If you can pick a Cy Young Award winner “easily” then
shouldn’t you be able to pick the AL and NL Most Valuable Players pretty
consistently as well? History would prove, especially on this site, which this
is not the case for whatever reason. First and foremost there are generally
just five starting pitchers per team and eight or nine position players hitting
per team giving you basically twice as many players in the pool to choose from
in the MVP discussion. Secondly you have to think that pitchers are just paid
to win games and keep runs off the board, there isn’t a huge distinction
between ground ball pitchers, fly ball pitchers, strikeout pitchers or pitchers
who pitch to contact. That is not the case here on the MVP side of things as
you can slug 40-50 home runs a season and win an MVP award, you can hit for
contact and steal a ton of bases and win an MVP Award or you can be like Mike
Trout and do a little bit of everything so damn well and win an MVP Award or
two. Keep that in mind when crushing my hopes, dreams and opinions of myself
after reading these predictions.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
TGP 2017 MLB Predictions: The MVP’s
Here we are finally, the big one. The Most Valuable Player Award in Major League Baseball is considered the highest honor an individual position player can achieve and there is only one for each league. Who wins it for the American League and the National League? Well my American League pick won’t shock many as it’s probably the consensus and the popular pick but that National League pick though… that one could turn some heads. I mean it shouldn’t but it still might anyway. Read on to see what and who I am talking about.
American League MVP: Mike Trout
There isn’t much explanation that needs to go into this one.
Mike Trout is arguably the best player in the American League right now
followed closely by the Boston Red Sox’s outfielder Mookie Betts, who I
honestly considered putting here… but rivalries, and is fresh off winning the
award in 2016. Trout is still young and shows no signs of breaking down or
slowing up his game so I’m simply going to keep picking him until he gives me a
reason not to. I know this isn’t the risqué pick by any means but sometimes the
safe pick is the best pick because it’s a safe pick for a reason.
National League MVP: Nolan Arenado
Nolan Arenado has been one of the best young hitters and
third baseman in the National League for a few seasons now but somehow there
are still people out there that don’t know about him. Is that because he plays
for a rebuilding team that’s west of the Mississippi River in the Colorado
Rockies? Maybe but it certainly isn’t his production that’s doing it. Arenado,
now just 25-years old, heads into 2017 fresh off his fourth straight Gold Glove
Award at third base for Colorado as well as his second straight season in which
he led the National League in home runs. The Rockies will live and die by the
bat of Arenado next season and they will ride him all the way to an MVP Award
and quite possibly an NL West Division crown or at the very least a trip to the
postseason as a Wild Card. I didn’t predict they would but I won’t be the one
to bet against them either.
Paul Goldschmidt will likely win the National League MVP
Award in 2017, as he should, while Giancarlo Stanton will draw some votes for
the award as well as he chases down Roger Maris and his 61 home runs in a
single season mark. In the American League there are a few candidates who could
win the award including Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros although I don’t feel
like Trout is a strong candidate at this time unfortunately.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)