Alex Rodriguez, Yankees 3B
.309 AVG, .418 OBP, .637 SLG, 53 HR, 140 Runs, 151 RBI, 24 SB

Rodriguez has had an incredible season statistically and he's the #1 reason that the Yankees made the playoffs. Rodriguez is my choice for AL MVP and I have no doubt he will win the award.

David Ortiz, Red Sox DH
.330 AVG, .444 OBP, .615 SLG, 34 HR, 114 Runs, 116 RBI

Ortiz is actually leading Rodriguez in OPS (1.059 to 1.055) and he's had a great season but as a DH he would need to be beating a 3B in HR & SLG to have any chance at the award.

Magglio Ordonez, Tigers RF
.359 AVG, .430 OBP, .591 SLG, 28 HR, 116 Runs, 136 RBI

Ordonez has had a career year and is probably going to win the batting title and he would have a good shot at the MVP if it wasn't for A-Rod's awesome year.

Carlos Pena, Devil Rays 1B
.278 AVG, .405 OBP, .616 SLG, 44 HR, 96 Runs, 119 RBI

Looking at the home run numbers in the AL this year makes A-Rod's season all the more impressive. Pena is the only other AL batter to have more than 34 HR (Ortiz is 3rd in the AL with 34 HR.) This has been a breakthrough year for him. He had only hit more than 18 home runs once before and that was in 2004 when he hit .241 with 27 homers. Pena has been one of the best sluggers in the big leagues this year. It'll be interesting to see if he can keep it up next season.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Pena, David Ortiz, Magglio Ordonez

Ortiz makes the point that I've been trying to make. Plenty of guys have taken performance enhancing drugs in the major leagues (I wouldn't be at all surprised if at LEAST half of major league players have taken some kind of performance enhancing drug) and none of them put up numbers anywhere close to as good as Barry Bonds. Why can't these other players who've used PED put up the numbers Barry is putting up if steroids helps you become such a great hitter?

Ortiz says "He was using the best?" If you are a complete idiot and can't figure it out for yourself that's a rhetorical question. Of course Barry doesn't have access to some amazing steroids that no one else does. That's the whole point. Steroids are not going to make you that much better of a hitter. They may make you stronger and increase your power and improve your recovery time from injury. Great stuff! But they are not going to make you hit .370 and have a slugging percentage over .800, if they did then there'd be lots of other guys doing it too.

As Ortiz puts it best "I've heard a lot of different things about Barry Bonds, but people should just admit it -- this guy's a bad [expletive]."

Labels: Barry Bonds, David Ortiz