MVP Thoughts

Tomorrow afternoon MLB will reveal the results of the NL MVP balloting and it may well come to pass the Ryan Howard will win his second MVP award in three years. The fact that this is even a possibility has me at the point of no longer caring about the awards handed out by the BBWAA. It's bad enough three of the voters voted for a non-rookie for rookie of the year, but it's absolutely insane that just perusing the RBI's leaders is all that is expected out of the voters for the leagues top award. By any objective measure Ryan Howard was not the MVP. He was not the best player on his team. He was not the best player at his position. He was not one of the ten best players in his league. Bringing offense only to the table, he was not one of the ten best offensive players in his league. Yet because he hit 48 HR's and had 146 RBI while having his one good month in Sept he might be voted the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER in the entire league. I just can't get over how positional value, defensive value and the ability to not make outs (i.e. producing runs) doesn't matter. Being a power hitter on a good team is what it takes to win the MVP. I wouldn't really care all that much if it wasn't for the fact that these awards then get used to determine hall of fame eligibility and shape public perception of a players value. Maybe what bugs me most of all is that people who get paid to be informed, knowledgeable baseball writers don't seem to care enough to do any basic research when handing out awards. I mean, can't they even order a copy of the Bill James handbook or peruse baseball-reference.com? I'm just waiting for the day when the BBWAA cares more about analyzing the actual sport they cover rather than trying to get the same stupid locker room quotes after every game. Then again, maybe I'm expecting too much.