Do you agree with the sportswriters in choosing Ryan Howard of the Philadephia phillies as the MVP in the N.L.

Question

Phillies' Howard Named National League MVP
Star Follows 2005 Rookie Award With 58 HR Season
By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports
NEW YORK (Nov. 20) - Ryan Howard had a season that defied convention, one that made him only the second player voted Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in consecutive years.

Why did they choose Howard? His 58 homers to Pujols' 49, and his 149 RBI to Pujols' 137. That's where the advantages for Howard end. Pujols is better in nearly every single other significant category. See for yourself:

Player AVG OBP SLG VORP WARP EqA
A. Pujols .331 .431 .671 85.4 12.9 .357
R. Howard .313 .425 .659 81.5 9.4 .346


The first three categories are well-known rate stats, and clearly show Pujols was the superior player in 2006. The main knock on Pujols in the MVP race was that he didn't play as many games as Howard.


Houston 's Lance Berkman was third with 230 points, followed by the New York Mets ' Carlos Beltran (211), Cabrera (170) and Washington 's Alfonso Soriano (106) - who agreed to a $136 million, eight-year contract with the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

Answer 1

Yes, by far. Rayan Howard was more valuable to his team than any other player was to their team. He almost single handedly got the Phillies into the playoffs. His numbers were gigantic and that's what the dopey sportswriters look for.

Answer 2

I absolutely agree.

He had better numbers, he was the stronger team leader, he kept his team in the playoff hunt after management gave up at the trade deadline, he stayed injury free as opposed to 3 weeks Pujols spent on the DL, and most important of all, he led his team to more victories than the Cardinals in the regular season.

Pujols and the Cardinals simply had the good fortune to be in the weakest division in major league baseball, because if Philadelphia was closer to the midwest, they would have won the division over St Louis by two games.

It's not even a close call. In 2006, Ryan Howard > Albert Pujols by a mile.

Answer 3

Do people realize that the voting for MVP is done before the playoffs? So no one knew that the Cardinals would win the World Series, so that is not even an argument. The Phillies were left for dead by the front office, but RH and Chase Utley carried the team. RH hit many homers to tie or take the lead. Don't get me wrong Albert is an outstanding player, but he also had a better supporting cast then RH.

Answer 4

If Howard wins MVP, it is going to likely be a tragic humorous tale. a very one-dimensional participant with a daft style of strikeouts and a humiliation of a batting known. Pujols merits it this year. Delgado, Chipper and Berkman are all greater deserving that Howard. And as long as Pujols and Howard are interior the comparable league, Pujols will continuously be the greater advantageous participant. And no, i'm not a enjoying cards fan. I in basic terms think of that Ryan Howard is greater of a comic book strip than a ballplayer.

Answer 5

I do agree.

I think you have to look at the knock on Pujols and say its far easier to get higher stats in the other percentage based categories with less games. Less opportunities means he'd have less time to tire and less possibly go into a slump. When he returned from injury he was rested (although possibly rusty). Howard played most of the season so his consistency should be rewarded because he was more susceptible to going in funks and slumps. It's the same reasoning why a players bat around .400 going into July and then playing the rest of the season end up with a only .340 average. Don't get me wrong, Pujols' stats are actually impressive in quantity with the stats like HR and RBI that are calculated in sum with less games played but his advantage of playing less games contributing to higher rated averages (AVG, OBP, SLG ect) cannot be ignored. Less at-bats equals greater variation of percentage statistic.

Another example, Jeff Kent was batting around .267 after missing more than 40 games going into July. But he played almost all of August and September and ended up with hitting .292 and improving his OBP and SLG in the process for 115 games total games.

And then there could be the whole cloud of mystery concerning his trainer Chris Mihlfield and Milhlfield's connection to HGH that might have affected the voters's decision making. Still no evidence exists of wrong doing but the negativity of it certainly is not good for Pujols. If they voted against him because of that, it would be unfair without the actual evidence in existence

Answer 6

Definately, Look at the numbers 58 homers (most in phillies history), and 149 RBI most in majors, with a .659 SLG yes they chose the right man. Also, many of his hits and homers either won the game or put them ahead. Everyone on the cardinals does that howard is one of the few on the phillies.

Answer 7

No.. Pujols was injured for a while, and still put up amazing numbers. His batting average was 18 points higher than Howard, his On Base Pctg 6 points higher, and slugging 12 points higher. He was clearly a better player than Howard.

Answer 8

Ryan does deserve this award. Dont get me wrong pujols is a helluva playa but you have to put in consideration that those other numbers look better because he missed quite a few games compared to Howard.

Answer 9

I agree Howard is the wrong choice. But my stance is that an MVP should help you get somewhere, so Howard should not have been a candidate. Maybe for a Triple Crown thing but not an MVP.

Answer 10

He had an incredible year. I wouldn't agree more with those sportswriters. He had a great following an outstanding rookie year. He should in the future be the next great threat and he already is. Excellent young player.