MVP discussion with no mention of Prince Fielder.

"A month ago Toronto's Jose Bautista was on a fast track to win the American League MVP Award. Now, runner-up is the best he can hope for. And that might be a stretch."

A month ago, Adrian Gonzalez was on a fast track to win the American League MVP Award.


"Take nothing away from Bautista, but the Red Sox are leading the toughest division in the Major Leagues and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is a huge reason why."

Take nothing away from Bautista ... except the American League MVP Award.

"Zeroing on the AL MVP is much easier than in the NL.

There's always a debate among Baseball Writers Association of America voters as to whether the MVP should be from a winning team -- a team that makes the postseason. Many voters feel strongly that a player on a losing team, no matter how great his season, should not be MVP."

I agree this is dumb, in and of itself.

"Really, though, Braun isn't having a season equal to Reyes and the Dodgers' Matt Kemp, both playing on teams no longer in playoff contention.

Throw the 'winning team' belief out the window and give the MVP to Reyes."

That's known as a red herring: "You shouldn't exclude Reyes because he plays for a losing team." I agree that Reyes shouldn't necessarily be punished because the Mets are bad. I just happen to think that other players in the NL are having better seasons.


Fielder has not missed a game. I happen to put a lot of emphasis on games played. Fielder is .305/.417/.567, 27 HRs, 75 runs, 89 RBIs ... err, 0 stolen bases.

Reyes is .336/.377/.507 , 5 HRs, 80 runs, 37 RBIs ... 34 stolen bases.

(I abstain from similar comparisons to Kemp, Braun, Pujols, etc.).

Reyes gets credit for playing shortstop, huge debits for missing 20+ games. During those 20+ games, Reyes had essentially zero value to the Mets.