MARCH TO THE SEA: Bonds for MVP

Brenda Lee, you simple simpleton. Albert Pujols, MVP? Over Barry Bonds? Pujols may be 16 years younger and the chic pick, but the award is given to the most valuable player. No one is more valuable than Bonds, to any team—possibly in the history of Major League Baseball.

Now, I’m going to throw a lot of baseball terminology at you, Brenda. Being “cute” or having a pretty uniform hasn’t factored into my thinking. So, if that’s why you picked Pujols, I guess I don’t have much of an argument. But, I’ll proceed

Let’s take a look at the key statistics. Pujols has a .363 batting average. He has 43 home runs and 124 RBIs. He has 207 hits and 49 doubles. He’s is the top three in the National League in hits, runs, RBIs, home runs, doubles, slugging percentage, on base percentage and batting average. MVP numbers? No question—in most years.

But unfortunately for Mr. Pujols, he plays in the National League. If Pujols were in the American League, he’d win this award, hands down. But Barry Bonds has single-handedly transformed the Giants into the best team in the major leagues this season. He’s had no offensive help whatsoever, and yet, the Giants have managed to win 95 games. They’re a whopping 13 games ahead of the Dodgers in the West.

The Cards are 81-76 and need a miracle to make the playoffs. But Pujols has Matt Morris, Woody Williams, Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria and Jason Isringhausen on his team. Any of those players would qualify as the third best player on the Giants.

Bonds is hitting .340, with 44 home runs and 88 RBIs. 88 RBIs? How could he win MVP, Brenda Lee asks. He’s only got 127 hits! He has 21 doubles! Well, Brenda Lee, read Moneyball. Billy Beane will tell you. Normal baseball statistics don’t always tell you the entire story. To see Barry’s true worth, you’ve got to look at walks.

Bonds has been walked 147 times thus far this season. His OBP is .530, almost 80 points higher than that of Mr. Pujols. It’s kinda hard to pile up the RBIs when pitchers are too scared to pitch to you. That’s what happens when you’re far and away the best hitter in baseball.

It’s also rather difficult to rack up the ribbies when the starters in your line-up are as follows: Eric Young/Ray Durham, Jose Cruz, J.T. Snow, Pedro Feliz, Neifi Perez, Marquis Grissom and Benito Santiago.

Oh My Lord! This team won 95 games?!

Durham has only played in 103 games. Snow platoons with 72-year old Andres Galarraga. Feliz has an incredible .266 on base percentage (that’s insanely low). Grissom’s OBP, in a career year, is .320. Perez’s OBP? .289. And Benito might be older than Galaragga. When your players don’t get on base, it ain’t easy to drive them in.

You think pitching is carrying this club? Guess again. Jason Schmidt has been outstanding, yes. But after that, the staff is filled with question marks. Kirk Rueter and Jesse Foppert? Sidney Ponson has been average since being traded. Jerome Williams is the team’s only other credible starter—and if Williams is your No. 2 starter, you’ve got problems, even if you’ve got Albert Pujols on your team. But not Barry Bonds.

When Bonds left the team a few weeks ago to care for his now deceased father, the rest of the Giants were left to fend for themselves. The result? Absolute chaos. Three straight losses to the mediocre Montreal Expos. When Bonds game back, he immediately hit a home run—he was crying as he rounded third, still mourning his dad. And the Giants returned to winning.

Pujols has 200(!) more at-bats than Bonds this season. And Bonds still has more homers. If Bonds got 200 more chances to swing the bat, do you think Pujols would have a shot at the triple crown? As Fred Willard would say in A Mighty Wind, “I don’t think so!”

I argue that not only is Barry Bonds this season’s MVP, but he might be more valuable to this year’s Giants team than any other player in the history of baseball has been to their team. Babe Ruth always had loads of talent to rely on. Hank Aaron had Eddie Matthews. Pete Rose had Bench, Perez, Foster, etc. But Bonds has got diddley squat. He’s doing it all himself. Where’s Jeff Kent now? I thought so—without Bonds, he’s merely a good player.

When teams are forced to put Barry Bonds over half the team he comes to the plate, everyone else gets better pitches to hit. That’s why a team of misfits can win the NL West going away. And this guy’s 39 years old! And his last two seasons were even better than this one! Don’t penalize Bonds because he’s won five times before—he deserves No. 6 more than ever.

—Staff writer Alex M. Sherman can be reached at sherman@fas.harvard.edu.