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Winner:
Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees- The Yankees outfielder has had a year even he could not foresee. He worked with hitting coach Kevin Long in the offseason to help him not only hit lefties but hit for more power. With 37 homeruns, 111 run batted in, 10 triples, 22 doubles and 128 runs scored that hard work paid off. Granderson has to keep that average above .270 or his other numbers won't be able to offset them. However Long says in an interview on the YES Network if he had to choose he would rather have a player who hits for a bunch of homeruns than for a higher average.
Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox- Gonzalez's season did not get off to a good start. After the first month in Boston he was hitting below .250 and had 1 homerun with 10 rbi's. That all changed when he started hitting the Red Sox also took off as well. The team after getting off to a horrible start went on a torrid pace which saw them take the lead in the AL East. Gonzalez is hitting over .300 with 26 homeruns, 111 runs batted in with 103 runs scored.
Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers- The dominant hitter for the Tigers has kept up is hitting all season. He has been overshadowed by his teammate Justin Verlander who seems to put on a show everytime he takes the mound. Cabrera won't win but his season is still pretty good.
Dark Horse:
Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers- As I stated earlier this week for AL Cy Yong Verlander has been a one man wrecking crew. Everytime he takes the ball something magical is bound to happen. Verlander is on pace to have three to four more starts this season. If he can win all of those starts he would have a very good shot at getting votes for MVP. However I feel that pitchers should not win the MVP not only because position players can't win pitching awards but a pitcher's season must go above and beyond those of players they are competing with. I think a pitcher must have close to thirty wins, an era under 2.00 and so on. I say this because starting pitchers or relievers will appear in 35-80 games in a season. That is 1/4 or 1/2 of the playing time an everyday player gets and the numbers and value do not add up.
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