Does Bautista stand a chance at the AL MVP?

Jose Bautista is having a remarkable year this season. He's one home run away from passing George Bell has the single season home run leader for the Toronto Blue Jays. He's three away from hitting fifty.

His average isn't all that great, but he's stud in the outfield and he can play third base when called upon.

The Jays are playing .500 ball and that will sure hurt his chances of winning the award.

In your opinion do you believe he deserves it? Do you believe he stands a chance?

Thoughts?

 

No.

 

I'd be curious how many MVPs played for a .500 team or worse in the last 30 years. I think Andre Dawson is the only one to have been on a last place team.

 

So, who gets it? Hamilton despite missing a ton of games? Cabrera's Tigers actually have a worse record than the Blue Jays, though he brings a much higher average to the table.

 

I'm not bothered by Bautista's batting average at at all, given his OBP and OPS. But to me Miggy Cabrera stands up better than anyone else this season in the A.L.

 

I'm voting for Rusty Kuntz.

 

Jim Thome.

 

I would probably go with Cabrera as well, though the Tigers faded badly. Not his fault that so many guys got hurt, but he doesn't have the team success going for him, either.

 

Jeff Mathis

 

Bautista won't win it, but when you put it this way, he does seem like the type of guy who could end up winning a split vote. Hamilton probably isn't going to play again and the Tigers have been out of it for months. Cano suffers from being in Murderer's Row. Mauer is soft.

My guess is Cabrera wins it for flirting with the Triple Crown and as a lifetime achievement award, even though he's only 27.

 

With Hamilton getting hurt, I don't think there's a clear winner - It feels like one of those muddled years that a guy from a losing team could come away with it. (Not that I'm opposed to this, but like the Cy Young, the voters normally skew toward guys on winning teams.) If you overlook the production of Cabrera or Bautista on bad / average teams, I think there is a whole lower tier of guys on winning teams - Cano, Mauer, Hamilton, etc. - that have roughly equivalent cases.

 

This award is Chet Lemon's to lose.