Manny Ramirez might not get it

The Manny Being Manny show forced its way out of Boston last season in an effort to leverage another $100 million contract out of some poor team stupid enough to shell out that kind of dough. Manny Being Manny held up his end of the bargain by proving a motivated Ramirez could terrorize pitchers to the tune of a .396 average with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in a 53 game push to the playoffs. Not taken into account was poor economic policy from the previous presidential administration that pushed the country into a deep economic crisis. While the Yankees were seemingly immune, they had no interest in an additional prima donna $100 million player. With the burned bridges in Boston and the Mets ownership struck down by Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Ramirez found himself without any big moneyed suitors. The Dodgers desperately need Manny Being Manny back but are unwilling to negotiate against themselves to drive up the price. That means they are standing firm on their piddly 2 year, $45 million contract, or less money than Ramirez would have earned by staying with Boston. All in all it is likely that had the economy not tanked, Ramirez's power move would have paid off in a big way. But this is the world we live in and that's not just the best offer on the table, it's the ONLY offer on the table. So Manny Being Manny, of course, rejected it. Kudos Mr. Ramirez. I hate working too, but it sure pays a lot better than not working. Ideally he wouldn't need the money coming off his $160 million deal with Boston, but he's not going to set too many home run records sitting on his ass eating Cheetos.

Thoughts on the MVP race

I'm all hopped up on caffeine and hate, so I figured I'd throw my thoughts out there about the NL MVP race. Various names have been tossed out there as to who is the most deserving candidate. There is only one player who should win, but we'll get to that in a little bit.

First up, the midseason pickup candidates:

1. CC Sabathia. This guy has been an absolute monster for Milwaukee and is instrumental for their success in the latter part of this season. The argument against him? Johan Santana. Turns out one pitcher can only do so much, as Johan sports a record of merely 14-7 but has arguably been the third best pitcher in the National League this year behind Brandon Webb and Tim Lincecum.

2. Manny Ramirez. His inclusion in this race fills me with hate. He was, without exaggeration, the LEAST valuable player in the entire American League this year. His impressive offensive numbers aside, this is a man who despite his contributions actually HURT his old team offensively. If you have that kind of free time, you can do the research and find that the Red Sox's offensive output went up more losing Manny than the Dodgers' did by getting him. That is the kind of information you want to hear about your MVP?

Next up, the late-season surge candidates:

3. Carlos Delgado. There was talk earlier in the year of turning Delgado into a full time platoon player, if not cutting him outright. You just cannot award the MVP to a man who was nearly out of a job earlier this season due to his own incompetence. Not to mention on his own team Delgado ranks somewhere behind Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and possibly even Johan Santana.

4. Ryan Howard. This guy was terrible early in the year. Just awful. All the talk is "Howard has put the Phillies on his back and is carrying them on their late season charge to the playoffs." What no one seems to be saying is "If only Howard had been hitting at least as well as Carlos Delgado the Phillies would have clinched the division 3 weeks ago." That earns a hearty thumbs down from this guy.

The only real deserving candidate:

5. Albert Pujols. This guy almost single-handedly kept a less talented St Louis team in contetion far longer than they had any right to expect. His offensive numbers are right up there with the other guys, and he's also a premier defensive first baseman. Of candidates 1-4, only Sabathia's fielding could be rated higher than atrocious. Oh yeah, this is a guy who might need Tommy John surgery this offseason. The argument against Pujols seems to be the Cardinals are currently in 4th place in the NL Central. To that I say based on my own awesomely awesome observations, here are the approximate dates each of the other three contenders' teams would have clinched division if you traded their MVP candidate straight up for Albert Pujols:
New York Mets - September 29th. Having Pujols would just have given the bullpen larger leads to blow. He would have clinched the unanimous MVP the last day of the season when he hit 3 home runs to give the Mets the lead then took the ball to pitch the 8th and 9th innings.
Philadelphia Phillies - September 15th. The Mets would have been so far behind by the time they fired Willie that Delgado would have been cut and they'd be trying out rookies at every position except center field, shortstop, and third base.
LA Dodgers - June 27th. Seriously that division would have been wrapped up the All Star break. The NL West was absolute garbage this year.