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SBN, BBWAA, CY, MVP

By Danfiction
Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
1 Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants 18 13 - 129
2 Chris Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals 9 4 7 64
3 Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals 4 4 10 42
4 Javier Vazquez Atlanta Braves - 5 7 22
5
Arizona Diamondbacks - 3 4 13
6 Ubaldo Jimenez Colorado Rockies - 1 1 4
7 Cliff Lee Philadephia Phillies - - 1 1
8 Jair Jurrjens Atlanta Braves - - 1 1

 

More gestures in the direction of the Manny Ramirez Postulate? Cliff Lee had 12 starts in which, by FIP, he was not as good as Lincecum and Carpenter and slightly better than Adam Wainwright; he also had 23 starts in which he did not appear. Even the class of this genre, say C.C. Sabathia 2008 and Randy Johnson 1998 (four shutouts in 11 starts), would have a hard time making up value on this group of starters; Cliff Lee? 

Lee aside, I think this is a pretty fair list, although I'm not sure I can see a case for Ubaldo Jimenez as the second best pitcher in the National League (or on the Cardinals, for that matter.) 

And now, the one that hasn't been sitting in my inbox a day too long—the one, the only SBN National League MVP is going to be revealed... after these messages. 

Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Pts
1 Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals 31 - - - - - - - - - 434
2 Hanley Ramirez Florida Marlins - 6 8 11 2 1 2 - - - 220
3 Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies - 7 11 2 3 1 - 1 - 1 192
4 Prince Fielder Milwaukee Brewers - 5 4 4 7 7 1 - - - 186
5 Troy Tulowitzki Colorado Rockies - 4 1 5 2 3 3 4 1 2 134
6 Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants - 4 1 - 1 2 2 3 1 - 79
7 Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies - 4 - 1 4 1 - - 3 1 79
8 Ryan Zimmerman Washington Nationals - - 1 3 3 3 3 1 - 2 79
9 Adrian Gonzalez San Diego Padres - - 1 - 3 3 2 4 3 4 71
10 Pablo Sandoval San Francisco Giants - - - 1 2 2 2 3 4 3 57
11 Matt Kemp Los Angeles Dodgers - - 1 1 1 1 5 3 - 1 56
12 Ryan Braun Milwaukee Brewers - - 2 - - 2 2 1 1 - 39
13 Chris Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals - - - - 2 1 1 - 1 2 25
14 Derrek Lee Chicago Cubs - - - - - 2 1 1 3 2 25
15 Andre Ethier Los Angeles Dodgers - - - - 1 2 2 - - - 24
16 Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals - - - 1 - - 1 1 4 1 23
17 Javier Vazquez Atlanta Braves - - - - - - 2 1 2 1 16
18 Matt Holliday St. Louis Cardinals - - 1 - - - 1 - - - 12
19 Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds - 1 - - - - - - 1 - 11
20 Mark Reynolds Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - 2 1 2 10
21 Todd Helton Colorado Rockies - - - 1 - - - - - - 7
22 Jayson Werth Philadelphia Phillies - - - - - - - 1 1 1 6
23 Adam Dunn Washington Nationals - - - - - - - - 1 3 5
24 Juan Pierre Los Angeles Dodgers - - - - - - 1 - - - 4
25 Justin Upton Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4
26 Raul Ibanez Philadelphia Phillies - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4
27 Ubaldo Jimenez Colorado Rockies - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4
28 Brian McCann Atlanta Braves - - - - - - - - 2 - 4
29
Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - - 2 - 4
30 Michael Bourn Houston Astros - - - - - - - 1 - - 3
31 Yadier Molina St. Louis Cardinals - - - - - - - 1 - - 3
32 Nyjer Morgan Washington Nationals - - - - - - - - - 1 1
33 Yunel Escobar Atlanta Braves - - - - - - - - - 1 1

That—that feels pretty good. (Full disclosure: the Yadier pick wasn't me.) But it's worth noting that if you give anybody, and not just the BBWAA, ten picks for MVP, some weird downballot stuff is bound to happen. (Like, uh, Chase Utley.)

So that's it: another successful internet award season. This sort of thing has been going on for a long time now, in numerous forms, and while it's great to have an award to call one's own, the pertinent question is still, and will still be for some time, how is this going to compare to next week's BBWAA awards? 

Manager of the Year I think we successfully tracked; Torre might trade La Russa for second place, because his still-novel move to Los Angeles and the Manny Ramirez shenanigans leave him wide open for a double-shot of attribution bias, but Jim Tracy has this award won. Rookie of the Year, and this is just my hunch, will probably go to J.A. Happ, who was lucky enough to be really impressive a little earlier, when the paint on this year's narratives was still drying. 

Cy Young is going to be interesting. Things between Carpenter and Lincecum will certainly be closer; Lincecum's late swoon knocked him just slightly out of the range of Really Impressive ERAs, and while a lot has changed in the last twenty years, ten years, five years, 15 wins might be problematic for a reigning Cy Young candidate in a league with a 19 game winner. 

The MVP—well, a unanimous finish wouldn't shock me. Barring any unexpected, awesome leap in production, I think we've hit the peak of Albert Pujols's mainstream notoriety. The year's biggest midseason trade happened specifically because he needed to be "protected" in the order; Hanley Ramirez plays in Florida, and Chase Utley is overshadowed by Ryan Howard. We're five years past the Barry Bonds Era. 

But the thing I'm going to do when the MVP votes come back, unless I'm writing about an unexpected, not-awesome surprise result, is count the pitchers. You'll notice six on the SBN ballot, and—this might be what makes me proudest—five of the six appear in order of their Cy Young finish. Last year's BBWAA voting is basically a parody of their voting habits re: pitchers and the MVP. Placing first, and sixth among all players, was C.C. Sabathia; next was a relief pitcher, Brad Lidge; and coming in 23rd, placing one spot ahead of Jose Valverde, was Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. 

Compared to that, Yadier Molina and Michael Bourne seem pretty tame. 

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