(PhatzRadio Sports / USA Today Sports) —- If the Miami Marlins follow through on their apparent intentions to trade Giancarlo Stanton, they’ll have the rare distinction of dealing away a newly minted MVP.
Stanton earned the award in the National League on Thursday by only two points after a career season in which he belted 59 home runs, the highest total in the majors since 2001.
In the fourth-closest MVP race ever, Stanton received 10 of the 30 first-place votes and had 302 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. He edged out Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who also received 10 first-place votes but 300 points.
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt finished third with 239 points.
Finally free of the injuries that sidetracked him the last two years, Stanton put together the kind of monstrous season long envisioned of him. He batted .281 and set career highs in home runs and RBI, leading the majors with 132. Stanton also finished second in the league in on-base plus slugging percentage with a 1.007 mark and was a finalist for the Gold Glove in right field.
Mechanical adjustments that included closing his stance contributed to a staggering home run outburst for Stanton, whose blasts typically left little doubt they would leave the yard.
During a 48-game stretch from July 5-Aug. 29, Stanton banged out 30 homers to help the Marlins go 29-19 and briefly climb above .500. However, they went on a tailspin shortly after that and finished 77-85, well out of the playoff race.
A new ownership group headed by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter has since taken over and made it clear it plans to shed payroll, and Stanton’s contract – which calls for him to earn $295 million over the next 10 years – may be the starting point.
If so, the 28-year-old Stanton would join Alex Rodriguez as MVPs traded in the offseason when they won the award. The Texas Rangers sent Rodriguez and the remainder of his $252 million contract to the New York Yankees in February 2004, months after he claimed baseball’s top individual honor in the American League.
This year’s MVP race rekindled the longstanding debate over whether a player from a contending team is more worthy than an elite performer on an also-ran.
Goldschmidt, a runner-up for the third time in five years, was a major factor in the Diamondbacks improving by 24 wins and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2011. The five-time All-Star batted .297 with 36 homers, 120 RBI and a .966 OPS. In addition, Goldschmidt stole 18 bases and collected his third Gold Glove.
He looked like the favorite going into September, but batted just .171 in the final month – likely in part because of an elbow injury – while Stanton was following up his 18-homer August with another eight in September.
None of the top MVP candidates could claim more consistency than Votto, the OPS leader in the NL with a 1.032 mark. Previously dogged by charges that he was too picky at the plate and did not drive in enough runs, Votto led the league in walks for the fifth time but also hit 36 homers to go along with 100 RBI. He had an OPS above .875 in every month.
Like Stanton, though, Votto played for a losing team, as the Reds finished last in the NL Central at 68-94.
In Stanton’s case, the astonishing power display was enough to overcome the bias toward players on contending teams. Now he awaits to find out whether he’ll soon join one.
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Jose Altuve tops Aaron Judge for American League MVP Award
As a three-time batting champ and four-time American League hits leader, Jose Altuve long ago erased any concerns about his height. Now it’s his stature within the game that’s talked about.
On Thursday, the Houston Astros second baseman rose to baseball’s highest individual level when he was chosen as the AL MVP.
The 5-foot-6 Altuve was named on 27 of 30 first-place ballots to collect 405 points as he outdistanced New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge, who received two first-place votes for 279 points. Cleveland Indians infielder Jose Ramirez was third with 237 points.
Altuve, 27, was the catalyst of baseball’s most prolific offense, hitting a majors-best .346 with 24 homers, 81 RBI, 32 steals and a .957 on-base plus slugging percentage.
He became the first AL player to win a World Series and MVP award in the same year since the Detroit Tigers’ Willie Hernandez in 1984.
A native of Venezuela, Altuve was one of four Houston players remaining from the 2013 team that lost 111 games. As such, he brought a desire for constant improvement to the Astros, who rampaged to the AL West crown, came from behind to beat the Yankees in the AL Championship Series and outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers in a memorable World Series to claim the first championship in franchise history.
In a season when Judge put up spectacular power numbers but endured several peaks and valleys, Altuve remained a picture of consistency, batting .347 in the first half and .344 in the second. He hit at least .298 with an .850 OPS in every month and went on a stunning tear in July, batting .485 for the month.
Altuve paired up with emerging superstar Carlos Correa to become the only keystone combo in the big leagues featuring both players with an OPS above .900. In the 40 games Correa missed in the second half with a thumb injury, Altuve batted .384 with a 1.015 OPS.
“Everything Altuve is about makes an MVP,’’ Astros manager A.J. Hinch said late in the season. “His strength, his consistency, his dominance in a lot of aspects of the game. He really embodies what an MVP is.’’
Not that Judge, who stands 13 inches taller, didn’t have a strong case of his own.
The unanimous AL rookie of the year led the league with 52 home runs and finished second in RBI with 114 and OPS at 1.049, which was 92 points higher than Altuve’s third-place mark. Displaying the grace and poise of former Yankees icon Derek Jeter, Judge quickly won over fans not just in New York but nationwide as he pounded titanic home runs at record pace.
Judge had 30 by the All-Star break, won the Home Run Derby, then fell into a deep slump that saw him bat .179 over the next 44 games and served as a reminder he was still a rookie.
A big September that included 15 home runs and helped power the Yankees to a wild-card spot rekindled Judge’s MVP candidacy, but not enough to match Altuve’s all-around greatness.
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MANAGERS OF THE YEAR
In his first year as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Torey Lovullo lifted the franchise from a 69-win season in 2016 to 93, third most in the National League, and a postseason appearance in 2017.
For his accomplishments, Lovullo was named the NL’s Manager of the Year, the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America announced on Tuesday.
In the American League, Paul Molitor, a finalist for the award for the second time in three years, led the Minnesota Twins to a surprise run to the AL Wild Card Game to win his first Manager of the Year award.
Molitor received 18 of 30 first-place votes and 111 total points. Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians received 11 first place votes and A.J. Hinch of the Houston Astros received one to finish second and third, respectively.
Lovullo received 18 of 30 first-place votes and 111 total points. Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers received five first place votes and Bud Black of the Colorado Rockies received three to finish second and third, respectively.
Under Lovullo, the D’backs finished second in the NL West with a 93-69 record to earn a wild card berth. They beat the Rockies in the wild-card game and advanced to the NL Division Series, where they were swept by the eventual NL champion Dodgers.
The players credit Lovullo’s success by helping create a good clubhouse culture and the ability to communicate freely.
Lovullo, 52, became the third Diamondbacks manager to win the award, following Bob Melvin (2007) and Kirk Gibson (2011).
The Twins, with the ninth lowest payroll in the majors, turned a 103-loss season in 2016 to an 85-win year — an MLB-high 26-game improvement. In doing so, the Twins became the first club to go from losing 100 games to making the postseason the next year.
In a mid-season twist, the Twins became sellers at the July 31 trading deadline after going 50-53. But after winning 20 games in August, Molitor led the Twins to the second wild card berth.
Molitor, a Hall of Famer, and the Twins lost to the New York Yankees 8-4 in the wild card game.