The Red Sox Dustin “The Destroya” Pedroia was named A.L. MVP today, and very deservedly so (although I personally voted for Kevin Youkilis, I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever with Pedroia winning). In the N.L. Albert Pujols was the MVP, again a much deserved winner. But why does baseball separate their awards, giving out one for each league? In the NFL, NBA and NHL there is only one MVP given out in each. Although having a separate award for each league made sense at one time, that is no longer the case. With inter-league play and heavy player movement they leagues are no longer as isolated from one another as they once were; Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira are all examples of the overlapping of the leagues from just this past year alone. With all of this in mind, consider that Manny, when combining his Sox and Dodgers stats from 2008, finished with a .332 average, 37 HR, 121 RBI, .430 OBP, .601 SLG and amazing 1.031 OPS. He also helped not one, but two teams advance to the playoffs (although it is arguable if Manny would have done more harm than good if he stayed in Boston, he did more good than harm while he was here). It’s time for MLB to get their awards in line with the times and have a single MVP. If they did, begrudgingly, this year my vote would have to be cast for Manny Ramirez.
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4 comments:
The Sporting News does give out 1 award for all of MLB, but does not give out an MVP. They give out a Player of the Year Award, which is not the same (to me at least). This year Albert Pujols won their Player of the Year and Cliff Lee won their Pitcher of the Year.
They do give out separate awards for Rookies and Managers, which were all the same as the actual awards, with the exception of NL Manager of the Year which they gave to Florida's Fredi Gonzalez instead of the Cubs' Lou Piniella (again, my vote went to Cecil Cooper of the Astros).
5 of the last 10 years there has been a tie for NFL MVP, all 5 it was a QB and a RB.
I think Manny would be a lock for offensive player of the year most years. As for MLB MVP i would have to disagree he is weak at best in the field.
I thought this post might bring Luke out of hibernation....
i like the idea of the award but i hate the idea of manny winning
doesnt the nfl have mvp & player of the year? baseball should have that too
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