The last time I had an NL MVP vote was 2007, when Jimmy Rollins edged Tulowitzki. I voted for Rollins No. 1 after he backed up his “team to beat” prognostication.

That’s some solid voting history, Rubin.

I like the investigation work that he does and I also love his emphasis on minor league players (though not always his analysis of them).

Chase Utley: 7.6
Ryan Howard: 4.8
Jayson Werth: 4.7
Raul Ibanez: 4.2
Cole Hamels: 3.8
-————————
Shane Victorino: 3.4

Cliff Lee had 2.4 WAR in 79.2 innings.

If you don’t like WAR, well Victorino is well behind the Philly pack in wOBA, too:

Chase Utley: .402
Ryan Howard: .393
Jayson Werth: .382
Raul Ibanez: .379
-————————
Shane Victorino: .354

And by UZR/150:

Chase Utley: 11.3
Raul Ibanez: 10.7
Jayson Werth: 6.1
Pedro Feliz: 5.0
Jimmy Rollins: 2.9
Ryan Howard: 1.2
-————————
Shane Victorino: -4.2

And even this year, the only complaints are past pick #1, since pretty much all the #1s were perfectly acceptable, if not dead on right. But Utley’s lack of MVP consideration is a little troubling, since of all the current Phillies, he’s the guy who looks like he’s going to deserve some HOF consideration after he retires. He might get in even if he never gets the MVP cred, since he passes the old “best player at his position over an extended period of time” sniff test, but it’d be a shame if he keeps doing what he’s been doing for a few more years and doesn’t make it in on the first ballot because he never won an MVP award and because Howard and Rollins were viewed as the “true leaders” of the 2007-09 quasi-dynasty the Phils have put together.

why do you care who gets the 2-10 slots on the ballot

for incompetence.
This is worse than Zobrist

to zobrist; verb – to overlook the superiority of a person or object based on misleading sensory or conversational factors. e.g. “My teacher totally zobristed me on that paper – I’d included all the points he asked for but I didn’t drone on about Grover Cleveland enough. He’s totally biased towards Cleveland. What’s worse is that Danny Dukowski got an A, and his prose style is terrible. He’s a total Victorino.”

If anyone has the most recent THT anual, check up the article on playoff probability added, and I’d bet that Ethier was one of the best this year.

What did Andre Ethier do that prompted even the slightest MVP consideration?

He hit like 4 walk-off homers. Clearly that’s more important than a seasons’ body of work.

Funny how the infamous press conferance had no lasting effect on anything, except the English language.

Where’s Adrian Gonzalez? Maybe ask the other 19 guys who didn’t put him on their ballots?

Why is Victorino 7th? Ask the other guy who put him there.

What did Andre Ethier do to warrant MVP consideration? Ask the other 23 guys who put him on their ballots, including the 2 guys who had him 2nd (actually maybe 1, I don’t recall Rubin’s ballot and the link isn’t working for me now)