Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end.
We'd sing and dance, forever and a day.
Ah yes, the heady days when Philly's Ryan Howard and St. Loo's Albert Pujols were tearing up NL pitching. Howard snagged the Rookie of the Year and the MVP in consecutive seasons, slugging 58, 47, 48 and 45 homers, driving home 136+ four straight seasons, earning top-5 MVP finishes each year.
Prince Albert, meanwhile, less prolific with the ribbies, got aboard at clips of .403, .394, .439, .415, .430, .431, .429, .462, and .443, while slamming between 32 and 47 home runs.
Back then, before the walls built against new analysis began crumbling down, there was debate about who was the better first baseman. Though Pujols hit for higher average, ran the bases far better, played vastly better defense and even matched Howard's strength -- power, there were still those who preferred the RBI machine. It's funny in retrospect.
Even in Howard's 2006 MVP season, Pujols was so laughably superior it's fun to look back. Howard wowed the voters by pacing the circuit with 58 jacks and 149 knocked in while batting .313. Not too shabby. But not Pujols-worthy. Albert "only" cranked 49 and "merely" drove home 137 while posting a higher batting average, higher on base average and higher slugging percentage. Howard ran in slo-mo and couldn't field a question. Pujols out-performed him six ways to Sunday, and earned 2.4 more wins against replacement. Just the difference between them was a year's work for a quality starting first baseman.
Fast forward to 2010, when the two stars turned 30. For a while there, in the 90s and early '00s, steroids masked the effect of aging and we all fell victim to its comely wiles. But time waits for no one unjuiced, and Albert's been no exception. Since entering his fourth decade, Pujols has missed an average of 36 games and flashed pedestrian first baseman batting skills -- 28-86-.287/.361/.525 for a total of 21 wins against replacement in four seasons plus this one.
That's how a superstar ages. Want to see how time ravages a good-but-flawed big man? Let Howard re-enter the batter's box. In these same four-plus seasons, Howard has missed 59 games-a-year and hit just 20-74-.254/.332/.472 for a total of two wins against replacement. Howard can't catch a cold, circle the bases in a fortnight, hit lefties or stay on the diamond. He's a $20 million albatross in Philly who will eventually help get Reuben Amaro fired. (Or he won't, which means denizens of the City of Brotherly Love will suffer a long, excruciating and likely futile rebuilding process.)
No one argues anymore that the immobile whiff-factory with better teammates should win the MVP on the back of plated runs. We understand OBP and SLG, the importance of defense and baserunning and everything else. It's fun to watch hindsight clear up the vision of those who couldn't see.
No comments:
Post a Comment