Don't turn your back on Manny for MVP
By Michael Gill
The National league MVP race should be as stunning as some of it’s division races this year. In a year where so little seems predictable, how about maybe giving the sports ultimate individual honor, the MVP, to one of its most unpredictable forces – Manny Ramirez.
The game has never had a player switch leagues in mid-season and achieve such an award. However, looking at his numbers, they might just be worthy of consideration if he come somehow lead the Dodgers to the post-season.
Consider, Ramirez is hitting a robust .476, with for home runs and 14 RBI in just 11 games in Hollywood. If you project those numbers out over his final 43 games in Dodger blue; Manny just might haven to be taken seriously. If he can pound another 15 home runs, driving home another 40 runs in 43 games, and keep his batting average around the .400 clip, how would this MVP resume look :
.410, 19 home runs, and 54 RBI in just 54 games – pretty amazing right.
There is another key factor here, which is out of his control for the most part, and that’s winning.
The Dodgers are just a mediocre 6-5 in games with Manny thus far, not bad, but is that going to be good enough to propel them past the Arizona Dimondbacks and into first place in the NL West? That remains to be seen, but the teams will meet six times over the next month to try and find out.
The second factor as stated by Jared Smith is a weak field.
Right now there is no clear-cut winner. Chase Utley is a sheik pick by many on the east coast and especially in the Delaware Valley, because he would be the third Phillie to win the award in a row. His numbers suggest he can win the award, but he did have a very cold June and July. Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols may “split the votes” with the mid-west voters and the other central division candidates (Braun, Soriano) have all had dates with the D.L. Early favorites such as Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones’ candidacy faded when their teams chances of post-season play fell apart. Pitchers for MVP, not likely but if CC Sabathia can have his name mentioned in the mix, then Manny can pop to the top of the list – even if he has played just 11 games thus far.
The NL divisions are tight, the NL Wild Card race is tight and at this point both are unpredictable, so why cant the league MVP be unpredictable as well.
11 games is a pretty weak sample size. If he’s batting .410 at the end of the year, we can talk, but let’s let him unpack his bags before we hand him the MVP.
I think that was stated in the story, that if he contiunes on this pace then we can consider him, not hand it to him after 11 games.
In case you missed it :
However, looking at his numbers, they might just be worthy of consideration if he come somehow lead the Dodgers to the post-season.
Consider, Ramirez is hitting a robust .476, with for home runs and 14 RBI in just 11 games in Hollywood. If you project those numbers out over his final 43 games in Dodger blue; Manny just might haven to be taken seriously. If he can pound another 15 home runs, driving home another 40 runs in 43 games, and keep his batting average around the .400 clip, how would this MVP resume look :
.410, 19 home runs, and 54 RBI in just 54 games – pretty amazing right.
No doubt he’s been impressive in Dodger blue so far. As you had mentioned, winning the division would be an important factor, which I think will be more difficult now that the Dodgers didn’t block Arizona from acquiring Adam Dunn. BTW, has anybody noticed how much the other National League playoff contenders have improved their squads while the National League East contenders (Phils, Mets, Marlins) have sat on their asses?