AL MVP

[TruffleShuffle]

Same question, different league... who's been the American League MVP through the first quarter?

[imb]

Without putting too much thought into it, I'll say Vlad.

[Derwood]

i went with Maggs. His OBP is lower than Vlad's, but his SLG is higher

[Prior4CyYoung]

I went with Magglio his line looked the best.

[Handlebar McSkullet]

Angels are rolling, and Valid is having one of his best years.

[Tracer Bullet]

I went with ARod b/c I meant to vote for Vlad, clicked the wrong button and hit Submit before I noticed it. Vlad seems like the pretty obvious choice. Highest OBP and highest SLG of the group.

 

BTW - Posada has no business having a 1.058 OPS. That's ridiculous.

[Derwood]

I went with ARod b/c I meant to vote for Vlad, clicked the wrong button and hit Submit before I noticed it. Vlad seems like the pretty obvious choice. Highest OBP and highest SLG of the group.

 

BTW - Posada has no business having a 1.058 OPS. That's ridiculous.

 

if by highest SLG of the group, you mean 3rd highest behind A-Rod and Maggs, then yes

[TruffleShuffle]

NL picture is a lot more muddy... this seems like a three-horse race to me, I went with Vlad, but easy arguments could be made for A-Rod and Mags too.

[rawaction]

Vlad all the way. Of course, this was the year where I said he would have a down season.

[WindyCity]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

[TruffleShuffle]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

even more obnoxious is the fact that he got a very team-friendly contract because of what really was a minor back injury. 5 years, $65M? And we just dumped $136M on a guy who's not nearly as good.

[rawaction]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

Vlad signed when Sosa was still great. Alou is the player that kept the Cubs from going after Vlad. They were paying Moises big money and he was coming off a mediocre year which followed a crap year.

[Tracer Bullet]

I went with ARod b/c I meant to vote for Vlad, clicked the wrong button and hit Submit before I noticed it. Vlad seems like the pretty obvious choice. Highest OBP and highest SLG of the group.

 

BTW - Posada has no business having a 1.058 OPS. That's ridiculous.

 

if by highest SLG of the group, you mean 3rd highest behind A-Rod and Maggs, then yes

 

I meant highest OBP and OPS.

[WindyCity]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

Vlad signed when Sosa was still great. Alou is the player that kept the Cubs from going after Vlad. They were paying Moises big money and he was coming off a mediocre year which followed a crap year.

 

That's right -- my memory was off... its still annoying that an impact FA like Vlad hit the market and the Cubs seemed completely uninterested. Alou did have a fantastic '04, but thats still not enough to get over missing out on Vlad.

[TruffleShuffle]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

Vlad signed when Sosa was still great. Alou is the player that kept the Cubs from going after Vlad. They were paying Moises big money and he was coming off a mediocre year which followed a crap year.

 

That's right -- my memory was off... its still annoying that an impact FA like Vlad hit the market and the Cubs seemed completely uninterested. Alou did have a fantastic '04, but thats still not enough to get over missing out on Vlad.

 

He hit well in '04, but in the period from 1997-2006, his three worst OPS+ seasons came with the Cubs, and two of those were considerably subpar. I'm still bitter about this.

[Productive Outs]

vlad. honestly, what has gotten in to him? his walk rate has ballooned, which is making him into an even better hitter. that has been his only criticism -- he's posted good OBPs, but due to his excellent average. if he keeps that walk rate up, he'll be the hands-down AL MVP.

[CubColtPacer]

vlad. honestly, what has gotten in to him? his walk rate has ballooned, which is making him into an even better hitter. that has been his only criticism -- he's posted good OBPs, but due to his excellent average. if he keeps that walk rate up, he'll be the hands-down AL MVP.

 

A large part of his walk rate ballooning is the fact that nobody else is behind him. Vlad has been walked 12 times intentionally already, and a few of his other fifteen walks were probably the unintentional intentional walk.

[NCCubFan]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

Vlad signed when Sosa was still great. Alou is the player that kept the Cubs from going after Vlad. They were paying Moises big money and he was coming off a mediocre year which followed a crap year.

 

That's right -- my memory was off... its still annoying that an impact FA like Vlad hit the market and the Cubs seemed completely uninterested. Alou did have a fantastic '04, but thats still not enough to get over missing out on Vlad.

It was Beltran the Cubs passed on because they still had Sosa.

[TruffleShuffle]

vlad. honestly, what has gotten in to him? his walk rate has ballooned, which is making him into an even better hitter. that has been his only criticism -- he's posted good OBPs, but due to his excellent average. if he keeps that walk rate up, he'll be the hands-down AL MVP.

 

A large part of his walk rate ballooning is the fact that nobody else is behind him. Vlad has been walked 12 times intentionally already, and a few of his other fifteen walks were probably the unintentional intentional walk.

 

you mean teams aren't afraid of Gary Matthews Jr., Casey Kotchmann and Garrett Anderson? That's crazy talk.

[Tracer Bullet]

Vlad. Easily one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

 

There are a lot of reasons to hate Jim Hendry. Not pursuing Vlad because Sosa was not yet dumped off on Baltimore is very high on my list.

 

Vlad signed when Sosa was still great. Alou is the player that kept the Cubs from going after Vlad. They were paying Moises big money and he was coming off a mediocre year which followed a crap year.

 

That's right -- my memory was off... its still annoying that an impact FA like Vlad hit the market and the Cubs seemed completely uninterested. Alou did have a fantastic '04, but thats still not enough to get over missing out on Vlad.

It was Beltran the Cubs passed on because they still had Sosa.

 

Which turned out to work out just fine for us. CF has been a real strength for the Cubs and Beltran has become one of the worst players in baseball.

 

[believing things like this is the only way I can sleep at night]

[Productive Outs]

vlad. honestly, what has gotten in to him? his walk rate has ballooned, which is making him into an even better hitter. that has been his only criticism -- he's posted good OBPs, but due to his excellent average. if he keeps that walk rate up, he'll be the hands-down AL MVP.

 

A large part of his walk rate ballooning is the fact that nobody else is behind him. Vlad has been walked 12 times intentionally already, and a few of his other fifteen walks were probably the unintentional intentional walk.

 

ah, i should have guessed that. i just remembered glancing at his stats on yahoo and noticing his walk total.