A front page ESPN.com poll recently asked who is the best hitter in baseball: Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols or Vladimir Guerrero?
The largest percentage of respondents said Alex Rodriguez.
And he very well might be. Rodriguez hit his league leading 25th home run of the season Wednesday night. A-Rod is not only leading the majors in home runs, but also in runs scored, RBIs and slugging and has helped the Yankees charge back after a 9-14 April.
But, A-Rod's blistering starting that included 14 homers in April did not help the Yankees win. At the end of the month, 27 major league teams had more wins than New York.
Their current winning streak has been sparked more by the resurrection of outfielder Bobby Abreu than Rodriguez's consistent power. Abreu is batting over .400 with 12 RBIs and 14 runs in the past ten games.
But, the Yankees turn around can be credited to A-Rod. Forget about the home run he hit off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth in Boston. The Yankees turn around started with a scream.
Rodriguez exchanged pleasantries with Toronto third baseman Howie Clark as he headed to third base on May 30. In the top of the ninth A-Rod appeared to yell out "I got it" during an infield pop up, causing the Blue Jays infielder to drop what would have been the third out of the inning.
The Yankees were up two runs at that point and tacked three more runs on after the incident. New York won the game 10-5.
"I just said, 'Hah!' That's it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," Rodriguez said after the game.
Rodriguez has turned into a screamer and is not MVP material. Talk about A-Rod landing his third MVP award is beginning. When the end of the season comes rolling around, voters must keep two things in mind. First, that Rodriguez will have had the benefit of having $75 million of talent hitting around him in the one, two, three, five and six spots in the lineup. Second, A-Rod's power surge did not help New York win. The Yankees were dead last in the AL East entering May.
Yankee fans seem to have let A-Rod start at square one this year, forgiving him for his past October transgressions. However, with a lot of baseball yet to play, having a hot start to this season may end up being meaningless for Alex.
The other MVP Contenders
Magglio Ordonez - The Tigers outfielder is following up an October triumph, three-run homer that lifted the Tigers into the World Series, in style. Ordonez might have a shot at the triple crown. He is first in the AL in average, third in RBIs and tied for seventh in home runs. He belted 30 doubles in the Tigers' first 61 games, which made Mags the fastest player to that mark since 1996. Staying healthy is key, but Ordonez is in prime position early.
Vladimir Guerrero - Vlad is having another Vlad like season. The Angels star outfielder is currently batting with a .335 average, which is good for sixth in the AL. Guerrero is also tied for ninth in homers and is second in the league with 61 RBIs. Guerrero is also in the top-five in the league in on-base percentage and slugging. A previous MVP winner, Guerrero has consistently put up the numbers to win the award. Not to mention LA is in first place in the AL West.
Justin Morneau - Morneau, the reigning American League MVP, has yet to put up great offensive numbers. But his 18 home runs have him second in the AL. The Twins are playing .500 baseball at the moment. But, Justin should not be written off yet. Minnesota has a history of playing well after the All-Star break, so Morneau should improve his .273 average and 50 RBIs.
Victor Martinez - The catcher from Cleveland is a definite dark horse. Martinez's performance has gone relatively unnoticed. However, Victor leads the Indians in average (.326), home runs (13), RBIs (56) and on-base percentage (.941). Martinez's numbers might suffer later in the season, but the longer the Indians are in postseason consideration the more attention Victor should garner.
*Blogger's Note: All statistics used were current at time of post.
3 comments:
Go Vlad!
I don't like the Yankees. I don't like A-Rod. I do, however, think that he's easily leading the MVP race and if he continues on this pace he will break several MLB records and be the most deserving MVP candidate whether or not his team is winning games.
I don't think that the primary criteria for choosing an MVP should be the number of games his team has won. No single player can win a game for his team, period. Well, I suppose if you are Babe Ruth and you're pitching 1 hit shutouts and hitting 3 homers in one game you can win a game all by yourself, but last time I checked A-Rod hadn't taken the mound for the Yanks...at least not yet. They might try that at a later date, but for now a starting rotation diminished by injuries and poor team hitting has rendered A-Rod's individual effort moot.
A poor performance by A-Rod's supporting cast shouldn't take away from his individual accomplishments thus far. I love Vlad and the rest of the pack, but they might be receiving a bit of undue credit thanks to some great defense and superb pitching by the other 8 guys on the field. Should their role really matter here? If A-Rod can be credited with singlehandedly winning all of the Yankees' games in April shouldn't he still be considered the most valuable player? I would argue that individual accomplishments are too often inflated by the success of a player's team in deciding MVP awards throughout the entire world of sports.
Today I read on ESPN that A-Rod is garnering a $200K bonus for a)making the all-star team and b) being the highest vote getter in the American League. It's funny to me that A-Rods contract is the gift that keeps on giving. Is he worth the dollars? Does he deserve to be the highest paid player in the majors?
His stats would indicate yes, but his "winning" mentality (Or lack of it) would say no.
I hate to bring up Barry Bonds in this discussion, but he has not been surrounded by the talent that A-Rod has in NY and he has made a bigger impact on his team, despite all his misgivings as an individual.
Anyway, A-Rod does not deserve an MVP award. I would give it to someone like Morneau for propelling their team into the playoffs, even with subpar offensive talent around them.
Ordonez is an interesting case bacause he is surrounded by some pretty good offensive players in Sheffield, Polanco and Guillen. Sheffield is having a great year and the rest of the crew are doing pretty well themselves, so it is hard to say if it is Ordonez health or Sheffields resurgence that has fueled Mags MVP-like numbers.
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