2009 NL MVP Ballot

Yesterday I filled out my ballot for AL MVP, and today I'll do the same for the NL. Once again, the same rules apply: value is a function of your production as a player, taking your position and defense into account but not really the quality of your teammates.

  1. Pujols
  2. Utley
  3. Lincecum
  4. Hanley Ramirez
  5. Ryan Zimmerman
  6. Adrian Gonzalez
  7. Troy Tulowitski
  8. Prince Fielder
  9. Pablo Sandoval
  10. Javier Vazquez

Once again, the top choice was easy -- very easy. I don't care if he's a first baseman, Pujols is just that much better as a hitter than anyone else. An 8.4 WAR season is nothing to sneeze at (recall that the fact that he's a 1B is factored into his WAR).

After him, it wasn't tough to pick Utley, who remains underrated (somehow) despite crushing the ball and playing very well at 2B; in my opinion, Utley should already have at least one MVP, but that's not a good enough reason to vote for him over Pujols.

And once again, I put a pitcher high on my ballot. I couldn't overlook Lincecum's dominance this year -- he had an 8.2 WAR, while the 2nd best pitcher was just at 6.6, and even Utley was just at 7.6 (2nd among the hitters). He's incredible, and fun to watch, and if the Giants could score any runs at all people would probably consider him "a winner," or something, which would get him more accolades* and would preclude me from having to defend picking him this high.

* Yes, I realize he just won a second consecutive Cy Young, and they were both deserved. But I'm not changing the "more accolades" line.

And after Lincecum ... yeah, Hanley Ramirez is awesome. He's taken some flak for his defense and that reputation seems to be fading slowly as his defense gets better. If you have an average defensive shortstop who hits like a first baseman and steals bases, well, you have a great player. I don't get to see him play much, but I always wish he was on my fantasy team.

Just like in the AL, I thought there was a huge dropoff after the top four. But unlike the AL, there weren't many players I felt bad about leaving off the ballot. I guess the NL doesn't have as many great players as the AL does; nothing against the NL, of course.

I have no idea what the actual voters are going to do with this award. I mean, I figure Pujols will win (probably in a landslide). But I'm looking forward to seeing how they treat Tulowitski and Sandoval, who played well enough to get onto a good number of ballots but did it in the NL West. And I like both Tulowitski and Sandoval.

Posted by Sean Schulte at 2009-11-24 10:11

blog comments powered by Disqus