Pujols NL MVP

[THE SIX KINGS]

ST. LOUIS -- The National League's best player has also been named its most valuable.

Albert Pujols' magnificent season earned him his second NL Most Valuable Player Award. Pujols' 369 points bested the 308 points garnered by Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, who beat him out by a narrow margin to win the 2006 MVP.

 

Pujols has finished in the top 10 in the voting in every one of his eight Major League seasons, and has been fourth or better seven times. He is the 11th player to win two NL MVP Awards.

 

"Nothing is easy in this game," Pujols said in a conference call on Monday afternoon. "There were so many candidates the baseball writers could have chosen, and they decided to choose me. Carlos Delgado, Howard, what [CC] Sabathia did for Milwaukee, and Manny [Ramirez]. I just thank God that I came out on top with my second MVP Award."

 

As baseball waited to hear the results of the ballot, the discussion centered on the definition of "most valuable." Some argued that because Pujols' Cardinals did not make the postseason, he could not be the most valuable player in the league. It was the only possible case against Pujols, who was indisputably his league's best hitter and who plays Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base.

 

Pujols had already been recognized with virtually every other major individual award for which he was eligible. He was named National League or Major League player of the year by the Sporting News, the MLB Players Association and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, as well as NL MVP in Baseball Prospectus' Internet Baseball Awards.

 

In the end, the Baseball Writers' Association of America joined the chorus, choosing not to penalize Pujols for his team's fourth-place finish. In fact, it's possible that quite the opposite happened -- that Pujols was rewarded for the Cardinals' place in the standings.

 

Though St. Louis ended the season 11 1/2 games out of first place in the NL Central, the club exceeded many preseason expectations with an 86-win season. And much of the credit must go to Pujols.

 

 

2008 NL MVP Award Voting

Albert Pujols, STL 369

Ryan Howard, PHI 308

Ryan Braun, MIL 139

Manny Ramirez, LAD 138

Lance Berkman, HOU 126

CC Sabathia, MIL 121

David Wright, NYM 115

Brad Lidge, PHI 104

Carlos Delgado, NYM 96

Aramis Ramirez, CHC 66

Hanley Ramirez, FLA 55

Chipper Jones, ATL 44

Geovany Soto, CHC 41

Johan Santana, NYM 30

Chase Utley, PHI 30

Ryan Ludwick, STL 17

Brandon Webb, ARI 14

Adrian Gonzalez, SD 13

Matt Holliday, COL 13

Prince Fielder, MIL 11

Derrek Lee, CHC 10

Carlos Beltran, NYM 10

Tim Lincecum, SF 9

Jose Reyes, NYM 3

Jose Valverde, HOU 3

Stephen Drew, ARI 2

Nate McLouth, PIT 1

 

"We were contenders to get a playoff spot until the last two weeks of the season," Pujols said. "We were only like three or four games out of the Wild Card. We did have a pretty good chance all year long. We were in first for a while. So I wasn't surprised at all. I thought my numbers were good. Howard's numbers were unbelievable. Manny Ramirez, what he did for the Dodgers, and CC. The writers put the numbers together, and they picked whoever they think deserves it."

 

It was by some measures the slugger's best season. He hit .357, two points shy of his career high, and set new personal bests with a .462 on-base percentage, a 1.115 OPS and 104 walks. He slugged .653, nearly 30 points better than his career average, cranking 37 homers and 44 doubles. Pujols drove in 116 runs, scored 100 and struck out just 54 times.

 

"I took 104 walks, which was my career high," he said. "That's something that I really concentrated on last year. In 2007, I finished one short, 99. This year, 104. That's something that I try to concentrate on every year, make sure that I don't expand my strike zone and I take my walks."

 

It was not only a supremely productive season for Pujols, it was a consistent one as well. He never hit lower than .302 in any month, never had an OBP lower than .413 and never slugged below .558. He came on especially strong in the second half, batting .366 and slugging .706 after the All-Star break. Pujols finished seven points behind Chipper Jones in the race for the NL batting title.

 

Only four players -- Barry Bonds, Roy Campanella, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt -- have been the NL MVP three or more times. Musial had been the only Cardinal to win the award twice or more.

 

In the history of the award, 13 Cardinals have won a combined 16 times. In addition to Pujols and Musial, Willie McGee, Keith Hernandez, Joe Torre, Bob Gibson, Orlando Cepeda, Ken Boyer, Marty Marion, Mort Cooper, Joe Medwick, Dizzy Dean and Frankie Frisch all garnered MVP honors

[ebartender]

Evan as a Phillie fan I can't argue with the pick. Albert. Howard will be happy with the WS trophy I'm sure.

[Doc Holliday]

 

He deserved the MVP as he was the best position player in baseball this year.

 

That being said I am suprised Howard was as close as he was..he is a great player and had excellent HR and RBI numbers but if I was gonna pick a Phillie it would of been Utley. he had more runs..a better OPS and plays a position where is stats are unusual + Howards 251 average and 339 OBP were just to low IMO. to me though behind Pujols was David Wright and then Lance Berkman.

[Mark5]

And all those fantasy baseball drafts where Albert fell to 8th-9th pick because of the elbow scare. I passed on him at #5 (I think I drafted Big Papi) and didn't think twice about it because Albert had very little protection behind him. Didn't think Glaus would produce and they had 3-4 unproven young players starting. I thought they would just pitch around him.

 

I agree that Wright should have been second with Utley a close 3rd.

[Doc Holliday]

The American league MVP now is up for grabs. I personally think Cliff Lee should win it but I got a feeling either Francisco Rodriguez or Dustin Pedroia will.