TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

How's This For A Thought Question

Imagine that Barry Bonds suffers a season-ending some time in the next week. My question is, do the Cardinals sweep the medal stand in the MVP voting?

Is this totally crazy? According to the current NL OPS chart, it might not be as crazy as it first sounds. Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen sit 3, 4, and 5 in OPS, in that order, and #2 Todd Helton, while having his usual fine season with the Rockies, won't be a factor in the MVP voting owing to the Rockies poor season.

I think it's safe to say that, barring injury, Rolen and Pujols will both be top-3 in the MVP voting, so the question is, is Jim Edmonds #4 right now? Really, the only guys in the mix at this point would be J. D. Drew and Adrian Beltre, guys having big seasons for division leaders. No one from the Cubs or Padres is really top-5 material right now, and Bonds is the only guy in the running from the Giants, unless you count Jason Schmidt (and I don't, not top-5 in the MVP voting). Guys like Jim Thome, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, and Lance Berkman would really need their teams to pick it up to be a factor, and Adam Dunn and Sean Casey suffer from the same problem as Helton.

I think I'd put Drew and Beltre in front of Edmonds right now, but it's close. If the Big 3 from the Cards wind up all in the Top 5 in OPS and the Cards wind up posting something goofy like 108-54 at season's end, they could all be in the mix.

posted by Tom Renbarger 6:39 PM