Remembering My 2018 Predictions: MVP Award

Here is a quick look back at my 2018 predictions for the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Award winners! 

And for my grand finale, the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Awards!!!! But really, in all seriousness the MVP Awards in both leagues are the big one, the award that every player wants and the award that only a select few get to obtain during their Major League tenures. We all grew up pretending to be the batting champion, the World Series MVP that came up with the big hit in Game 7, and the perennial MVP and that feeling undoubtedly doesn’t change as you grow older and your dreams begin to come to fruition. The childhood dreams of being the league’s MVP is about to come true for these two men. 

Will Aaron Judge get robbed again? Will he get robbed by one of his own teammates in Giancarlo Stanton or Gary Sanchez? Will Judge truly get robbed by someone who can’t even see over the counter at McDonalds? In all seriousness, no he won’t in my opinion. That doesn’t mean I think he will win it either, although I do foresee a special kind of productive season for him once again here in 2018. No, I like to go bold and a little bit against the grain in these decisions. With that in mind I am going to go with Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays as your 2018 AL MVP. Now I know what you are thinking, Dan… MVP’s generally don’t go to a player on a losing team. No, they don’t. But Donaldson is in the final year of a contract with a team that doesn’t look likely to contend even for a Wild Card here in 2018, which means there is a huge possibility that the Blue Jays third baseman will be traded at or before the July 31st trading deadline. If Donaldson were to be traded to an American League team where his stats don’t have to be started over I truly think the Toronto right-hander will win the award and head into free agency fresh off a huge statistical season. 

Remember when Miguel Ozuna hit over .300 and smashed 37 home runs in a season? It feels like it was forever ago, but it was just last season with the Miami Marlins. Now that Ozuna has some protection in the lineup and is on a team in the St. Louis Cardinals that is expected to contend here in 2018 I think a lot more people will start to know and recognize the name, and just what he brings to the table. Ozuna could easily surpass 40 home runs here in 2018 with an average around .285. Sprinkle in 100+ RBI and a nice OBP and SLG percentage and ladies and gentlemen, we have an MVP in the making. It is a bold prediction, mainly because it isn’t Bryce Harper or Paul Goldschmidt, but that’s what I do. Bold predictions, and sometimes they come true. Stay tuned. 

That’s it. Prediction Season is over here on The Greedy Pinstripes. I hope you enjoyed, and we will see you after the season concludes to check in on some of these predictions to see how well I did. Until then, ciao and enjoy your day. 

TGP 2018 Predictions: 2018 MVP’s

And for my grand finale, the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Awards!!!! But really, in all seriousness the MVP Awards in both leagues are the big one, the award that every player wants and the award that only a select few get to obtain during their Major League tenures. We all grew up pretending to be the batting champion, the World Series MVP that came up with the big hit in Game 7, and the perennial MVP and that feeling undoubtedly doesn’t change as you grow older and your dreams begin to come to fruition. The childhood dreams of being the league’s MVP is about to come true for these two men.

Will Aaron Judge get robbed again? Will he get robbed by one of his own teammates in Giancarlo Stanton or Gary Sanchez? Will Judge truly get robbed by someone who can’t even see over the counter at McDonalds? In all seriousness, no he won’t in my opinion. That doesn’t mean I think he will win it either, although I do foresee a special kind of productive season for him once again here in 2018. No, I like to go bold and a little bit against the grain in these decisions. With that in mind I am going to go with Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays as your 2018 AL MVP. Now I know what you are thinking, Dan… MVP’s generally don’t go to a player on a losing team. No, they don’t. But Donaldson is in the final year of a contract with a team that doesn’t look likely to contend even for a Wild Card here in 2018, which means there is a huge possibility that the Blue Jays third baseman will be traded at or before the July 31^st trading deadline. If Donaldson were to be traded to an American League team where his stats don’t have to be started over I truly think the Toronto right-hander will win the award and head into free agency fresh off a huge statistical season.

Remember when Miguel Ozuna hit over .300 and smashed 37 home runs in a season? It feels like it was forever ago, but it was just last season with the Miami Marlins. Now that Ozuna has some protection in the lineup and is on a team in the St. Louis Cardinals that is expected to contend here in 2018 I think a lot more people will start to know and recognize the name, and just what he brings to the table. Ozuna could easily surpass 40 home runs here in 2018 with an average around .285. Sprinkle in 100+ RBI and a nice OBP and SLG percentage and ladies and gentlemen, we have an MVP in the making. It is a bold prediction, mainly because it isn’t Bryce Harper or Paul Goldschmidt, but that’s what I do. Bold predictions, and sometimes they come true. Stay tuned.

That’s it. Prediction Season is over here on The Greedy Pinstripes. I hope you enjoyed, and we will see you after the season concludes to check in on some of these predictions to see how well I did. Until then, ciao and enjoy your day.

Scott Boras, STFU!

When Scott Boras talks it seems that a lot of people around Major League Baseball, both the fans and the people directly associated with the game, tend to listen which has proven to be a great power for the super-agent over the years. The problem with some people is when they learn that they let that power and their ego go to their head and it ruins them. Now I’m not saying this has happened yet with Boras or that it will happen at all but I will say one thing, his comments on Derek Jeter and the purchase of the Miami Marlins really kind of rubbed me the wrong way. It made me want to scream, it made me want to head down to the GM Meetings and tell Boras to simply “STFU!” 

Boras was very critical of Jeter and his group of investors that purchased the Miami Marlins and their decision to slash payroll by subsequently trading away Giancarlo Stanton. Boras was quoted as saying the following in a USA Today interview from the GM meetings: 

“When you’re looking at building a market and you have an All-Star outfield with all he dynamics,’’ Boras said, “and you have a club being purchased at $1.2 billion, what happens is that you got a marketplace saying the new owners are coming in here and saying they’re making the franchise better. We’re excited. And then where we are now creating a plan where we are not going to win five or six years.

“We’re going to basically reduce our payroll. We’re going to rid our team of our substantial stars. We’re going to set up this five-, six-year plan. We basically have a system in baseball where we have sales of franchises, and we have a reduction.

“Basically the idea is to reduce the debt service to pay for the franchise by reducing all major league payroll, not being competitive, basically using the argument that we’re going to build a successful team through development.

“That has nothing to do with the fans. It has nothing to do with winning. It has nothing to do with anything other than a financial plan that suits ownership without consideration of the impact it has on Major League Baseball.’’ 

So let’s discuss this. Is Boras more worried about the fans of Miami and the fans of Major League Baseball, or is he more worried about himself and how a trade of the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich or whoever else the Marlins decide to trade could affect his clients on the free agent market this season, and how that could affect his wallet? Call me pessimistic but I am leaning towards the latter. I am leaning towards Boras knowing that he has that platform and the power to say and change things around the league during this time of the year and I think that Boras is taking full advantage of that. Who could blame him? I don’t, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I have to agree with his actions either. 

Revealing My 2016 MLB All-Star Game Ballot

Voting for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game inside Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, is now over and I am now ready to reveal my ballot for the contest. Not that you guys care but that is just one of the many benefits to owning your own blog, you can do what you'd like. Go me! On a serious and less "tongue-in-cheek" note I wanted to reveal the ballot that I posted 35 times this season just to see how well I did. I went based on stats alone and less on popularity and such so I may whiff on a few of these selections but I'm okay with that.

American League:

C: Salvador Perez (KC)

1B: Miguel Cabrera (DET)

2B: Jose Altuve (because eff Robinson Cano) (HOU)

SS: Francisco Lindor (CLE)

3B: Manny Machado (I wanted to go with Danny Valencia) (BAL)

OF: Carlos Beltran (NYY)

OF: Mookie Betts (BOS)

OF: Mark Trumbo (BAL)

DH: David Ortiz (BOS)

National League:

C: Wilson Ramos (WAS)

1B: Paul Goldschmidt (ARI)

2B: Daniel Murphy (WAS)

SS: Corey Seager (LAD)

3B: Nolan Arenado (Matt Carpenter may deserve it more) (COL)

OF: Carlos Gonzalez (COL)

OF: Ryan Braun (MIL)

OF: Miguel Ozuna (MIA)

The official teams will be announced on Tuesday, July 5th at 7:00 pm ET on MLB Network. You can only assume that they will also announce the nominees for the final All-Star Game spot via a fan vote. Leave your gripes, omissions and snubs in the comments section. Thank you.