I will never wrap my head around how this was ever possible. (ETA - and I'm not getting hung up on the face-value math either) .362/.609/.812 well i know how that was possible.
certainly the way to do it in a year when there's no standout #1 overall pick. if there's a strasburg or harper you have to go that way, but if there's a pile of very good players but no elite prospect, then you grab one who will sign below slot and then go above slot for some later picks.
some other good ones: http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1944.shtml#NLmvp (maybe everyone too distracted by the war to notice that they were voting for a sub .700 OPS guy over stan musial?) http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1960.shtml#NLmvp http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1962.shtml#NLmvp http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1964.shtml#NLmvp (willie mays led the NL in WAR a LOT - 10 times - but only won MVP twice. guess he didn't know how to win) http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1941.shtml#ALmvp (dimaggio had a great year, but how does .406/.553/.735/1.287 not win it?) http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1942.shtml#ALmvp http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1947.shtml#ALmvp (ted williams led the AL in WAR 6 times; only won MVP twice.)
Those are 2011 Verlander numbers, so I'd say so. it's probably either him or top prospect turned cardinal ace, lance lynn. (not really - strasburg, gio gonzalez and greinke have also been really good and should be in the discussion)
look i don't know how long he watched his home run or if this had anything to do with that, but if a guy is acting like an asshat then it's not really the job of his teammates to perpetuate a beanball war to protect him.
i wonder if bernier gets suspended for that hit. it's definitely a suspendable infraction, but maybe they'll just say "meh he lost his team the game" and decide that's punishment enough.
so joel guzman wasn't becoming restricted to corner OF or 1B and, contrary to scouting reports, had the ability to recognize and hit decent breaking pitches?
coletti isn't really known for being a moron in trades. the only really bad trade he made that i can think of is giving up carlos santana to get casey blake. George Sherrill for Josh Bell. And, as davell and TT have mentioned, there was Octavio Dotel for James McDonald and Andrew Lambo and Julio Lugo for Joel Guzman. mcdonald has been a pretty big surprise this year; i don't think anyone expected him to emerge like this. lugo for guzman wasn't a bad trade; lugo was a useful player (though he ceased to be one for the dodgers) and guzman was a guy with horrendous plate discipline moving down the defensive spectrum.
Sadly, no he hasn't. 44 R in 42 IP after last night. oh, didn't realize the MiLB stats hadn't updated. still, the down 5-8 runs by the 2nd/3rd inning is quite an exaggeration.