My MVP Ballots

The AL MVP Ballot:
1. Josh Hamilton
2. Evan Longoria
3. Robinson Cano
4. Adrian Beltre
5. Carl Crawford
6. Felix Hernandez
7. Jose Bautista
8. Miguel Cabrera
9. CC Sabathia
10. Francisco Liriano

Thoughts:

I know Hamilton missed basically the last month of the season, but I think the stats prove he had the best year, and Texas had already sealed up the division by the time he went down. I'm also a fan of players who prove value both with offense and defense, which is why Jose Bautista and Miguel Cabrera are lower than their hitting stats would indicate they should be. It is a shame that Justin Morneau couldn't stay healthy, or he would have been quite high on this list. I have no problem with putting pitchers up for MVP, but even with the season Hernandez had I couldn't put him higher than 6th. Cliff Lee would have made this list if he had played on one team the entire season, but I felt that since his impact was split over two teams, it made him less valuable. If you disagree about pitchers being on the ballot, the hitters left off were Shin-Soo Choo, Joe Mauer, and Ichiro.

The NL MVP Ballot:
1. Joey Votto
2. Albert Pujols
3. Ryan Zimmerman
4. Roy Halladay
5. Matt Holiday
6. Troy Tulowitzki
7. Adrian Gonzalez
8. Carlos Gonzalez
9. Adam Wainwright
10. Andres Torres

Thoughts:

Joey Votto's team made the playoffs, which pushed him over Pujols and Zimmerman. That being said, if I had to select a position player from the NL to start a team with, I'm choosing Pujols and Zimmerman over Votto (and maybe Tulowitzki too). Andres Torres, besides having a deserving season, got bonus points to edge himself into 10th by salvaging CF for the Giants when they had put so much undeserved money into Aaron Rowand which allowed them to make the playoffs. Also, there are three Cardinals on my MVP ballot, and yet they didn't make the playoffs. It just shows how much of a team game baseball truly is. The hitters left off for the two pitchers were Rickie Weeks and Kelly Johnson.