This season, there was no clear choice for MVP. There were a lot of excellent performances in the National League, but none that truly stood out. A legitimate argument could be made for any of my top 3 picks being awarded MVP.
My ballot:
1. Albert Pujols–Essentially tied with Votto and Zimmerman for the league lead in WAR. When current season performance is so close, I generally go with the player who was best in the past.
2. Joey Votto–Outstanding offensive season.
3. Ryan Zimmerman–Combines high quality offense with one of the best gloves in the league. No worse than Votto or Pujols this season.
4. Troy Tulowitzki–Outstanding glove, outstanding bat, premium position. Only issue seems to be staying healthy.
5. Matt Holliday–Another solid offensive season, paired with his best fielding season (8.2 UZR) of his career.
6. Roy Halladay–Best pitcher in the National League
7. Josh Johnson–Filthy stuff. A legitimate ace.
8. Adam Wainwright–3 of the top 8 players in the National League were Cardinals. Too bad the rest of the team was nowhere near as good.
9. Adrian Gonzalez–A hometown selection who would have ranked right near the top of the list midway through the season.
10. Ubaldo Jimenez–Always makes the Padres look silly.
1. Joey Votto
2. Albert Pujols
3. Carlos Gonzalez
Meh, I never liked the “give the guy who’s already got an MVP another one” rationale for tie-breaking a close MVP vote. I’m of the opposite opinion. When tied, give it to the guy who DOESN’T already have one.
Whoops…I just saw that I was supposed to list 10 players. Without doing extensive research here are my 4-10
4. Ryan Zimmerman
5. Matt Holliday
6. Troy Tulowitzki
7. Roy Halladay
8. Adrian Gonzalez
9. Adam Wainwright
10. Josh Johnson
How did Cargo get left off of your list completely?
Mark-I’m not using the “lets give the guy another MVP” rationale, but rather the “if a number of players had equally good seasons this year, then it is most likely that the player who played best in previous seasons is actually the best player” rationale.
SDPads1-C. Gonzalez had a great year, but there were a number of players I just liked better.
I understand, but it’s supposed to be about who had a better season, not who’s a better player or has been in the past. To me, that’s like using last year’s head to head results to decide this year’s playoff seeding. Just my opinion.