After another great game today, Pedroia now has a line of .333/.378.505, with 17 home runs. He leads the MLB in hits, runs, and currently holds the top average in the AL. For you stat-geeks, he is now 5th in AL VORP, and has the highest VORP of any player on a team still in playoff contention. His defense has been superb, and as much as I think "intangibles" and "leadership" are cliche and meaningless attributes attributed to players by lazy sports writers, he is really fun to watch and appears to be the biggest reason for Boston's success lately. While his September almost certainly will not be as good as his August, if Pedroia has at least a good last month of the year and the Sox make a successful playoff run, this 5'9 (*allegedly- I think he's closer to 5'7-) 2b looks like a legitimate MVP candidate.
Yes, he is very short, and white. And normally, when it comes to David Eckstein types, all of those "gritty" and "intelligent" references from sports writers wear pretty thin. And anyone that simply views D.P as just another example of a hardworking short gritty dude without much talent is simply not paying attention. The man is extremely gifted despite what some talk-radio guy may say about how hard he tries. His hand-eye coordination is unbelievable; he swings harder than almost any player I've ever seen, yet he rarely strikes out and almost always puts together good at-bats. He's not shoe-in, but as he continues to play well I think he only continues to become more and more of a legitimate candidate.
I think Pedroia could lose votes to a teammate or two such as Kevin Youkilis. I would go with Justin Morneau at this time. Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye could also be considered.
Albert Pujols says hi. Also A-Rod, Chase Utley, Hanley Ramirez, Matt Holliday, and Jose Reyes. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=204031 Pedroia is 12th in VORP.
damn even though arod is playing so fuckin terrible this year, it is nice to see he is ranked 6th in vorp. stop hatin.
if texas didn't have the worst pitching staff in the league and he was an ex drug addict instead of just insane, milton bradley would probably be in this discussion as well. between his end of last year with the padres and this year he's been as good a hitter as anyone, except pujols.
well yes, but he also missed a lot of times with injuries and he's a DH. I would vote him 3rd in AL MVP.
That swing. That ugly ass swing. Heard Schilling on the radio this morning make a good point. For a pitcher, smaller guys are just too tough to blow by with fastballs because the margin for error is so small. He was implying that Pedroia has an easier time guessing that most other hitters.
He will be in the hunt for the MVP but without better power numbers he has no chance of winning it. Right now he has numbers like Jeter used to have and Jeter never had a shot at MVP although he may have finished 2nd once.
yes, a smaller strike zone is an advantage. Richie Sexson and Dustin Pedroia. Think of how much bigger Sexson's zone is. He has to cover that much more.
Yeah, this is a prototypical Jeter-at-his-best season. Jeter was 134-24-102-.349 in 1999, good for SIXTH in MVP voting in the AL. Although, the competition then was better. Pudge won it with a .332 and 35 jacks from the catcher position. Pedro won 23, Raffy and Manny blasted 44 and 47. What does this mean for Pedroia? It might be interesting. Your best candidates are Josh Hamilton's 31HR 121RBI to date - He hasn't done much in the second half. A-Rod's numbers in the whole are good as always, but I think even the writers are catching on to just how much he pads his numbers in bases empty or non-clutch situations [ .351 empty, .270 RISP, .259 RISP 2 outs] Carlos Quentin - His numbers blow away what he was expected to do, but 5 more homers than Hamilton to date don't make up for .014 and 21 RBIs. Tough to give the award to a .287 hitter who rarely runs. Kinsler was my front-runner, but his injury is going to cost him too much in totals. Grady Sizemore is going to push for 40-40, but his underwhelming scoring/rbi numbers coupled with a .273 leave him short. I'll say this. If after the season's over, Pedroia pushes his RBI total over 90, and stays at or above the .330 threshold, the MVP is his. A-Rod doesn't get it unless the Yankees rally and make the playoffs off of his bat, otherwise, it's Hamilton.
ehh, I can't stand them but the MVP has a good chance coming out of Boston. Tampa Bay has a good shot at winning one too.
As good as he's been, I don't see him winning it, unless he continues hitting homers at the rate of the last few days.
