“But I will have you know that Pedroia was 18th in OPS, 27th in RBIs, 30th in batting average with runners in scoring position and 53rd in on-base percentage with runners in scoring percentage. I am aware he tied for the league lead in hits, led in runs scored and was second in batting average. But in the stats that to me suggest production and clutch hitting, he was dwarfed by the other players on the list.”

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spswisher1119,0,3430088.story

Red Sox have “significantly increased their involvement” on Burnett recently.

Morneau already has one MVP he doesn’t deserve, glad he didn’t get a second.

Red sox won WS last year and didnt even make it this year. Thats not providing value. Rangers went from last place to 2nd place in their division. That shows value. I would have pick Hamilton and left off Pedroia too.

I think one rule should be that they can only vote for one player per team. I mean if a player isn’t the MVP of his team, then he certainly shouldn’t be considered for the MVP of the league.

If Galloway had done this, I’d say he was being a douche… but I think Evan had good intentions at least.

to me it really does not mean all that much. These awards are given out by the same ppl who were handing the Chicago Cubs the World Championship last spring before the season started. We all see how good that opinion was.

While the awards are fun in some ways, in the end they are decided by a few who think they are experts and get to voice their opinion. To me, the only true winners of the award that really counts were the Philadelphia Phillies.

for Ramon Ramirez. Could Ramirez be the second player coming in a deal with the Red Sox? I wouldn’t mind it…

Yeah, I e-mailed with Grant yesterday and at the end I said this:

“Personally, the biggest problem I have with your ballot seems to be KRod at 2nd. But, I am pleased as punch K Rod did not win the AL Cy Young. That would have just pissed me off.”

KRod was just not that good. He had a gaudy stat of all those saves, and a friend yesterday said to me “But what about all those one run games he saved?!” to which I said, “They were 1 run games because his WHIP and ERA were terrible.”

Look at the teams that have 2 position players receiving votes:

Pedroia-Youk
Mauer-Morneau
Hambone-Kinsler
Quinton-Dye
Pena-Longoria

As far as position-player superstar duos, I think I would take the Rangers pair over any of those other pairings, bar none. The thing that occasionally frustrates me is that I’m not sure the pitching is going to get here in time to make benefit of our two guys peak seasons, which will likely be in the next couple years.

Dustin Pedroia (2008)
118 Runs, 213 hits, 54 doubles, 17 HRs, 83 RBIs, 322 TBs, 326avg, 376OBP, 493Slug

Mike Young (2005)
114 Runs, 221 hits, 40 doubles, 24 HRs, 91 RBIs, 343 TBs, 331avg, 385OBP, 513Slug

Mike finished 11th in MVP voting behind 4 Yankees and 2 Red Sox. This happens a lot, there is big market bias, because they are on TV all the time.

(I realize there differences between that situation and this one, but the point is that people shouldn’t be so surprised that EG would vote on spectacle rather than steady performance throughout the year… its nothing new)

mlbtraderumors has posted a report that Houston may look to trim payroll by moving Wigginton (3B with a decent stick) and Valverde (pretty good closer).

Seems like the Rangers could be interested in one or both of those guys.

The Astros don’t seem to be the type to trade for prospects. Maybe in this case they would be interested to get prospects to send to San Diego for Peavy. Otherwise, they are on the hunt for starting pitching. Maybe Millwood is of interest to them?

Ramon Ramirez was signed as a 15-year-old and released 2 years later by…your Texas Rangers.

He was an outfielder in his Rangers tenure.

So says this.

Call me crazy, but I am really starting to think a Salty for Buchholz deal, straight up, could actually happen.

First, Salty is healthy and playing well in front of scouts in the Dominican winter league, and we have heard more than a few whispers that the Red Sox prefer Salty over any of our other catchers because of his offensive upside. It is documented that they have been after him since his days in Atlanta, and GMs are known to fixate and covet.

Second, I think Buchholz really gave the Red Sox org cause for pause last year. He is already 24 years old, the same age as Scott Olsen, and he was basically handed a rotation spot coming into the year, yet he couldn’t hold it down and he didn’t exactly dominate when he was returned to AAA. Many have asked why they would sell low on him, but I don’t think they would view trading him as selling low. Rather, I think their entire perspective on the matter may have changed, similar to how it did for the Rangers after Volquez struggled. The talent is unquestionable, but the intangibles, the confidence and make up issues (which are known to matter greatly to the Red Sox org) are questionable.

And finally, I really think the Red Sox mentality is that Masterson is a known asset and therefore has more value to them than Buchholz. They saw him start games effectively in his first swim through the league and then come up big in the playoffs as a reliever after Delcarman struggled. I think the Red Sox know they want one young pitcher to break in as a full time starter next year at the back end of their rotation and they prefer Masterson because they have more confidence in his ability to stick and stay than Buchholz. In this case, they may want the higher floor instead of the higher ceiling. For a team like the Red Sox, you don’t have to be as speculative (high risk, high reward) when you have so many sure things at the front end of the rotation.

I think it was their hope to trade Bowden and change to the Rangers for Salty, but JD balked, holding out for one of Masterson or Buchholz, and I think the Red Sox really do favor Masterson. I think they acquired Ramirez to be their late inning righty so they can move Masterson to the back of the rotation, leaving Buchholz as the odd man out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3712578

I like that juxtaposed against Billy Beane complaining about how a 5 game playoff doesn’t prove who has the better team

old news?

. . . to lead his league in HRs, RBIs and make the playoffs without winning the MVP.

The writers are slowly getting better.

They just teased with “the penalty for leaving the MVP off your MVP ballot.”