Yeah, I took the entire season off. Yeah. I did. Ball Wonk took off two seasons, and just came back so leave me alone.
Now, what would stir me to blog after a year of non-updating (in November, no less)?
Easy. Disrespect.
Somebody smudged our proverbial Pumas, Nats Fans. Ryan Zimmerman, FoTF, formerly Gold Glove winning, and repeating Silver Slugger, finished 16th in NL MVP voting. SIXTEENTH.
He didn’t have his best year. Oh, what? He had a career high in .AVG? And .OPS? As Adam Kilgore tweeted, “Ryan Zimmerman: 3rd in NL WAR(FG), 7th in OPS+, 4th in UZR, 16th in MVP. Everyone can take back what they said about Felix winning Cy.”
Wow. Players who finished in front of him: Aubrey Huff, Martin Prado, Buster Posey, Jayson Werth, Brian Wilson and Scott Rolen. Sigh. AUBREY HUFF? MARTIN PRADO? Good thing these awards don’t come with large financial bonuses, so it doesn’t matter that these writer’s pulled names out of their butts.
Also, Adam Dunn. Sign him. Josh Willingham, do not trade him. Ivan Rodriguez, trade him for a sack of potatoes. Bring up any number of prospects, and if we’re gonna endure a losing season again in the Spring, let’s at least do it with players who have potential. That is all.
Kyle Smoot
Richie Oliver
Jon Hoffman
Perhaps its just me, but i’m not nearly as worked up as others over the low placement of Zimmerman on the MVP ranks. To me, if it isn’t a top 5 placement its just spurrious votes in the wind. I think it’s pretty in arguable that they got the top 5 correct (Votto, Pujols, CarGo, Adrian Gonzalez and Tulowitzki). After Halladay there’s a drop off to guys that no one really considers any thing more than good players who had good years.
I’ll repeat though what I wrote on Zuckerman’s blog; if Zimmerman put up the same numbers he has been for a winning team, he’s a top 3 MVP candidate year after year. Look at Teixeira’s numbers before and after his first season with the Yankees. Suddenly he goes from zero in- or post-season awards to an All Star appearance, a Silver Slugger, a Gold Glove and 2nd place in MVP voting.