On the Mets beat

This is definitly a tough season to pick an MVP as there's no one that has stood out. But, since you're making me choose, I'll go with the following order:
1. Pujols
2. Beltran
3. Berkman
4. Soriano
5. Howard

Pujols and Beltran are at the top not just for their numbers, but they also play on winning teams. Berkman is having a surprisingly good season for Houston and is ranked pretty high on OPS and other stat categories. I like Soriano with his numbers, especially his steals, but he also hurts himself with all those strike outs. Howard, like Soriano, hurts himself with strike outs.

You have to factor defense into this too.

Howard plays awful defense at an easy position.

Pujols plays very good defense at an easy position.

Soriano (shockingly) plays above-average defense at a moderately tough position.

Beltran plays very good defense at a very tough position.

Wth that said,

1. Pujols
2. Beltran
3. Lance Berkman
4. Chase Utley
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Soriano
7. Howard

Howard is kinda like David Ortiz. He puts up gaudy HR and RBI numbers, but really doesn't do a ton else. And he's not even the best first baseman in the NL.

I'm the kinda person who feels that the MVP award is really the Best Player award. Voters should consider if the team is in first place or how "valuable" someone is to their team. I say it's Ryan Howard.

Umm, that last statement was a bit hypocritical. If we're supposed to be considering how "valuable" someone is to their team and whether or not that team is in first place, then Howard is actually not a great candidate, as the Phillies are still toiling games upon games back of our Mets. Yeah, he can smack the ball really far and that translates to high RBI numbers, but the guy isn't carrying his team to victory often enough.