PN Roundtable: Regular Season MVP
This is the Phillies Nation Roundtable. Earlier today, each of the PN writers gave their thoughts on the upcoming series and whether or not it was favorable to the Phillies. In this second roundtable for today, everyone chimes in on who they think was the star of stars this year for the Phils. Keep it here for everything playoffs related. Tomorrow we’ll have an in-depth breakdown of the series.
Question: The Phillies wrapped up the regular season yesterday, finishing 97-65. Who was the Phils regular season MVP?
Michael Baumann: The Phillies have made seven World Series, and each time rode at least one outstanding pitching performance (Alexander in 1915, Konstanty and Roberts in 1950, Carlton in 1980, Denny in 1983, Schilling in 1993, Hamels in 2008, and Lee in 2009). This year ought to be much the same.
With three of the team’s four best position players spending large portions of the year on the DL, the team MVP might as well go to a pitcher, and that pitcher might as well be Roy Halladay. He led the league in wins, K/BB ratio, complete games, shutouts, and innings pitched, and was the focal point of a season of heightened expectations and results all year long. Doc also posted a team-high 6.9 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, tying the second-highest total of his career.
Second place goes to Jayson Werth, who 1) played 156 games, no small feat considering how much downtime the rest of the team’s big bats did and 2) through all the bitching and moaning about his clutch performance, hit .296 with 46 doubles (a total that led the NL) and a team-high .921 OPS. Third place goes to Carlos Ruiz, who led the team in batting average and OBP, delivered in big situations and quietly finished with a higher OPS and more WAR than Chase Utley. Not enough has been said about the great season Chooch has had, but he’s been a stalwart in all aspects of the game.
Paul Boye: The answer for the Phillies’ most valuable player is almost too obvious. It’s Roy Halladay. The man pitched more than 250 innings (first since Curt Schilling in 1998), compiled a boatload of victories, and posted a 2.44 ERA with a 165 ERA+ (the first Philly starter to do that since Steve Carlton in 1980). Really, Doc has been near invaluable. His late-season scuffles notwithstanding, and especially in the face of all the injuries this team weathered, Doc Halladay has easily been the most valuable Philly in 2010.
Honorable mention: Jayson Werth. The impending free agent had a monstrous season. He’s the 10th Philly since 1901 to hit 45+ doubles and the 14th to accumulate 75+ extra-base hits, all while providing a stabilizing, right-handed force in the middle of a lefty-dominated lineup, while also playing a steady (if slightly awkward at times) right field. Werth’s walk year has been awfully impressive. And hey, even Derek Jeter had a tough year with two out and runners in scoring position once. It happens, and it shouldn’t detract from Werth’s fabulous year. His contributions shouldn’t be minimized.
Amanda Orr: Roy Halladay. Every five days is win day. He gave the Phillies a solid 250 innings. Complete Games. Shutouts. Perfect game. How can he not be the team MVP?
Second: Jayson Werth; Third: Ryan Howard.
Kieran Carobine: It has definitely been an exciting season this year for the Phillies. It seems like every other day there was a different player on the DL or nursing some kind of ailment. And most of the time, this was true. However, one of the few constants for the Phillies was the pitching of Roy Halladay. Halladay was exactly what they advertised. He finished the season leading the league in innings pitched, complete games and shutouts.
Dishing out offseason awards is always fun. And if the baseball writers get it right, you will see Roy Halladay’s name not only as Phillies’ MVP but quite possibly league MVP and NL Cy Young. The numbers he has put together and what he has meant to this Phillies team are unmatchable. In 33 starts, he struck out 219 batters, walked only 30, finish third in ERA while winning 21 games. Personally, I think the best of ole Roy is still to come. Halladay is finally going to be pitching in the playoffs and it is only going to get funner here on out.
Other Phillies players deserving on the team MVP would be Ryan Howard, Brad Lidge and/or Carlos Ruiz.
Pat Gallen: I’ll be different, just for the sake of it. I’m voting for my boy Carlos Ruiz. He was the pulse of the offense for most of the season due to his extraordinary efforts with runners on base and his penchant for the clutch hit. Chooch also has a rapport with the pitchers that goes beyond statistics. He also led the team with a .302 average and on the offensive side of things, Ruiz is my MVP. He hasn’t hit 30+ homers like Howard or been a multi-threat like Werth, but without him, things would certainly be different.
Roy Halladay will come in a close second, since he’s going to win a Cy Young Award – he doesn’t need this fake award anyway. Halladay was incredible and without him, the bullpen would have been gassed coming into the postseason. The Phillies haven’t had a weapon like Doc since Steve Carlton.
Third, I’ll go with Cole Hamels. People were pining for the Hamels of 2008 and it just so happens that guy returned. He gave the Phillies a potent one-two punch with Halladay until Oswalt showed up, and Hamels did some of his best work late in the season.
