There's A New Bully In Town
August 28th 2010 05:56
The National League Central has been ruled by Albert Pujols for the last 10 seasons. The man's resume and his team's competitiveness are a testament to both his talent and mere presence in the middle of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. While Pujols shows no sign of slowing down at age 30, there's a challenger who is just similar enough in style and location to warrant comparison. His name? Reds first baseman Joey Votto.
Let's compare their statistics to get some perspective with NL ranks in parentheses.
Votto: .327 avg, 31 HR, 91 RBI (1st, t2nd, 2nd)
Pujols: .320 avg, 35 HR, 94 RBI (t2nd, 1st, 1st)
Pretty impressive that we have the pleasure of a Triple Crown possibility this year. It's not every year that we get that chance, and we've got two guys, going head-to-head, battling in a fierce divisional race slugging it out? The clash of these two transcendent hitters and the nearness they have to each other is astounding. We're not only talking and hoping for a Triple Crown, but we've got a discussion about who should win the NL MVP as these two horses run away from Carlos Gonzalez, Dan Uggla, Adrian Gonzalez and Company.
There are many criterion we can use to determine who wins the MVP between Pujols and Votto. Whoever leads in more of the Triple Crown categories. Who (if either) wins the Triple Crown. Whose team wins the division. These are all benchmarks we can set to decide the Most Valuable Player. We could also look at other things like teammates, win improvement from 2009, home ballpark tendencies, and other such factors. We could give it to Pujols out of tradition and the "lifetime achievement" caveat (which doesn't totally apply to him because he's won MVPs before). Votto looks good as the new, young slugger that fans always drool over. It's hard to believe that one of them will overtake the other in the necessary categories to finish with the Triple Crown, so we can almost positively throw that factor out. Fact is, we could ask 1000 people why one or the other will win the MVP, and you'll probably get 1000 different reasons.
In my opinion, this comes down to the team that wins the NL Central AND year-to-year team improvement. The Reds are currently leading the Cardinals by 4 games and have the second best record in the National League. They have scored the most runs in the NL and 3rd most in the majors, and Votto is largely responsible. They finished 78-84 last season, and are looking like a safe bet to crack 90 wins this year. The Cards at this point are on the outside looking in at the Giants and Phillies in the Wild Card and Reds in the division. The team is remarkably consistent with a top 5 NL offense and the second best pitching in MLB.
If the Cardinals overtake the Reds in the division, Pujols should be the MVP, no question. As it stands, Pujols is probably a hair better statistically, but Votto's team has made such a drastic improvement and is outplaying his competitor's team head-to-head. At this point, Votto is the MVP, Triple Crown discussion notwithstanding.
Now that we've got the MVP debate settled (er, clarified), is it too early or inappropriate to bring someone else into the discussion of best player? Pujols has rightfully held that title and so definitively squashed the case for anyone else that it has become borderline inappropriate to initiate this conversation. I think Votto at least deserves a shot. He's certainly established himself as Pujols' peer, if not rival, among the top few all-around hitters in baseball. If he wrestles the Triple Crown AND the NL Central from Pujols come October 4, I think we have license to call him the best player of 2010 and possibly beyond.
Pujols deserves to have no rival in this discussion based on his consistency, high volume of power numbers, and elite batting average over time. He deserves for us to not mention anyone else. But in his 10 seasons, nobody has challenged him homer for homer down the stretch like this. He is usually head and shoulders above other hitters by this time of year. This year, he's separated himself again, but with some company.
Joey Votto deserves the praise he's garnering, and possibly more. Mark it down: after his Reds win the NL Central and he narrowly falls short of the Triple Crown, he will wrestle the MVP from Pujols and plant himself in the best player discussion for years to come.
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