Matt Holliday’s late-season surge has propelled him into the lead as the NL MVP, which seems reasonable given his monster season, 36 home runs, 131 RBI, 205 hits and a .339 batting average. The writers who vote for him, however, will be forgetting that he plays half his games in a hitters paradise.
His production is built almost entirely on the strength of his home stats, 25 of his 36 home runs, 77 RBI, .374 batting average, 115 hits…. His OPS at home is 1.159, on the road it’s .866. He’s slugging .726 at home, and just .497 on the road. His OBP is much higher as well….
Let’s face it, the MVP should be Fielder, except he’s gonna be penalized for the Brewers collapse, as will Wright –who plays in one of the worst hitters parks in the league– if the Mets fail to make it. For Holliday, the writers cannot forget what an advantage he has hitting at 5000 feet; but they will.
UPDATE: Speaking of MVP’s…. the MVP of the last twenty years had something to say today:
“Yesterday, I was told by the Giants that they will not be bringing me back for the 2008 season. During the conversation with Peter Magowan, I was told that my play this year far exceeded any expectations the Giants had, but that the organization decided this year would be my last season in San Francisco.
Although I am disappointed, I’ve always said baseball is a business , and I respect their decision. However, I am saddened and upset that I was not given an earlier opportunity to properly say goodbye to you, my fans, and celebrate with the city throughout the season as I truly believe this was not a last-minute decision by the Giants, but one that was made some time ago.
I don’t have, nor do I want any ill feelings towards the organization, I just wish I had known sooner so we had more time to say our goodbyes and celebrate the best 15 years of my life. I would have loved nothing more than to retire as a Giant in the place where I call home and have shared so many momentous moments with all of you, but there is more baseball in me and I plan on continuing my career. My quest for a World Series ring continues.”
Sports News and Resources…
Sorry, it just sounds like a crazy idea for me
…
Today on the Giants post-game call-in show, Michael Urban said this:
“If the Yankees don’t re-sign A-Rod, they could do worse than sign Pedro Feliz.”
Yes, he really said this. Later he said this:
“Pedro is 32 years old, right in his prime. And he is still showing signs of improvement.”
Then he said this:
“Pedro will probably get around $8 million dollars next year, and I think the Giants should pay it.”
I don’t like to call for a man to be fired, but honestly: Don’t Giants fans deserve better than this? There are hundreds of people out there who actually understand baseball, and who would give anything to host a call-in show on KNBR. Isn’t it time to give one of these people a chance?
While I am nowhere near a fan of Michael Urban, and I acknowledge every point you make about him and KNBR is true, the dude does have a legitimate point.
On a team that wouldn’t have to so desperately rely on his offense, Feliz could fly under the radar, chipping in his 20 home runs, 80 rbi and near Gold Glove defense, not to mention his versatility, and be a nice asset.
I have a sinking feeling he’ll be back with the Giants, though.
I have no problem with Feliz as as twice-a-week starter against LHP, who can also be used for late-inning defense and to pinch-hit for the pitcher on occasion. I’d be happy to pay him $1-2 million a year to play that role. But anything more than that is too much. As a full-time player Feliz gives you medium-range power and the worst on-base average in baseball, and that just isn’t enough…
There’s an awesome article by Joe Sheehan posted at Baseball Prospectus, on how the media has treated Bonds. Sheehan nails it much better than I could, so I’ll simply post the money paragraph:
“Of course, the story about Bonds, for that crowd, has never been about performance. It’s always been about Bonds’ disdain for the media, his refusal to provide access and quotes and make the media’s job easier. I have no doubt that if you have to deal with Bonds on a daily basis—if dealing with him is a major part of your job description—that it would make your life difficult. However, to allow that one aspect of the man to become the driving force for years of negative coverage strikes me, has always struck me, as just as unprofessional as his approach. The disdain for Barry Bonds among the local media is disproportionate to anything the man has ever done, amounting to a collective tantrum that has poisoned the man’s reputation among baseball fans nationwide, Bonds’ relationship to the media, and the media’s treatment of him because of it, queers the entire discussion about Bonds’ accomplishments and whether they may have been influenced by extra-legal actions on his part. He’s never been evaluated fairly because the world has been told he’s a bad guy, and we don’t like bad guys. The people who see the Bonds/public/media triangle as a racial matter miss the point; it’s not a lesson in how American treats black men; it’s a lesson in how the media can make or break men of any hue.”
Oh, I should probably add that this response is to a link noted by Pinto describing Giants fans as angry that Bonds was resigned for 2007.
I just posted the following on BaseballMusings re: Bonds. This is pretty much how I feel:
I find it interesting when the debate (on anything) is “framed” by “journalists.” I’m just one voice to be sure, but I follow the Giants closely and participate in a number of their forums. And, I honestly have to say that I heard very few voices against resigning Bonds for 2007…or that IT lead to the signing of Zito. In fact, I find the “reason” conveniently simple to explain away the decline of the Giants over that last couple of years. More to that point: The Giants have a wanna-be Steinbrenner at the helm who’s repeatedly shown his inability to grasp the concepts of foresight or of roster diversity; Sabean’s his (lack of) voice.
If anything, Giants fans were dismayed (and angry) that the Giants signed ZITO. No not the player, but for those years and that amount of money.
Bonds is who he is and “everyone hates” him or whatever. But the fact remains that he has been one of the greatest players in baseball history, so good in fact that he (virtually alone and with a host of role players) positioned the Giants at top of the NL West for some 10 years. What more can you ask from a player for your team? And yeah, “everyone hates” him, but he minds his own business, doesn’t argue with umpires, doesn’t throw temper tantrums, and still goes out and mashes.
I don’t have a problem with the Giants deciding to save the money THAT THEY CHOSE TO PAY BONDS and moving on; although it should be interesting to see Randy Winn as the Giants “best” hitter in 2008. I do have a problem with an organization that’s profited so much from Bonds (and the organization that he clearly loves) announcing now and in this way that he’s not coming back.
I wish him the best…yes, I wish him the best.
Your 2007 San Francisco Giants, the organization that dumped Barry Bonds but brought back Brian Sabean, Dick Tidrow, and Jack Hyatt. My reading of this situation is that MaGowan is loyal to a management team he has known for 15 years, and doesn’t have the stomach to clean house and start over. That’s a very understandable human reaction, but it ensures another half decade of mediocrity, at least…
It’ll be interesting to see the lineup next year no longer being “dragged down” by Bonds’ monster OPS. Get ready for everyone to realize they took him for granted.
Looking over the possibilities for BB in 08, it seems pretty clear that:
1. Based on his numbers, ego, and agent, he’s not going to take less money.
2. In the NL, only the Dodgers meet the resources/need matrix, and they could well decide to go young.
3. In the AL, the only team that fits is Seattle. Every other team either has a DH option, are more than one player away from contending, or won’t blow up their salary structure.
Gonna be interesting.
i gotta say i’m legitimately sad. We gotta say goodbye to a legend, I wish he’d just retire because seeing him in any other uniform would kill me; I pray to god that the fucking yanks stay away from him, because I couldn’t stand to watch my only sports hero finish his career on the team which I hate the most. I gotta clap it up for him and all I can say is Barry will be missed.
Great, so now our best hitter is…….??? Randy Winn? Randy Winn, cleanup hitter, protected by Bengie Molina. Matt Cain, get used to the run support you’ve been getting all year, you have years of the same depressing losses in your future.
now this is sabean’s team
no more excuses
Selfishly, I wish Bonds would retire as a Giants. Realistically, he has more than enough usefulness offensively to be very useful to a team that will use him for 100-110 games (possibly more if he’s a DH). With a 1.053 OPS, it’s obvious he’s useless, right?
I think Bochy did a very poor job of using Bonds this season. He should never play more than two days in a row, and never more than five days in a week. His legs can’t handle it.
I’m curious to see if anyone tries to sign him. It’s hard to picture an NL team making any push — he’d have to play the field — and I don’t know what AL teams would be interested in him as a DH (NYY and BOS both have the position filled, Oakland has a young, cheap guy in Jack Cust and LAA (whom he could really help because he walks a lot) has never professed interest.
Question: Will Bud Selig pressure (directly or indirectly) teams not to sign Barry? Bet on it!
You hit it one the head: “The Writers.” “They” regularly do this shit. David Wright is my NLMVP (I predicted Chase Utley, but he got hurt…still pretty good numbers though).
Maybe some are coming around, because there seems to be an understanding that Matt Cain’s had a pretty good year and no run support, implying that Wins aren’t the be-all end-all of pitching success.
Nonetheless, I still believe that most understand that Pedro Feliz still sucks.
Good to see that Bonds won’t be back, ’cause it’s not like he can hit any longer or anything.
From barrybonds.com
September 21, 2007 – Journal Update
This journal will be one of my last entries as a San Francisco Giant. Yesterday, I was told by the Giants that they will not be bringing me back for the 2008 season. During the conversation with Peter McGowan…