Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Ichiro for MVP? No.
The Mariners must win 12 of their remaining 25 games to avoid a 100-loss season. That's about as ugly as it gets.
Ichiro is at .379 and needs to go 54 for 103 (.524) to reach .400. He is having a truly amazing season and is an excellent reason to show up to cheer on the M's in September. Apparently, his second half is stellar enough that it is prompting some to think - hey, his stats are better than 2001 when he won the AL MVP, so shouldn't Ichiro be MVP in 2004? I see that Rob Neyer chimes in (paysite) about Ichiro as an MVP candidate.
I haven't read the article, but it seems ludicrous to me to have your league MVP come from a team that may lose 100 games. To me, the MVP discussion, while it is based in statistics, should be centered around the question, "where would the team be if that player was not there (replaced by a league-average player)?"
And you know where the M's would be without Ichiro? Heading for 100 losses. Even if they were worse off, no one would notice. Of course, attendance would be down another 20%, but the turnstile-turning award has already been given to Ichiro in the form of a long-term contract.
ARod has been a great player, but while with the Rangers, he should not have won the MVP, because his presence did not elevate the Rangers to, at the least, a competitive level. Actually, ARod is kind of a bizarre anti-MVP in that his departure seems to elevate teams.
The MVP doesn't need to go to the playoffs or win the World Series. But I think asking that more than half of his games be meaningful, is not asking too much. So, if you are one of those people who thinks Ichiro should be the 2004 MVP, stop. Its embarrassing.
Today's picks:
Some amazingly big odds today, so we'll go for them and root for the underdogs...
Mets (Seo) +245 over Marlins (Beckett)
Expos (Downs) +280 over Cubs (Maddux)
DBacks (Fossum) +300 over Dodgers (Perez)
Devil Rays (Bell) + 220 over Yankees (Halsey)
Blue Jays (Miller) +280 over Angels (Escobar)
oh... and one favorite
Twins (Santana) -200 over Orioles (Bedard)
Money to date: $-1203 (picking dog/favorite = +417/-1620, 29-42, 23-25) - Not bad - 3 of 4 with only my liking of the Padres costing me $100 while the heavy favorites I picked each won, and the Rockies and Joe Kennedy won be $220 by beating Jason Schmidt for a nice $320 day.
Ichiro is at .379 and needs to go 54 for 103 (.524) to reach .400. He is having a truly amazing season and is an excellent reason to show up to cheer on the M's in September. Apparently, his second half is stellar enough that it is prompting some to think - hey, his stats are better than 2001 when he won the AL MVP, so shouldn't Ichiro be MVP in 2004? I see that Rob Neyer chimes in (paysite) about Ichiro as an MVP candidate.
I haven't read the article, but it seems ludicrous to me to have your league MVP come from a team that may lose 100 games. To me, the MVP discussion, while it is based in statistics, should be centered around the question, "where would the team be if that player was not there (replaced by a league-average player)?"
And you know where the M's would be without Ichiro? Heading for 100 losses. Even if they were worse off, no one would notice. Of course, attendance would be down another 20%, but the turnstile-turning award has already been given to Ichiro in the form of a long-term contract.
ARod has been a great player, but while with the Rangers, he should not have won the MVP, because his presence did not elevate the Rangers to, at the least, a competitive level. Actually, ARod is kind of a bizarre anti-MVP in that his departure seems to elevate teams.
The MVP doesn't need to go to the playoffs or win the World Series. But I think asking that more than half of his games be meaningful, is not asking too much. So, if you are one of those people who thinks Ichiro should be the 2004 MVP, stop. Its embarrassing.
Today's picks:
Some amazingly big odds today, so we'll go for them and root for the underdogs...
Mets (Seo) +245 over Marlins (Beckett)
Expos (Downs) +280 over Cubs (Maddux)
DBacks (Fossum) +300 over Dodgers (Perez)
Devil Rays (Bell) + 220 over Yankees (Halsey)
Blue Jays (Miller) +280 over Angels (Escobar)
oh... and one favorite
Twins (Santana) -200 over Orioles (Bedard)
Money to date: $-1203 (picking dog/favorite = +417/-1620, 29-42, 23-25) - Not bad - 3 of 4 with only my liking of the Padres costing me $100 while the heavy favorites I picked each won, and the Rockies and Joe Kennedy won be $220 by beating Jason Schmidt for a nice $320 day.
