PujolsPower

2004 Playoff Rotation Woody Williams 4.18 Matt Morris 4.72 ERA Suppan 4.16 Closer Izzy 2.87 2005 Playoff Rotation Chris Carpenter 2.25 Morris 3.83 Mulder 3.87 Closer Izzy 1.77 The offense isn't quite as potent, but has the potential to be pretty close if players can get healthy. The pitching is definitely in better shape, and I believe that I have heard that pitching is important in the playoffs.

If the season ended today, I think Pujols wins hands down. Lee's decline since the All-Star break has coincided with the Cubs' falling out of wildcard contention. Pujols has gotten better in the second half and the Cardinals took over the best record in baseball today. He is carrying the Cards offense that is missing 4 of its regular starters. Edmonds hasn't been as good this year, and Grudz and Eckstein don't exactly carry an offense. My biased vote goes to Pujols.

What is ISOP?

Any chance we can get those comparisons updated? I thinkt that the MVP race is now between Pujols, Andruw Jones and Derrek Lee, although I think the Cubs will need to start winning more for Lee to get serious consideration in the voting.

To be honest, I can't remember why I started disliking him so much (can't point to one single thing that caused it). It always seemed like he has a punk attitude, but that is probably based on me being a Cardinal fan. I never was a big fan of his attempt at a goatie either. I think that Clement had better facial hair.

What was phonegate?

Clemens ERA is amazing. The one negative is that he hasn't been able to go as deep into games, which has contributed to his win total being lower than expected. Clemens hasn't completed a game this year and has gone 8 innings three times. Carpenter has pitched 9 innings 7 different times (one time against Zambrano was not a complete game). He has gone 8 innings or more on 6 other occasions. Head to head, Carpenter pitched a complete game shutout (which I was lucky enough to attend). In MLB this year, there have been eight games in which the pitcher compiled a gamescore of 90 or better. Carpenter has pitched three of those eight games, and has the highest gamescore of 94. Clemens' high gamescore is 87. The Cy Young Predictor developped by Bill James and Rob Neyer gives Carpenter a large lead in the race for the NL Cy Young. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/cy I could see either pitcher winning the Cy Young this year, but I think the last month and a half could still decide it. Last year's voting seemed to reward Clemens for his number of wins. 2004 Record and ERA Jake Peavy 15-8 2.27 R Johnson 16-14 2.60 Ben Sheets 12-14 2.70 Carlos Zambrano 16-8 2.75 Clemens 18-4 2.98 Oliver Perez 12-10 2.98 Carl Pavano 18-8 3.00 Roy Oswalt 20-10 3.49 Cy Young Voting 1. Clemens 2. Johnson 3. Oswalt 4. Schmidt 5. Zambrano 6. Pavano 7. Gagne 8. Lidge 8. Sheets

if you're basing how good a GM is only on trades, your boy doesn't exactly have an advantage. Jocketty has acquired the following players via trade: McGwire Rolen Edmonds Walker Woody Williams Vina Kile Will Clark Chuck Finley Kline Hermanson King Marquis Notable players given up: Drew Polanco Timlin Jack Wilson Coco Crisp Adam Kennedy Are you saying that Hendry's trade record is better?

Pujols contributes on a daily basis, versus Carpenter contributing every 5 days. Team performance is obviously based on a combination of pitching and hitting and defense. The Cardinals lead the NL in ERA but also lead in runs scored. Carpenter is the clear leader of the pitching staff, while Pujols is the clear leader of the offense. You can probably pick the top 2 pitchers from a number of good teams and see similar winning patterns compared to the 3-5 starters. I think it would be very hard to argue that Carpenter is more valuable than Pujols. Pujols is the only player having an elite offensive season, while the entire pitching staff is doing well.

I haven't looked up win shares or anything like that, but I a think that Pujols has probably been close to as valuable to the Cards offensively as Lee has been to the Cubs. When you factor in that the Cubs are currently 5 games out of the wild card race and trailing 4 teams, I think Lee's value to his teams loses a little of its signifigance. Is being 5 games out that much better than being 11 games out as Cincinatti is. Right now, of course you are still closer to being in contention, but if the season ends and you are still 5 games out of the WC and trail 4 teams, then I think that Lee fall short in the MVP voting.

I think that you have to factor in a teams record when deciding the MVP. Did ARod deserve to win MVPs each year in Texas when he put up good numbers, but his team struggled? I am basing my selection of Pujols as MVP on the precedents set by the voters in previous years. Lee has better number right now (although I think Pujols will finish with better numbers), but if he is not leading in at least two of the triple crown categories, I don't see him as the MVP without making the playoffs. At the end of the day, it is still too early to accurately predict the MVP, and it could still end up going to Jones or Cabrera.

Just being objective. Part of the MVP award is based on how your team does. That gives the advantage to Pujols. Lee's advantage in some of the statistical categories isn't enough to make up for the team's record. Lee is in line to win the Silver Slugger.

As of today, yes, just as Bonds was the MVP last year even though his team did not make the playoffs. Without Lee, the Cubs aren't anywhere close to making the playoffs. Right now he leads the NL in BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS. He's tied for the league lead in HR's. He's third in RBI and second in runs. He's also tied for the lead in doubles as well. As long as he is leading in those categories, I still say he's the MVP. I disagree with the Bonds analogy to last year. In 2004, Bonds had an OPS of 1.442, with Pujols finishing second at 1.088. That is a pretty significant difference. Also, Pujols played on a team with three MVP candidates, which split the vote some, and made him seem less valuable considering the offense that surrounded him. D Lee has an OPS of 1.129 compared to Pujols at 1.052. Lee's stats aren't that much better than Pujols' stats, and Pujols isn't surrounded by the same offensive production this year as he was last year, in fact, Ramirez is posting better numbers than any Cardinals hitter (besides Pujols). If the season ended today, I think Pujols is the MVP. If your team doesn't make the playoffs, I think you have to have far-superior stats to be the MVP.

There is also the potential that he altered his managerial strategy based on which games he bet on/would be betting on. I could see him managing his bullpen and when he rested his regular players based on the timing of his bets.

Here is the reason JRod improved: Cards Insider: Long's approach takes J-Rod a long way By Derrick Goold Of the Post-Dispatch 07/31/2005 Always capable of power in batting practice, John Rodriguez (right) has taken a more disciplined approach that has helped him go deep in games as well. Deconstructing the untamed swing that marooned John Rodriguez in the minors meant one rule during batting practice: No home runs. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/DB718DAA2EDEC3CE8625704E001C78D7?OpenDocument

What kind of odds would you be willing to against Pujols finishing ahead of Lee in batting average?

For those looking to have a drink before or after the game, Paddy O's and Hrabosky's are two decent places to go that are a couple of blocks south of the stadium.