MLB Midseason Award Winners: MVP - MLB

There was no baseball yesterday. There is no baseball today. There will be baseball tomorrow, but not until 7:05 PM, so it’s basically three days without anyone throwing a pitch in anger. Let’s kill the time, then, by arguing about who, if the season ended today, would be your award winners. First up: the MVP Award.

AL MVP

Until May 28 this was Mike Trout‘s award to lose, as he was hitting a monster .337/.461/.742 and, once again, playing superior defense in center field. Heck, if there was justice in the world it’d be his fourth or fifth MVP award. Some people argue six. I mean, he’s the best player in baseball, full stop, so they’re not silly arguments. Injuries happen, however, and if Trout’s wrist injury is going to prevent him from winning the actual MVP Award come November — and I suspect it is, barring a historic second half run that propels the Angels into serious contention — he’s certainly out of the running for the first half award.

It’s hard to argue in favor of anyone other than Aaron Judge here. He leads all of baseball with 30 homers, leads all of baseball in on-base and slugging percentage, is fifth in batting average and seventh in RBI. In just the American League he’s near the top in all three triple crown categories, trailing Nelson Cruz by a handful of RBI and Jose Altuve by 18 points of batting average. I doubt he seriously challenges for the Triple Crown — Altuve is the best hitter-for-average on the planet these days — but it’s a monster season all the same. If you want to throw in the intangible stuff, the Yankees have been relevant all season, defying expectations of a down year, at least until the past couple of weeks. That’s largely on Judge’s shoulders and he’ll get — and deserve — credit for that.

With a nod of respect to Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Mookie Betts and perhaps Chris Sale, there’s not a serious answer other than The Judge.

NL MVP

A much more interesting race here as there are an easy half dozen dudes who could win it without anyone having a right to get too upset. Joey Votto (.315/.427/.631), Paul Goldschmidt (.312/.428/.577), Bryce Harper (.325/.431/.590) and Justin Turner (.377/.473/.583) are all strong candidates. Votto leads Harper and Goldschmidt in OPS, but not by a ton. Turner is having a phenomenal year, though he is jusssst short of having enough plate appearances to qualify among the league leaders). If you want to throw in the soft factors, Turner is playing for the best team in the NL, Harper’s Nats are running away with the East and the the Diamondbacks have been surprisingly competitive.

But they’re not the only ones worth discussing! Corey Seager and Daniel Murphy, each top-three MVP finishers last year, are having strong seasons. Harper’s other teammates, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon, are turning fantastic campaigns. Nolan Arenado has been flashing gold glove defense to go along with his .905 OPS. Both Max Scherzer — yet another Nat? Jeez! — and Clayton Kershaw are having wonderful years that, in the ordinary course, would thrust a pitcher into the MVP conversation.

There aren’t many wrong answers here. If Turner keeps up his phenomenal pace and breaks into the qualifiers he’s probably the best pick for the full-season MVP. That’s a big if, so let’s just revisit him in November. At the half season mark I’m gonna go with Harper, but my lord, it’s a tossup. You can’t go wrong with any of these guys.

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YOKOHAMA, Japan – Trevor Bauer apparently was shunned by every major league team, so he’s signed a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Before about 75 reporters in a Yokohama hotel, he slipped on the BayStars uniform – No. 96 – on Friday and said all the right things. Not a single Japanese reporter asked him about his suspension in the United States over domestic violence allegations or the reasons surrounding it.

The only question about it came from The Associated Press. Bauer disputed the fact the question suggested he was suspended from the major leagues.

“I don’t believe that’s accurate,” he said of the suspension. “But I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to pitch again. I’ve always wanted to play in Japan.”

He said the suspension dealt technically with matters of pay, and he said he had contacted major league teams about playing this year. He said he would have been eligible, but did not say if he had offers.

The 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Jan. 12, three weeks after an arbitrator reduced his suspension imposed by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games.

The penalty followed an investigation into domestic violence, which the pitcher has denied.

Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021.

Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual. He was never charged with a crime.

Bauer joined his hometown Dodgers before the 2021 season and was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being placed on paid leave.

Bauer said his goal with the BayStars was to strike out 200 and keep his average fastball velocity at 96 mph – hence his uniform number. He said he is also working on a better change-up pitch.

He said he hoped to play by mid-April – about two weeks after the Japanese season begins – and said he has been training for the last 1 1/2 years.

“I’ve been doing a lot of strength training and throwing,” he said. “I didn’t really take any time off. So I’ve had a year and a half of development time. I’m stronger than ever. More powerful than ever.”

Yokohama has not won a title in 25 years, and Bauer said that was his goal in the one-year deal.

“First and foremost, I want to help the Stars win a championship,” he said. “That involves pitching well. That involves helping teammates and learning from them. If they have questions – you know – share my knowledge with them.”

He also repeated several times about his desire to play in Japan, dating from a collegiate tournament in 2009 at the Tokyo Dome. He said playing in Japan was on his mind even before winning the Cy Young – and also immediately after.

“The Tokyo Dome was sold out,” he said. “I’d never played in front of that many people – probably combined in my life. In the United States, college games aren’t very big, so seeing that amount of passion. How many people came to a college game in Japan. It really struck me.”

He said he’d been practicing with the Japanese ball, which he said was slightly softer with higher seams.

“But overall it just feels like a baseball and the pitches move the same. The velocity is similar. I don’t notice much of a difference.”

Other teams in Japan have made similar controversial signings before.

Former major league reliever Roberto Osuna – who received a 75-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy – signed last season with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

He has signed for this season with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

In 1987, Dodgers relief pitcher Steve Howe, who had a career plagued with drug problems, tried to sign with the Seibu Lions. But he did not play in the country after the Japanese baseball commissioner disqualified Howe because of his history of drug abuse.

Bauer was an All-Star in 2018 and went 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 seasons for Arizona (2012), Cleveland, (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and the Dodgers. He won the NL Cy Young Award with Cincinnati during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.