National League MVP

It's been more than a month.

Fielder's stats since the All-Star Break: .286 average, .399 OBP, .577 slugging, 12 HR, 32 RBI, 29 R, 0 SB

Braun's stats since the All-Star Break: .322 average, .370 OBP, .649 slugging, 17 HR, 44 RBI, 36 R, 6 SB

I selected that time period because I found it easily, but it was also more than a month. So it was just July that Braun has produced better numbers? Now whose facts are wrong?

For the sake of comparison, Braun was called up May 25. Going into the game that day, Fielder already had 14 home runs and 36 RBI. Since then, he has 27 home runs and 76 RBI with no steals.

Braun in the same time period has 28 home runs, 76 RBI and 14 steals. And unlike Fielder, he doesn't have a guy batting .334 in front of him. Yes, he has the protection of Fielder. But he doesn't have the same quality of hitter in front of him to drive in.

I NEVER wrote Fielder wasn't the Brewers MVP when you consider the entire season. I wrote that Braun has been the better player since his call-up and to me that is an argument against Fielder as the league MVP.

Work on your reading comprehension and your facts before you criticize mine.

 

David Wright
GM AB H AVG OBP HR RBI SB R CS 2B 3B BB K E A
138 516 163 .316 .410 26 91 30 94 4 33 1 82 107 18 271

Eric Byrnes
GM AB H AVG OBP HR RBI SB R CS 2B 3B BB K E A
140 546 160 .293 .362 21 80 42 89 6 26 8 54 88 5 10

I think it's between these two guys.

 

You know, when you lay it out like that, the gap doesn't seem quite as big as I thought it was...but I still go with Wright.

 

I'm impressed Wright has 30 stolen bases. Had no idea. He's the John Stearns of 3rd basemen [/obscure '80s reference]

 

If the Brewers have a MVP, Braun is clearly it.

Fielder has been good, but like a lot of Brewers, he was white-hot early and plateaued. Braun has been mind-boggling ever since he came up.

 

Explain, using any logic you can possibly muster, how Braun's phenomenal second half takes away from the fact that Fielder leads the National League in home runs and slugging and that he's fourth in both RBIs and OPS.

If Chris Young pitches better than Jake Peavy for a couple months would that mean that Jake Peavy's not a legitimate candidate for Cy Young? There is zero logic in your so-called argument.

If you walked into the Brewers clubhouse and asked every player who is the team's MVP I would be astounded if Fielder wasn't the unanimous choice.

Please don't construe this as a knock on Braun because he's a phenomenal young player, too. But Prince has been the club's leader on and off the field all year and he's the only National League MVP candidate on the team.

 

It's not "a couple of months." It is from May 25 through now, which is just over half of the season. If Fielder hasn't been the best player on his own team since May 25, which I believe is the case, then I don't think he can be the MVP of the National League.

Oh, and I love how you carved one small part of my argument out and ignore the parts where I refuted your claims about the inaccuracies in my previous posts....which do not exist. You wrote that I had my facts wrong and I put up numbers that back my claim that Braun has been the more productive hitter since he was called up.

Just wanted to point out again that you were proven wrong there. Thanks for playing.

 

Please answer the question I asked. Explain the (complete lack of) logic you use to suggest that Ryan Braun's great second half somehow takes away from Prince's National League MVP candidacy. As I've said several times, Braun doing well has absolutely no bearing on the matter. Again, please explain how it does? I'm not here to tell you that Braun hasn't played exceptionally, I'm telling you, rather, that it doesn't matter in the NL MVP voting. It's a non-factor.

 

What part of "Fielder has not even been the best player on his own team since May 25" do you not understand?

 

What I'm trying to explain to you (and which you obviously understand because you've been avoiding a response) is that it's not a valid argument in a discussion about who should be the National League MVP for the 2007 season. Ryan Braun is not a factor. Fielder leads the National League in home runs and slugging and he's fourth in RBIs and OPS. He's a Top 5 NL MVP candidate. Braun is a candidate for Rookie of the Year, not MVP. Perhaps you'll need to wait and see how the voting turns out?

 

I answered you. You just don't like the answer, so you keep finding ways to avoid it. And you probably don't like being proven wrong regarding the statistics of the two players, either. The fact that Fielder has not even been the best hitter on his own team since May 25 is, to me, a very valid argument why he does not deserve the NL MVP award. I'd put him in the top five, too, but not No. 1.

You disagree, fine. But don't tell me I'm dodging anything. You are the one dodging the parts of the argument in which you have been proven wrong.

 

I'm not dodging anything. I reviewed your numbers and I agree 100 percent that Braun has had the best second half on the Brewers and quite possibly in all of the National League -- better than Fielder, David Wright, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and anyone else in the running for the MVP Award

What I don't understand is why that has any bearing on who should be the MVP of the entire season, unless you can make a case that he -- not Fielder, Wright, Utley, Rollins, etc. -- should be the league MVP.