Ryan Howard is a beast

[Geech]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

[soccer10k]

Wow. Two more HR's for Howard. Every day he seems to hit another one.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

 

Then Pujols should win the Gold Glove at first. But as for MVP, Howard deserves the award, if for nothing else, after trading Abreu he has taking his game to another level. I would like to see where Pujols numbers would have been had he not been injuried, but the fact remains, Howard SHOULD be the MVP.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

 

Then Pujols should win the Gold Glove at first. But as for MVP, Howard deserves the award, if for nothing else, after trading Abreu he has taking his game to another level. I would like to see where Pujols numbers would have been had he not been injuried, but the fact remains, Howard SHOULD be the MVP.

 

I'm not so sure. I'll have to check the numbers again, and will do so tomorrow or Monday, but the last time I checked, Pujols still held the lead in runs created and win shares. While Howard has been hot recently, Pujols was consistently good throughout the entire season. Howard has the glamor power numbers, but Pujols overall numbers are better. Howard may overtake him, but he still has a way to go.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

 

Then Pujols should win the Gold Glove at first. But as for MVP, Howard deserves the award, if for nothing else, after trading Abreu he has taking his game to another level. I would like to see where Pujols numbers would have been had he not been injuried, but the fact remains, Howard SHOULD be the MVP.

 

I'm not so sure. I'll have to check the numbers again, and will do so tomorrow or Monday, but the last time I checked, Pujols still held the lead in runs created and win shares. While Howard has been hot recently, Pujols was consistently good throughout the entire season. Howard has the glamor power numbers, but Pujols overall numbers are better. Howard may overtake him, but he still has a way to go.

 

and Vance, we know that voters will often look at the glamour over the consistancy. That's the reason, why I give Howard the advantage. Now, if and when Howard reached 60 HRs, to me Howard locks up the MVP award. How can you NOT give a guy who leads the majors in HRs with a possible 60 or more HRs, to a guy who finished around the 44-48 range. I mean, both Pujols and Howard should be MVP, but my guess the voters, are going to go with the glamour power of Howard over the consistancy of Pujols. Just a hunch.

[YearofDaCubs]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

 

Then Pujols should win the Gold Glove at first. But as for MVP, Howard deserves the award, if for nothing else, after trading Abreu he has taking his game to another level. I would like to see where Pujols numbers would have been had he not been injuried, but the fact remains, Howard SHOULD be the MVP.

 

 

I'm not so sure. I'll have to check the numbers again, and will do so tomorrow or Monday, but the last time I checked, Pujols still held the lead in runs created and win shares. While Howard has been hot recently, Pujols was consistently good throughout the entire season. Howard has the glamor power numbers, but Pujols overall numbers are better. Howard may overtake him, but he still has a way to go.

 

and Vance, we know that voters will often look at the glamour over the consistancy. That's the reason, why I give Howard the advantage. Now, if and when Howard reached 60 HRs, to me Howard locks up the MVP award. How can you NOT give a guy who leads the majors in HRs with a possible 60 or more HRs, to a guy who finished around the 44-48 range. I mean, both Pujols and Howard should be MVP, but my guess the voters, are going to go with the glamour power of Howard over the consistancy of Pujols. Just a hunch.

HR's aside, Howard is leading the league in RBI too.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Nah, Pujols is the man but I believe Howard has done enough this year to overtake him.

 

Howard may be catching up to Pujols offensively, but he still isn't the better player. Pujols is actually a good defensive first baseman while Howard is pretty shabby. The difference in fielding runs alone between the two is worth a couple of wins. Pujols totally deserves the award more than Howard, gaudy homerun totals aside.

 

Then Pujols should win the Gold Glove at first. But as for MVP, Howard deserves the award, if for nothing else, after trading Abreu he has taking his game to another level. I would like to see where Pujols numbers would have been had he not been injuried, but the fact remains, Howard SHOULD be the MVP.

 

I'm not so sure. I'll have to check the numbers again, and will do so tomorrow or Monday, but the last time I checked, Pujols still held the lead in runs created and win shares. While Howard has been hot recently, Pujols was consistently good throughout the entire season. Howard has the glamor power numbers, but Pujols overall numbers are better. Howard may overtake him, but he still has a way to go.

 

and Vance, we know that voters will often look at the glamour over the consistancy. That's the reason, why I give Howard the advantage. Now, if and when Howard reached 60 HRs, to me Howard locks up the MVP award. How can you NOT give a guy who leads the majors in HRs with a possible 60 or more HRs, to a guy who finished around the 44-48 range. I mean, both Pujols and Howard should be MVP, but my guess the voters, are going to go with the glamour power of Howard over the consistancy of Pujols. Just a hunch.

 

You may be right, but then it would be my contention that the voters have gotten it wrong. So, I guess if you're asking who will win it, then Howard may be the answer. Who should win it? That's still Pujols.

[TruffleShuffle]

Guess the Marlins figured out how to pitch Howard tonight - 2 for 2 with a single and double, and 4 walks.

[Soul]

I agree with Easton. None of them failed a test. In fact, McGwire's career was played in an era where no players were tested. Since more pitchers than hitters have been suspended (at both the major and minor league levels combined) since testing began, one can reasonably assume that hitters were regularly facing pitchers who were on performance-enhancing drugs.

 

There are most likely several players who took steroids and other performance enhancing drugs over the past several years. We'll never know who they all are.

 

In my eyes, when you have several "juiced" hitters facing "juiced" pitchers, it tends to balance things out a bit. If players test positive or somehow get caught using something they shouldn't be using, by all means, suspend them, put an asterisk next to their numbers, etc. Until then, I view the numbers as legit.

 

Keep in mind that it's not referred to as the "Steroid Era" because a handful of guys had some monster seasons. It's referred to as that due to alleged wide-spread use of those drugs.

 

I disagree. First of all, for your theory to work, we have to assume EVERY player is juicing. Otherwise the balancing-out effect just doesn't hold up.

 

Secondly, even if it *was* every player doing it, it's still fruit of the poison tree. Once you pollute the game, there's no longer any basis to judge what the statistics mean. And without that basis, the stats themselves mean nothing.

 

No we don't. I never said it makes it completely equal, but it certainly does level the playing field somewhat. We don't know how many homers Bonds hit off of pitchers on performance enhancing drugs...especially BEFORE 1998, if you go by the assumption that he started taking them that season.

 

I agree that steroids should be out of the game. But there's no way to go back and test players from the past. If we could, we might as well go back several decades and test for amphetamines and other things. More players than we'll probably ever know have done something against the rules to gain an advantage and were never caught, simply because there was no good system in place to catch them. Now, we have drug testing. It might not be perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. Punish the guys who get caught. That's all you can do.

 

Edited to add the word "somewhat." Stupid of me to leave out a key word.

 

I know there's no way to go back---that's my point. And there's also no way to apply faulty logic to "level" the playing field and then say "oh hey well it was juicers against juicers so therefore Bonds' 72 can be judged on the same basis as Maris' 61."

 

I just don't agree with that, and I never will.

 

What I *DO* agree with is that the steroids era has tainted the stats of baseball for this time period, and nothing that happens during this era can be compared honestly with another era, where there weren't performance-enhancing "designer" drugs available en masse.

 

I certainly agree the only thing we can do now is punish those who are caught. Did I suggest somewhere that we shouldn't?

[soccer10k]

I know there's no way to go back---that's my point. And there's also no way to apply faulty logic to "level" the playing field and then say "oh hey well it was juicers against juicers so therefore Bonds' 72 can be judged on the same basis as Maris' 61."

 

Bonds hit 73.