But he isn't as valuable, at least not in 2010.
Joey Votto took home the NL MVP today, after a season where he hit .324 with 37 homers and 113 RBIs. He also led the NL in slugging percentage (.600) and on base percentage (.424), which have become the recent trend to look at for those pundits that love numbers, and the measurement of how good a player is.
At the end of the day, Votto was only slightly better than Pujols in some categories, and Pujols slightly better than Votto in other categories. No doubt the fact that Votto hit better in the clutch than Albert played a factor in the decision, but also that the Reds pulled away from the Cardinals in the division. And, while the Cardinals slumped, Pujols disappeared.
Votto won because of something that was unquantifiable. He was the most important player, with the biggest impact on the field every night, for any of the four teams that made the playoffs in the National League. It's not that he was better than some guys, though he certainly was. It's that the Reds would not have been where they were without him. We saw that last year, when he missed a month while struggling with depression. The Reds collapsed during that stretch, after having been over .500 for the first two months.
And everyone that voted clearly saw how important Votto was. That's why he got 31 of the 32 first place votes, leaving Albert in the dust, and in second place, just like his team.
Now, Joey Votto will forever be remembered as a legend in Cincinnati. He joins Ernie Lombardi (1938), Bucky Walters (1939), Frank McCormick (1940), Frank Robinson (1961), Johnny Bench (1970 and 1972), Pete Rose (1973), Joe Morgan (1975 and 1976), George Foster (1977), and Barry Larkin (1995) as an MVP winner in a Reds uniform.
And in twenty years or so, it will be we who are speaking to our children about what a great player we saw with the Reds. And how valuable Joey really is to this team.
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