So Easy A Sportswriter Could Do It

Ryan Howard hits a lot of home runs. His 46 leads the Major Leagues. Home runs are good, as even a sportswriter can tell you.

But that's all Ryan Howard does. He's not hitting for average. He strikes out more often than Carrot Top. He doesn't run well and he's a lousy fielder at the least important position. While he walks a fair amount, Howard has been on base less than 34% of the time this year. That's not even average, much less among the league's elite.

Consequently, I'm pretty sure that no jury in the country would convict Albert Pujols for taking his Louisville Slugger to the head of anyone who proposes that Ryan Howard should be the NL MVP. This is foolhardiness on par with lending money to oodles of people who can't repay their loans.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Albert is second in the Majors in hitting, has been on base nearly 46% of the time, has a slugging average more than 100 points higher than Howard's, steals an occasional base and is a Gold Glove-caliber fielder. That he's hit 12 fewer home runs and doesn't have the good fortune to play alongside Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Brad Lidge don't begin to offset the chasmic difference between his value to the Cardinals and Howard's value to the Phillies.

(Baseball Prospectus estimates that Pujols has been worth about nine wins to the Cards; Howard about three wins to the Phils, and that's even before evaluating defense. In fact, according to BP, Ryan Howard is not even in the top five in value relative to his position on his own team.)

You have some irrational need to bestow the MVP on Lance Berkman, or David Wright or Hanley Ramirez or Chipper Jones? Knock yourself out. It would be the wrong choice, but you could probably concoct some justification. Ryan Howard? That would just be another strikeout.