Today, a man who never played a single game in The Show till the age of 24, has a chance to win his second Most Valuable Player award. Ryan Howard, who struggled during the post-season, led his Phillies to the Playoffs by crushing 48 Home Runs and driving in just under 150 runners.
Jerry Lafferty was the man who “discovered” Ryan and helped him get signed and you can find his certified autograph in 2008 Bowman, if that’s your kind of thing. Now, if Howard does pull off the victory, it will be his third major award since 2005, when he won Rookie of the Year.
This goes to show that you should never give up on a prospect. While there are collectors building ridiculous stashes of High School kids, there is always that one player who’s been hanging around the Minors for one too many seasons who gets his chance and ends up becoming a superstar.
Just ask Dan Uggla.
Pujols will be MVP.
Should a player from a non playoff team win the award? I say yes, it should be about the numbers not about whether the team is in the playoffs. A team is going to be good or bad, the numbers should speak for them selves.
I don’t think Howard has the #’s to be MVP he did struggle a little this year. What gets me is that this guy who signed howard has a Topps issued card.
I agree with Dave, Pujols should and hopefully will win the MVP. He put up a monster year and helped keep the cardinals in contention for most of the year when no one expected the Cards to do much (they lost Carpenter, and went through at least two closers).
If Howard wins MVP I will boycott NL baseball, or at least NL focused sports writers who idiotically did not vote in Pujols. Im glad the voting was done before the playoffs.
You should see the articles that are written about the criteria that some of the writers have for their vote. It makes me wonder who actually thinks they are smart.
If you dont believe me, go to fire Joe morgan (RIP) and search for Woody Paige.
If Howard wins MVP, why is it such a big deal if it makes him a two-time winner? Pujols has also won the award once before.
Pujols has been playing for longer and came up when he was 21.
This was in no way an anti-Pujols post BTW.
I didn’t take it as anti-Pujols, I just get a kick out of mentioning the possibility of Howard being a two-time winner. MLB.COM did the same thing.
Pujols is a stud. He doesn’t need any extra acclaim. Let poor Howard get the limelight every once in a while!
Poor Howard hey coming from a guy who lives near philly, again Howard doesn’t have the #’s to support MVP of 2008, so I think he’s not going to get the award, and for Albert, he has the #’s for the MVP award, but there are alot of other players in the mix.
…and the winner is:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081117&content_id=3681885&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Plain and simple, you can’t have an MVP who bats .258 unless he’s a NL pitcher. Congrats to Pujols!
I think Ryan Howard likes being a WS champion, for a first time than winning this award, something he’s wanted for a couple of years.
The right man won the award. Pujols meant more to his team winning than Howard, in my opinion.
And this is coming from a Cubs fan so it is not biased in the least.
But Howard came through in the stretch. How many HR’s in the series.
The right man won.
Look at the stats Howard was better Howard RBI 146 R 105 HR 48, Albert RBI 116 R 100 HR 37, and Howard was at bat more than Albert. You may look at batting average, but the 3 stats given are what matter, I think Pujols won because he came in second to Howard winning the series.
The fact that he is playing with an elbow that will need MAJOR surgery and still won MVP is a testament to how much of a Kong this guy is.
This just in – Pujols rampages across St Louis, uses arch as hula hoop. Beast mode activated.
Gellman look at that comment, he is hurt and still won mvp, most players I know that need elbow surgery can’t go a month without it killing them, maybe he’s got some help from Jose.
Pujols has been playing with a bum elbow for years and still continues to put up numbers that make most wonder if he is indeed human. The guy is a fn beast. Just ask Ryan Howards closer, B. Lidge.
Not to mention the fact you take Pujols away from the Cardinals and they would be basement bound. Not sure you could say the same for the Phils minus Howard.
Not to mention um .258 vs .357 that’s just silly…
I get it I get it Batting Average I’m looking at the stats as they are shown he has more RBI’s More Runs and HR. Not taking anything away from Pujols, but where were the Cardinals in the post season. I know you all say that the MVP is not only for playoff teams, but Howard is Clutch, as you saw this season. The Phillies are a better team than people give credit to, You take Howard out we still contend. In the end Pujols won. But in Philly we know the real winners. World Phucking champs
The at bats arguement is a little weak when you consider the number of plate appearances each of these guys had.
During 2008, Pujols had 524 official ABs when you factor in the 104 walks, 34 intentional walks, and 5 HBPs that is an additional 143 plate appearances, so for 2008 Pujols had 667 plate appearances 2008.
Howard had 610 offical at bats, plus was walked 81 times, intentionally walked 17 times, and hit by a pitch 3 times. That accounts for an additional 101 plate appearances. Thus Howard had 711(a whoping 34 more than Pujols) plate appearances during 2008.
source: baseball reference.com
p.s. 2008 sac flies Pujols – 8; Howard 6
Dont talk to me about clutch, its been proven by many stats that when spread out over a number of “clutch” appearances at the plate, the players usually perform exactly at where their normal stats are. If a guy hits .300 in non “clutch” situations, he will most likely perform at that level in “clutch” situations. Go on baseball prospectus, they have stats for that.
As for things that matter, Pujols led the league in VORP by like 20 points. Thats insane!! Almost Arod territory from last year(s). Howard wasnt even in the top 30. He also led the league in EqA by 10 points, and WARP by a ton. Another important stat – Win Shares – Pujols had 35, which was only second to Lance Berkman. Again, Howard was nowhere to be seen. The people who voted for howard are idiots.
JL you made my argument for me:
“You take Howard out we still contend. In the end Pujols won. But in Philly we know the real winners. World Phucking champs”
As I said you take Pujols out the Cards are prolly cellar bound – so who is more valuable to their team? The right guy won this year.
What did Pujols do to make the Cardinals miss the playoffs? NOTHING. The right guy won the award.
I guess in the collecting world your Pujols cards will be worth something again. Wouldn’t want to see a 2001 Bowman auto go below 1000.00