Comments on: Hank Aaron Award nominees announced (and then picked apart)

By: mabunar

mabunar — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:21:54 +0000

What are people smoking with the Joey love?

Cabrera hit .385 in the second half!

Bautista has HRs over Mig, but that’s bout it. OPS they’re close, OBP they’re even. With Cabrera having the much better second half 1.100 to .896 OPS.

By: mabunar

mabunar — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:13:45 +0000

Bautista Pre All Star: .334/.468/.702 31 HRs
Bautista Post All Star: .257/.419/.477 12 HRs

Ellsbury Pre All Star: .316/.377/.490 11 HRs
Ellsbury Post All Star: .328/.375/.625 21 HRs

I know he’s not nominated, but I’d rather have the guy that got better as the season went on, than the guy that faded away. But go ahead name Bautista your MVP choice because he’s not a NY/BOS player, but I don’t buy him being the best hitter in the AL this year.

By: cktai

cktai — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:07:33 +0000

Pujols does not play in New York. And Pujols is not valued primarily for his RBIs. He is valued for his career .328 avg, .420 OBP and .617 SLG while being a plus defender. Compare this to Howard and his .275 avg, .368 OBP and .560 SLG while being a mediocre defender. Howard is a good hitter, and no-one will deny that he is one of the best hitters in the Phillies line-up, but compare him to other first basemen on anything other then RBIs and he really is not all that impressive.

By: cosanostra71

cosanostra71 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:15:53 +0000

I understand the Trumbo pick because he put up some sexy power numbers and he’s only a rookie, but I have to agree that it should have been Howie

By: offseasonblues

offseasonblues — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:59:11 +0000

Gonzo was not the best offensive player on my team, so I’ll vote for somebody else. Bautista or Cabrera … Joey Bats might win just for the name.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:48:31 +0000

The Iron Giant was obviously the only choice from the Feesh. Even though, on paper, he doesn’t quite measure up to a Pujols, or a Berkman, or some of the others – yet – the kid is just 21 years old and his “sophomore slump” year was a season of improvements in almost every offensive and defensive department (we learned that he’s got a Kaline-quality howitzer for an arm out there, and he’s accurate). Plus, he’s got a stable, realistic view of himself and how far he’s got to go; he’s remarkably mature for his age in a professional sense, and he just loves watching fans scramble across the blue seats out in far left center for his moonshots.

Incidentally, Joe Frisaro, the MLB.com beat writer for the Feesh, predicted today that he expects Scrooge McLoria and the Chihuahua to make a real push for Prince Albert. Okay, between you and me I think there’s about as much chance of that coming to anything as I do that Harold Camping’s next prediction of the Rapture will be right for a change, but still – Gaby Sanchez, Albert Pujols and the Iron Giant as a 3-4-5 (or the Hanster, Albert, the Iron Giant and Gaby as 3-4-5-6) is a pretty neat heart of the lineup to have wet dreams about until reality sets in.

By: missthemexpos

missthemexpos — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:13:33 +0000

If Bautista repeats he would join Bonds and Rodriguez as the only consecutive winners. However Joey Bats does not need any performance enhancers to get the job done.

By: mikedi33

mikedi33 — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:25:06 +0000

I really dont understand the lack of respect for Howard. If he played in New York they would consider him a first ballot HOFamer. It is also odd how noone questions Albert’s RBI’s.

By: goawaydog

goawaydog — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:22:25 +0000

Thank you Panda, without him there would not be a Giant on this list.

By: scatterbrian

scatterbrian — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:22:23 +0000

Stat geeks are ruining your stats?

By: scatterbrian

scatterbrian — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:11:12 +0000

Napoli, Beltre, Hamilton and Kinsler were all better than Young.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:50:07 +0000

“It has been reduced to a peripheral stat these days. I don’t think it should be but it is the reality of baseball’s stat geek dominated world today.”

FTFY

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:26:44 +0000

It has been reduced to a peripheral stat these days. I don’t think it should be but it is the reality of the baseball world today.

By: Bryz

Bryz — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:18:50 +0000

I don’t believe RBI is counted as a “peripheral” stat.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:08:30 +0000

Bautista was the best hitter in the AL.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:06:49 +0000

Victorino’s OPS was marginally better than Howard’s (.847 vs .835) so it’s not like he was robbed. When you factor in the peripheral numbers such as RBI…yes RBI then I think Howard was the right choice given that Pence only played 54 games with the Phillies. Had Victorino not sucked the last month of the season then he would have been the choice. In many cases it is understandable, but in this case your comments and innuendo about Howard are unfounded.