Buster Olney just re-tweeted this on Twitter:

 

@spartacus225Andrew Yahn

by Buster_ESPN

@Buster_ESPN The Rangers are now 40-19 with Josh Hamilton is in the line up. Can you say back to back #MVP

54 minutes ago

 

No.  No, no, no, no, no.  Just, no.

Josh Hamilton is not the A.L. MVP this year.  Josh Hamilton is not even close to being the A.L. MVP this year.

Nevermind WAR or VORP or all that.  Let's just look at some raw, traditional stats:

This, of course, doesn't take into account the fact that Hamilton is hitting in one of the best home parks for hitters in baseball.

Still, looking at this list, the thing that jumps out at you is that no one has a legitimate MVP case in the A.L. other than Jose Bautista.

Secondly, though...Josh Hamilton isn't hitting any better than a bunch of other guys in the A.L.  Other guys who haven't missed 40% of their team's games this year.

Now, if you do want to get all stat-heady, if you do want to look at fWAR, Josh Hamilton is at 2.0 for the season, which places him 41st among position players in the majors, tied with Brendan Ryan, Nick Swisher, Neil Walker, J.J. Hardy, Mark Trumbo, and Placido Polanco.

If you want to look at VORP, Hamilton is at 20.4 on the year, 53rd among A.L. position players.

Hamilton has had a very good season when on the field.  He's missed a bunch of time, though, and even if you extrapolate his numbers out to assume he's not missed time, he's not close to being the best player in the American League this year.