I wrote the article below a few months back as part of my application to Bleacher Report. I predicted that Troy Tulowitzki and Adrian Gonzalez would win their league's respective MVP awards. The Boston Red Sox have gotten off to a horrid start, but it's still April.
Are my points still valid? What new factors support or contest my AL MVP prediction? You be the judge.
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Adrian Gonzalez will be the best player on the best team in the American League in 2011. Known for hitting an incredible amount of fly balls to left field, Gonzalez was born to play in Fenway Park.
As a San Diego Padre, Gonzalez was virtually a one-man wrecking crew.
Pitchers knew about him and game planned for him, but he still amassed at least 30 HRs and 100 RBIs in each of the past four seasons playing in the plantation that is PETCO Park. (All right, fine, he only got 99 RBIs in 2009, but can we cut him some slack?)
When pitchers weren’t giving up tape-measure shots to Gonzalez, they were allowing him on base at a rate of 40 percent over the past two seasons.
The 2010 Padres’ terrifying lineup (sense the sarcasm sarcasm?) of Miguel Tejada, Chase Headley and Ryan Ludwick were challenged by pitchers instead of Gonzalez.
I doubt that opposing pitchers will be able to throw around him so easily now that he bats alongside Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Carl Crawford.
Finally, if you’re not convinced of my prediction yet, you will be now: He gets to bat in the AL East. That’s right, the AL East has gone from a powerhouse of dominant pitching to a top-heavy group of pitchers that resembles the Seattle Mariners' pitching staff, i.e., one ace and a bunch of nothings.
Indeed, I count two scary pitchers that Gonzalez will regularly bat against this season in the AL East: C.C. Sabathia and David Price, and even Price is a little iffy after only one good season thus far.
Adrian Gonzalez will feast upon his foes’ hanging curveballs, launching rockets out of Boston that might just fly all the way back to his home in San Diego.
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