Is Ryan Braun the 2008 MVP?

[Oldcity]

Berkman has had the best season by far. Depends on how you define MVP.

[Team Canada]

Therein lies the rub. If the award was MOP, clearly Berkman wins by a healthy margin; however some people will argue that Berkman really can't be that "valuable" if the Astros sucked. I'm not trying to start a debate about that, but it's certainly true. If Braun continues to carry the Brewers he's got a heck of a shot, but Pujols would certainly be a fine choice.

[sbrylski]

I like WPA for my MVP ranking:

 

Lance Berkman 5.20

Pat Burrell 4.69

Albert Pujols 4.07

Jason Bay 3.86

Matt Holliday 3.81

Nate McLouth 2.99

Carlos Lee 2.95

Ryan Braun 2.73

Chipper Jones 2.63

David Wright 2.40

 

All 1B/OF, really, so defense is in general a wash. If I'm voting, its Berkman easy. Of guys that the writers would vote for, I'd want to see Burrell/Pujols at this point.

[Darnell Junior]

Braun has been playing incredible lately, but I don't consider him to be in the same class as these players. He sure does excel in the right kind of statistics, though.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Braun's stats are held back a little by a slow start...much like the Brewers had. If he plays like this the rest of the year and the Brewers make the playoffs, he will garner serious attention. If there is a void in the "obvious catalyst of a playoff team" category (of which Braun is up there), it will probably default to "best stats"...at this point that's Berkman...maybe Chipper if he gets back soon.

[brewcrew00]

I took this from Bernie's Extra Points in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but thought it was well worth mentioning. Some info on the Braun vs. the Cards...

 

- One more thing: I simply do not understand what the Cardinals are trying to do in their approach to Milwaukee bopper Ryan Braun. This kid simply murders them, and the numbers almost read like fiction.

 

- In 57 ABs vs. the Cardinals this season Braun has 28 hits for a .491 BA. He's slammed 7 homers and has 13 RBIs. His OBP is .516, and his SLG is .965 …

 

- In his two-season career, Braun has 99 ABs against the Cardinals and he's raked 'em for 43 hits … that's a .434 BA … and he has 10 homers and a SLG of .838.

 

- And yet the Cardinals keep pitching Braun the same. In yesterday's blog I relied on the STATS scouting reports to offer a glimpse at Braun's weak spots as a hitter, and basically you pound him low with fastballs and sliders and mix in the change. Or you can ride the fastball up and get him to chase it. What you don't do is throw this guy any heat from the top of the knees to the belt; he'll destroy you. And you don't try to blast him inside; Braun loves to turn on those pitches in. So what do the Cardinals keep doing? Of course: throw the mid-thigh gas, and try to smoke him inside. That was their strategy Tuesday, and Braun launched a thigh-high fastball into the Milwaukee bullpen for a two-run jack. And he added two singles. That's right: give it to Braun exactly where he likes it. And let the dude keep mauling them. It's almost comical the way Braun slaps them around. And they simply refuse to alter their approach. It's as incomprehensible as anything I've witnessed of this team in recent years. Yep, the Cardinals will keep showing Braun that they're right; you just watch.

 

www.stltoday.com

[jhart05]

That's a great article.

[naivin]

As of today...

 

1. Pujols

2. Berkman

3. Braun

[JohnBriggs12]

The top 7 candidates (excluding pitchers) right now in no particular order are:

 

Berkman, Pujols, Holliday, Braun, Wright, Chipper Jones, Utley.

 

I don't think anyone else deserves consideration at this point. Ludwick maybe but I eliminated him strictly because he's behind Pujols on his own team.

 

Only 2 of those guys are likely to see the playoffs with Braun the most likely and then either Utley or Wright. I'd give Braun the edge over both Wright and Utley right now.

 

Berkman, Pujols, Holliday, and Chipper' numbers might be more impressive than Braun, but Chipper and Holliday are doing it on losing teams and Chipper's missed quite a few games. So I think Braun's main competition are Pujols and Berkman and considering what Braun has done against Cards, and that Houston might finish below .500, I think if Braun reaches 40 HR, 115 RBI and hits over .300, and the Brewers win 92 or more games he'll win.

[Mr QL]

If Braun can get hot and carry us to the division title then he's MVP imo. Otherwise I gotta go with Pujols.

[endaround]

Reyes and Ramirez absolutely deserve consideration

[joepepsi]

Player A: 31hrs; 95 rbi; 304/380/600

Player B: 33hrs; 92 rbi; 302/342/596

 

Who would you vote for?

 

Player A: Ryan Ludwick

Player B: Ryan Braun

 

Braun is not a serious candidate at this time, imho.

[brewerguy71]

I am going to stick to my guns on this one, a month later, and say that Braun is having a top 10 MVP type of year, but he is not worthy of the award.

 

My list is:

 

Berkman

Pujols

Lee

Ramirez

Ludwick

Wright

Howard

Utley

Burrell

Braun

 

Even if you take the players from teams that may well end up as "also rans" (Berkman, Lee (although he has no chance because of the broken finger) and Ramirez), Braun is barely a top 5 player at this point.

 

If you only look at "counting numbers" he falls short, as he would with sabermetric (OPS, Runs Created, Win Shares). The kid is having a great year, but he's not the MVP.

[jason21nl]

even if he doesn't win the MVP, and I don't think he will(I think it goes to Pujols) the fact that we are even talking about it is awesome. Following up a ROY season with a MVP type season shows just what type of talent this guy is. I'm very happy that we'll have him in a Brewers uniform for awhile. Get him some patience at the plate, and I think he'll get himself an MVP or two in his career.

[wisconsinfan47]

As a semi-aside, is anyone in the league more underappreciated than Pat Burrell? .261/.382/.540 with 30 homers! I was miffed that he didn't make the AS team in that market and I believe he deserves at least some MVP consideration.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Statistically, Pujols has lapped the field. Next tier stat wise is probably Berkman, Chipper and Holliday. I agree with the poster before, it will be tough to get votes for them on losing teams. If Braun keeps it up, he's not that far behind and will be in key games on a contender that shows up more on SportsCenter. I think that gets him to number 2...gotta go with Pujols, the guy is unreal.

[Postseason2006]

I don't like Berkman. He's a big fat, slow, slob that cries alot. And if his homerun trot could get any slower one could get him a cab to home.

[dvoiss]

My vote goes to Berkman. I don't believe the record of the team a player is playing for should have any bearing. Should Berkmamn be punished because the Stros are not a very good team? Of course not. It certainly is not his fault. But the problem is that he will be punished and that to me is not right.

[rluzinski]

The problem with the MVP is that no one knows what it is. The first step seems to be to make sure that you are on a good team.

[RU Rah Rah]

I'm not sure why you would factor in team performance for an individual award. It seems unfair to penalize Position Player A in the MVP balloting because, say, his team's bullpen blew a million saves, or its starting rotation got hammered by injuries.

[GamelToe]

If a player's team doesn't make it to the playoffs, I don't see that player as being very valuable. If he wasn't there, the Astros would still not make the playoffs. Being valuable means that if you take that player away, that team will probably not make the playoffs.

 

Atleast, that is my definition.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Value does not have to be contextual. If player A is 5 wins above average, he'll make an 81 win team an 86 win team, or he'll make an 66 win team a 71 win team. That doesn't mean he has less value, it means he was on a crappy team.

[GamelToe]

Well, IMO.. where would the Astros be w/o Lance Berkman? Missing the playoffs. Where are they with him? Missing the playoffs.

 

And he isn't heads and shoulders above any other player in the NL.

[cubfan1126]

Burrell? I hope he just has a lousy next 4 games, but he usually plays very well against us.

 

Ramirez? I'm assuming you mean Hanley.

 

This is exactly what I love about my Cubs team. None of our guys is getting serious consideration for MVP or Cy Young. (Dempster might if Webb collapses in September.) Dempster or Wood might be up for Comeback player but other than that I don't see any major individual awards. Team effort all around by the guys with the current best record in baseball.

 

I see a two horse MVP race. Berkman vs Pujols

[ChgoBrewFan]

Braun hands down for MVP.