St Louis Cardinals

Joe Mauer won his first career American League MVP in an almost unanimous decision today. 

Albert Pujols—barring some sort of disgusting error by the BBWAA—will win his second consecutive National League MVP trophy early tomorrow afternoon. 

Both players are phenomenal talents that played at the highest level throughout the season and were clearly the most valuable player in their respective league. 

Just take a look at the raw numbers for each player:

Pujols: .327/47/135/1.101 OPS

Mauer: .365/28/96/1.014 OPS

If Joe Mauer was a lock for the American League MVP, then Albert Pujols is a lock, deadbolt, and steel reinforced wall to win the National League honors.  

Mauer received 27 of 28 first-place votes, nearly taking the award unanimously, and I think Pujols will complete the clean sweep of the senior circuit. 

I lied in the headline.  Statistics are in fact, well, a fact.  But my point is that the way people use stats are opinionated.  I'll use the hotly debated Cy Young award as an example.

Here's a statement that is false:  "Stats are stats.  Lincecum's stats are just better. It's a fact."

Why is that false?  Well, the three pitchers are three different types of players.  Lincecum is dominant, Wainwright is a workhorse and Carpenter is just efficient. 

From Plato to Voltaire, the Republic has been the government of choice for intellectuals for millennia.

Dismissive of people’s ability to rule themselves, yet similarly wary of totalitarianism, they champion a government run exclusively by the most enlightened members of society.

The Baseball Writers Association of America has selected St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols as the 2009 National League Cy Young Award winner, according to a press release from Major League Baseball.

“This is an incredible honor,” said Pujols, who has not pitched a single inning in his illustrious 10-year professional career. “I am truly humbled.”

Also featured on Rotoprofessor.com !

Amidst all the excitement swirling around a possible Cy Young winner, the MVP-type season for Albert Pujols and the re-signing of Matt Holliday, the Cardinals’ individual success stories this season aren’t just related to their big-name players. There are some, like Colby Rasmus, who are trying to establish their own name in the major leagues.

It is most definitely not summer anymore. 

In fact, this weather is much like a lazy fly ball to St. Louis’ collective applebag, if our applebags were saturated with 14 inches of rain.

The two most pertinent issues to the Cardinals offseason have been publicly tabled by the team: Matt Holliday will not be negotiated with until he speaks with other teams first, and Mark McGwire will get his day of media faux-indignation and soapbox bloviating sometime before the Winter Warm-Up (supposedly.)

The Springfield Cardinals have promoted from within their community, a feature that not only builds a bond with their organization, but also reinforces relations with the fans.

Kim Inman, who has been a member of the Springfield community for the past 14 years, has joined the team as Vice President of Sales.

“The Cardinals are a strong part of this community and baseball has such great tradition,” Inman said. “I can’t wait to share my excitement and passion with all of our great fans and supporters.”

Introducing Mark McGwire Will Be Tricky

None of us are fans of harping on the past, but when the past collides with the present, well, then we have an issue.

It’s been four years now since Mark McGwire plopped down in a congressional hearing and stated that he was not there to “talk about the past,” but more specifically, his alleged steroid use and connection to the Steroid Era.

Gee, Mark, what do you think we’ve all gathered around here for?