The Ticket Chest

MLB Most Valuable Players: Albert Pujols & Joe Mauer

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | General, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals | No Comments

Albert Pujols is your National League Most Valuable Player MVP and Joe Mauer is your American League Most Valuable Player MVP for the 2009 MLB schedule.

Albert Pujols was the unanimous MVP for the National League.  Pujols received all 32 1st place votes and totaled an amazing 448 points.  Pujols was a back-to-back MVP Award winner and it was his 3rd overall (he also won the award back in 2005).  Pujols became the 1st player to win back-to-back seasons since Barry Bonds did so in 2002-3.

His numbers made it pretty easy – 47 HR’s; 124 runs; .658 slugging percentage and 44 intentional walks – all tops in the major leagues.  Pujols led the National League with a .443 on-base percentage; he was 2nd with 45 doubles and he was 3rd with a .327 batting average and 135 RBI’s.  WOW!  He also set a major league record for 1st baseman with 185 assists.

Career-wise, Pujols became the 4th player to win 3 NL MVP’s – Bonds, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt are the other 3 players to do so.  He is also the 2nd player to rack up at least 100 RBI’s in each of his 1st nine MLB seasons – Hall of Famer Al Simmons was the 1st to do it and he made it 11 in a row.  No reason to think Pujols won’t break that record barring an injury.

Pujols received a $200,000 bonus for winning the award.  He is under contract with the Cardinals for $16 million in 2010 and the Cardinals hold a club option over Pujols for $16 million for the 2011 MLB season.

Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins received 27 of 28 1st place votes and racked up 387 total points.  Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers picked up the other 1st place vote.

Mauer’s .365 batting average was a major league record for catchers.  It also helped him win his 3rd batting title and 2nd in a row – the 1st repeat batting champion since Nomar Garciaparra did so back in 1999-2000.  He also led the American League with a .444 on-base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage.  His 28 HR’s and 96 RBI’s were career highs and he racked up 76 walks with only 75 K’s.  The numbers are even more impressive given the fact that he missed the entire month of April with a back injury and that the Twins were without Mauer’s next-best hitter in the lineup – Justin Mourneau – from September 12th on.  Mauer had this to say about winning: “I love catching. I love the demands that are put on me and the responsibilities that I have, although it might beat you up a little bit physically and mentally.  I like being back there making those decisions, you know, for my team.”

Mauer received a $100,000 bonus for winning the AL MVP Award.

Damn – wish my team had one of these guys on it…

Tags: Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Joe Mauer, Mike Schmitt, Stan Musial

Bonds has the law on his side

Saturday, February 28th, 2009 | Barry Bonds, MLB | No Comments

Barry Bonds crazy trail for perjury has taken yet another turn. The trail faces a long delay for an appeal and is on indefinite hold. The government announced Friday its intention to appeal pretrial rulings that would keep out pieces of evidence, bringing the case to a halt. Many legal experts believe the delay will last many months or longer. The appeal comes from rulings judge Susan Illston made just eight days ago when she ordered that the government would be precluded from using three positive tests indicating Bonds used two kinds of steroids in 2000 and 2001. Barry Bonds attorneys issued a joint statement that read “Barry Bonds is innocent. Rather then present the evidence to an impartial judge and jury, the government has chosen to appeal Judge Illston’s correct and well-reasoned order.” The judge told the government the only way the evidence would be allowed in was if Bonds trainer would testify. Bonds personal trainer has always refused to testify despite a subpoena, he already spent 13 months in jail for refusal to testify against Bonds.

Tags: Barry Bonds

More roids for Bonds

Thursday, January 29th, 2009 | Barry Bonds, MLB | No Comments

Barry Bonds perjury trial has not started yet, but its not looking good for him. ESPN announced today that the Feds have an urine sample that links Bonds to anabolic steroids. In 2003 Bonds testified to a grand jury that he did use the “cream” and the “clear” but he did not know that they were performance-enhancing. With the urine samples this could prove he used other steroids. When Bonds testified he was asked if he ever took steroids, he answered no. The government is saying he lied under oath and his perjury trial is scheduled to begin March 2.

Federal agents raided the home of mother-in-law of personal trainer Greg Anderson, he was Bonds’ trainer. She is the target of a tax investigation and Anderson’s lawyer is saying they are trying to pressure Greg to testify at Bonds’ upcoming trial. Mark Gergos, the lawyer for Anderson, said he believes the raid on Wednesday is in response to his refusal to tell prosecutors whether Anderson would testify. “They trashed the place and took all kinds of stuff,” he said. “The execution was illegal and a grotesque example of bullying.”

Bonds who hit 762 home runs and beat Hank Aaron record has not officially announced if he will return to baseball. Back in Dec he did say that he was not sure if he wanted to retire. This could be harder then Bonds thinks since there are no teams willing to offer him a deal right now. I’m sure the fact that he could go to jail is not helping him.

Update: Looks like Bobby Estalella is going to provide significant testimony to support the governments contention that Barry Bonds knowingly took steroids. According to ESPN two sources have confirmed that Estalealla has been subpoenaed to testify. Estalella is expected to testify he has first-hand knowledge about bond’s steroid use.

Tags: Barry Bonds