Monday, September 24, 2007

Moises Alou for MVP

David Wright is a legitimate MVP candidate, but after further review I believe Moises Alou may be just as worthy. I had to laugh the other day that the Marlins walked Carlos Beltran to pitch to Moises Alou. Do they even watch the film tape or read scouting reports?

Let's ignore the fact that Alou has missed 3 months of the season, and I'll also ignore the fact that he's related to the horrific former Mets pitcher, Mel Rojas (they're cousins), but right now Moises Alou may very well be the best hitter in the Mets lineup.

Alou is batting .341 with a slugging percentage of .531. He's currently on a 27-game hitting streak, which is the longest in the National League this year (and a Mets record). Plus in just 78 games this year Alou has knotched 154 total bases with 41 RBIs.

So basically Alou has played half a season, but if he played an entire season at this same pace he'd have numbers that could include him in the MVP discussions.

Let's double Alou's production with the assumption that if he played an entire season he'd continue on this pace. Now let's compare Alou with the person who deserves to win MVP but won't, Matt Holliday.:

Average: Alou = .341; Holliday = .337
RBIs: Alou = 82; Holliday = 131
Total Bases: Alou = 308; Holliday = 371
Slugging: Alou = .531; Holliday = .609

Ok, so Alou doesn't have Holliday's power numbers, but few do. There's no telling what type of production Alou would have had if he remained healthy.

There's nothing we can do about that now, but be thankful he's healthy at the point in the season when we need him most.

2 comments:

Gordon said...

Just wanted to point out that a past Mets MVP - one Michael Piazza - is currently hitting .341 for September, is healthy again and continues to produce in clutch situations. All of it of course is just practice for next season as Oakland's year was sabotaged by injuries, but in case any Metslifer's were interested, the former catcher is alive, well and ready for a return to Queens once the National League adopts the DH.

Unknown said...

Gordon, that an excellent comment but it hurts at the same time. The Mets needed a right handed bat off the bench and could have easily gotten Piazza, but instead we have Jeff Conine.