the summer was the Minnesota Twins and they're crazy, dumb, lucky streak that catapulted them into the playoffs.

Do you know who their most valuable player was? Joe Mauer. Second? Johan Santana.

So, I mean, tack on Best Story with Best Player on Team with Best Story, and you get... Justin Morneau?

... He led them in RBIs.

I know. Dumb, right? Yeah. Why do we care about these dumb awards? I mean, yeah, it's great to reward the best players on a great year. So, fine, give the awards to A-Rod for AL MVP, Cliff Lee for AL Cy Young, Timmy Lincecum for NL Cy Young, and Albert Pujols for NL MVP.

That's... easy.

But no, I'd imagine the awards will go like this... Josh Hamilton (good, but no where near the best in the AL) for AL MVP, Francisco Rodriguez for AL Cy Young (a horrible, horrible mistake, probably the biggest blunder ever). NL wise, we got Brandon Webb for NL Cy (no complaints there, but it's more about his sure to be 20 wins and not his great groundball rates or the tiny walks), and for NL MVP... looks like Chase Utley, which is fine, but he's not Albert Pujols, or Lance Berkman, or Chipper Jones.

You'll note the stories there... 'Drug User Turned Baseball Star!', 'New Saves Record', 'Twenty Wins!', 'Carried Phillies to Playoffs!'.

Ugh.

Recommend article: