Ladies and gentleman, I give you your MVP runnerup: Adrian Beltre

beltre, 3B
g - 125
eqa - .340

pujols, 1B
g - 124
eqa - .341

seems to me like beltre should have the higher VORP.

Well, it would figure to be. Even if most MVP winners are from one of the 8 playoff teams, odds of the player's team going on to get the trophy is roughly 1 in 8, given that most postseason series are a coin flip (or "fucking luck" as Mr Beane put it).

>seems to me like beltre should have the higher VORP

Pujols has nearly 40 more plate appearances.

no one will agree with me on this and he won't win, but it's gotta be sheffield in the AL.

Through Sunday, Shefffield is third in the AL in Adjusted Runs Above Position, trailing only Guillen and Mora (neither of whom will get support) and just ahead of Vlad.

Another way to look at it is that teams who rely on one player for most their offense rarely win it all.

edmonds .311/.426/.672, neutral park
beltre .338/.386/.652, pitcher's park

gotta figure defense is a wash/edge to edmonds. but jimmy doesn't have great clutch/risp numbers.

the trouble of course is that rolen and pujols still loom VERY large...but i'm moving back to undecided.

Edmonds would likely be my #2 at the moment.

VORP, Sept 1

Bonds 118.9
Pujols 82.2
Edmonds 78.5

"* In terms of EqA, the gap between Bonds and Beltre is bigger than the gap between Beltre and Cody Ransom. Hell, the gap between Bonds and Beltre about as big as the gap between Beltre and Neifarious."

If the Yanks win the division despite all those pitching injuries, I think Sheff will win (although Rivera probably deserved equal credit. In a way, they're the Bonds-Schmidt combo of the AL, or at least, that is how they will be perceived).

Last year Manny was also better when he played (he was injured for several weeks last season). But he's got this Albert Belle-esque rep as a "difficult" personality and a selfish player, which the voters hate. Whereas Ortiz has the opposite rep. I think Manny would need vastly superior numbers than any of his competitors to make up that difference in the voters' eyes, and that's just not true this season.

Albert Pujols 2
Adrian Beltre 3
Jim Edmonds 4
Todd Helton 5
Lance Berkman 6
Bobby Abreu 7
Scott Rolen 8
Mark Loretta 9
J.D. Drew 10

(therefore: NOT a dopey question dave r!)

((helton?))

[and i don't care what you say, rolen should totally have been #4 dude, you've been rash]

Beltre ($11.4M)
.244/.279/.361

Boone ($9M)
.234/.299/.378

Sexson ($6M)
.244/.353/.507

Beltre

Sexson

I was looking at Beltre's comps on Baseball Reference. As you probably know, there are always three lists: one based on who you'd match up with if your career were to end today, one that compares your numbers to other careers up to your current age (the most useful), and a third list that tracks season by season. Beltre's seasonal comps:

Age 20 -- Manny Machado (952)
Age 21 -- Ron Santo (954)
Age 22 -- Ron Santo (947)
Age 23 -- Ron Santo (976)
Age 24 -- Ron Santo (945)
Age 25 -- Ron Santo (965)
Age 26 -- Ron Santo (946)
Age 27 -- Ron Santo (930)
Age 28 -- Ron Santo (933)
Age 29 -- Ron Santo (918)
Age 30 -- Ruben Sierra (916)
Age 31 -- Ron Santo (909)
Age 32 -- Ron Santo (918)
Age 33 -- Ron Santo (921)
Age 34 -- Ron Santo (884)

That's pretty remarkable. No surprise that Beltre and Santo match up well over their careers, but I doubt that there have ever been two players in the entire history of baseball more in lockstep on a seasonal basis.

Example: even when you look at Ruth, where you're obviously drawing from an extremely limited group of similar players, you get a list that's Williams from age 26-33, a few years of Foxx after that, a few years of Bonds at the end, and Chuck Klein and Manny Ramirez and Will Clark (!--age 23) mixed in.

that's pretty fucking cool clemenza.

en fuego

35, 2519 hits, 387 HR. 3000 hits should be easy--the rest of this year, two more seasons and a bit. 500 HR will be tougher, but he has a pretty good chance to be the fifth 3000/500 guy (assuming A-Rod doesn't find a way to get those last 61 hits). Pujols and Cabrera would be next in line, although I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those guys break down physically first.

Nobody cares, I realize, but I'd love to see Beltre win the batting title. If his HOF chances are as close as most people think (again, I see him close to a cinch at this point), a batting title will definitely help. He's about five points behind right now.

Garrett Richards came into the Angels’ clubhouse proudly holding a piece of paper Saturday afternoon. Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre had sent him an invoice for $300 after Richards broke three of his bats Friday night.

It was a real invoice, like Beltre went to an office-supply store and bought a pack of them or something. “Cash only, no checks,” he wrote above his signature.

http://www.ocregister.com/angels/richards-659454-angels-came.html

beltre's got a BBR WAR right now of 5.4, thanks for a productive second half. pretty amazing player.

*thanks to

Another great game today. I've been tracking him the last while too. Since July 31: .326/.379/.539, 10 HR, 52 RBI.

http://deadspin.com/adrian-beltre-wont-stand-for-elvis-andruss-lollygagging-1772008206

<3 <3

In honor of Adrián Beltré retiring here’s a thread of all of his best, goofiest and most wonderful moments.

The dude was such a vehicle of baseball joy and we’ll all miss his antics.

— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) November 20, 2018

not complete without:
http://i.imgur.com/vv7x8lf.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtR9eU2U8AA8ck-.jpg:small

@GrantBrisbee Hello Grant, long time reader here. I just wanted to share this very important video with you where Adrian Beltre was shopping at JC Penny with his family and randomly appeared in a commercial where the person had no idea who he was. https://t.co/nkmxaMNHig

— Mark Sandritter (@MarkSandritter) January 24, 2019

Damn, he didn't even get a chryon