Yesterday, Carlos Delgado had two hits, including a game-changing two-run home run in the eighth inning.
Delgado, speaking to reporters about September and the Pennant Race, following yesterday’s game, said:
“I think this is a big win…We came back, we battled and got a huge win.”
In his last 30 plate appearances, spanning seven games, Delgado has eight hits, five of which were home runs, all of which were hit after the seventh inning.
This past weekend, I noticed a lot of fans and talk radio discussing whether Delgado has pushed himself in to talk for the NL MVP Award. I suppose that is fair, especially if the Mets end up winning the division, as there could certainly be a direct connection between the team’s resurgence and his.
The thing is, I could make that argument for a lot of people, such as Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, Jerry Manuel and others.
That said, if any one on the Mets is to be talked about as an MVP, I still feel it should be Reyes.
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Wright should learn a lesson from Delgado on how to be clutch.
Wright will hold true to form:
Career in September
.324 avg
1.024 ops
thrives in clutch.
I hope your right. We could use an encore of those stats. He just seems pressed at the plate as if hes trying to hit a HR every time out.
It’s just a little funk where he’s trying to pull everything.
He’ll adjust.
I hope it’s a technical glitch in his swing.
But I fear he’s having trouble with his lady/ladies.
If he’s not having trouble with them yet, he soon will be if he keeps hitting like this.
loll…..
They might turn to gado
but wrights girl is hott!
his average and ops do not describe situations where they need him to deliver just because the calendar said September.
Keep carrying us, big man. All the way to October….
M-V-P
Am I the only one who realizes that if he finishes near the top in MVP voting, which it looks like he will, barring a meltdown in sept. that his option will automatically vest? Is Delgado playing for his job? For 16 million? That’s a lot of reasons to turn your game on full blast…
nope i thought of it yesterday as well. He knows the terms of his contract and hes making a push to get that 16 mil.
I’m sure the guy has no pride left in showing his skills anymore, he’s just playing for a contract that you can bet he would have at least gotten close to had he ended up with 25-100 (which he was heading for with or without his great resurgence)
Yesterday at mlb.com, the article about the Mets’ win contained this observation:
Since July 1, no team in the big leagues has won as many games as the Mets — 37. And since June 27 no player in the National League has hit so many home runs, 20, or driven in so many runs, 60, as Delgado. A cause-and-effect relationship exists there.
A terrific observation, at that.
Exactly. Wright and Reyes may have been more steady over the course of the season, but their play obviously has not had the same nearly direct correlation with the team’s overall performance.
Of course their play correlates with the team’s performance. It’s just that they’re taken for granted because they’ve produced all season, and so Delgado’s production is seen as a bonus. Reyes, Wright, and Beltran is the meat and potatoes, and Delgado is the gravy.
This is a good point- but it’s also fair to point out that since July 1, Johan has given up a total of only 19 runs in his 11 starts, and that those starts average about seven innings an outing. That’s not coincidental either.
True, and every 5 games he has a tremendous effect on the team, but Delgado (and Wright and Reyes as well) have that effect every game.
I am just gald to have multiple MVP canidates. As long as we win I don’t really care who wins the MVP although it would be nice to finally have a Met win the prize
agreed matt. There is no doubt that delgado had to play his part on this team in order for us to even think postseason. I always preached that he would not put up 06 numbers again but rather would be avg among first basemen in the league. The reason i think he should be ranked among the come back players of the year. As far as MVP goes..its hard to make a case against reyes. Good job gado keep it up.
The fact that we are even considering him in this discussion really shows how much he has carried this team on his back the past 2 months. And these aren’t even stat padding HRs either…..they have come in huge situations.
If he has a September similar to his July and August, I don’t even think it is a debate anymore. He has just been a monster.
Agreed Jef. We were missing a 4th spot in the lineup earlier in the year and that spot was reserved for delgado. Its good to see things finally going as planned and gado getting back into form. You said it, he has carried this team on his back for months now and hopefully some people will step up and help him with that burden..cough,cough…beltran…wright………
there is no question carlos delgado right now is your comeback player of the year. mvp might be pushing it but comeback player? most definitely and it really isn’t a debate.
What is he coming back from? They don’t give out comeback player awards to players who are simply having a better year than last year. And not by THAT much. Last year Delgado hit .258 with a .333 OBP and 24 HR and 87 RBI. This year he’s hitting .259 with an OBP of .345, 31HR, 95 RBI. Sure, he’s on pace for 37 hr’s and 110 RBI, but that’s not reason for a comeback player award. He has a better shot at the MVP.
I’m just glad to have the real Delgado back.
agreed
Jose Reyes is 5th in the majors in VORP.
Forgive me, but what is VORP?
Value over replacement player. It tells you how much better he is at his position than an alternative.
Value Over Replacement Player
It measures a player’s total offensive contribution, relative to park, position, etc…
Reyes is the best player on this team.
Matt,Delgado has been fabulous but your facts are a little off. The 5 most recent home runs you reference were not all hit in the 7Th inning or later.
The first was a 3 run bomb in the 1ST inning Monday night against Houston,then a 3 run HR in the 7Th of the same game,6th inning against Philly on Weds,8Th inning same game then 8Th inning yesterday. An amazing run but not quite as you referenced.
Also only 28 actual ab’s with two base on balls
I like VORP as a factor but I don’t use it as a ‘be all, end all’ due to the facts that it does not factor in defense and that the concept of ‘replacement level player’ is not well defined.
Delgado has the CPOTY wrapped up. As for MVP… Can you think of anyone else in the NL that has it wrapped up? If the Mets win the division, it has to be whoever carries them through September. Only other NL player I can think of who has carried their team is Sabathia.
Cy Young: Webb
Rookie: Soto
Comeback: Delgado
MVP: ???
MVP: Reyes
Don’t let Webb’s shiny win total fool you. There are a few people pitching better than him. He’s maybe 3rd or 4th in deserving Cy Young candidates.
Lincecum is certainly more deserving than Webb.
Santana is also more deserving than Webb.
Just to name a couple.
I hear ya about lincecum. Only problem is the team he plays on has eclipsed a great season. I believe the cy young is usually given to someone on a winning team..so that might take lin out of it. Santana i dont think is more deserving than webb. My money is on sabathia taking the cy young but it will be close between him and webb
I don’t think Sabathia has enough innings to qualify and Santana has comparable numbers, if not _slightly_ better than Webb. His ERA, WHIP, and K/BB are better but its the win total that apparently matters the most to the voters.
Cy Young is not like MVP, though. I don’t think there is as much gray area. It’s just supposed to go to the best pitcher in the National League, no?
i doubt he gets comeback player of the year when he still put up solid (if unspectacular) numbers last year… 24 HR 87 RBI
Tatis might be a better comeback candidate. He was out of MLB last year. So even though Delgado has had a better 08 season than Tatis the greater comeback is probably by Tatis
your right…forgot about tatis. Considering he hasnt played in the majors in a few years and putting up the numbers he has and for a short period was carrying the team…yea tatis has a good case for comeback player.
I really think Tatis deserves the comeback player award. He is Superman.
I dunno about the cy young. Yes webb has more wins but its hard to argue how DOMINANT sabathia has been. He might give webb a run for his money
sabathia is not going to win mvp. he has nine wins but overall he’s 15-8 and pitchers have a very hard time getting serious consideration from the voters.
my vote still goes to webb for cy young. sorry, wins still count to me.
You can’t get Cy Young for combined season stats and you definitely can’t get MVP for only a half season’s effort.
MVP stands for Most Valuable Player… If the Brewers make the playoffs – Sabathia has to at least be in the discussion even though its only a half season worth. Delgado’s resurgence (and the MVP talks that have followed) is basically over the same time period.
I know CC was traded middle of the season, but he’s been awesome, even better than Johan has been for the Mets. He has got to be a serious candidate for Cy Young.
it doesn’t matter is he’s been awesome. i don’t recall carlos beltran winning in 04 after helping to lead the astros into the postseason or randy johnson winning the cy young or mvp when he was traded to the astros.
let’s call it what it is. it’s a great second half performance by cc but you have to look at the whole year. you don’t get to erase the al stats because you changed leagues. he’s not a cy young and the mvp talk is moot because the voters are not giving to a starter when there are quite a few position players who are worthy. this is especially true when you consider he’s on a team that already has a very legit contender in ryan braun.
Good points, except post season stats dont count towards MVP votes, that is why Beltran did not win it in 04.
In order for a pitcher to win the MVP, he has to be absolutely brilliantly dominant and overpowering the entire year. The MVP is generally reserved for position players. Pitchers get the Cy Young.
As far as CC goes, even with all he’s done, the Brewers are essentially in the same position they were before he came around – leading the wild card and in second place. He will not get the MVP. He MAY get the Cy Young, but my guess is it’s going to go to Webb, especially if the Dbacks hold off the west.
It’s hard to predict the MVP. It all depends on this last month and which team will make that big push on the shoulders of that one guy (hint, hint, Carlos) to take the division. Braun has to be the clear favorite right now. But let’s let this one play out. It should be a fun september…
I think wins is a tricky stat. If a team has a horrible bullpen that cannot record the hold and/or save (Mets), or you have an offense with the scoring ability of a high school team (Giants), that is NOT the fault of the starting pitcher. With the way Santana has been pitching this year, he should have at least 17-18 wins. At least. To not consider him over a guy like Webb would be ridiculous.
Wins, more than any other stat, is worthless as an indicator of skill.
Absolutely. Didn’t Aaron Small go 10-0 for the Yankees a few years ago? If you gave me the choice, I’d rather have Guillermo Mota as a converted starter than Aaron Small.
He’s playing great.
Ask me again about the MVP on October 1.
With all due respect, had Delgado not been a complete shell of himself the beginning of the year, the season would have been much different early on.
He finally got himself into great shape by dropping some weight. As he has recently said “I’ve worked by butt off”. This begs the question, why weren’t you working your butt off last year and this off season?
Reyes as overall MVP of the league!!!!!
A lot of times a player’s state of mind has a dramatic affect on his performance on the field. Last year and the beginning of this year the team was covered by the “willie” cloud. Instead of focusing on making adjustments and becoming better ballplayers, they were faced with the criticisms and questions from the media about their manager and general manager. That was not fair to the team, nor the fans. Now that the question marks are gone, this team is able to focus and play baseball.
Too bad Omar didn’t fire Willie immediately after the collapse last year. Doing that would have avoided the turmoil and mess that this team had to endure in the first half.
Don’t forget, his hands were injured, directly affecting his bat speed. I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy, but this may simply be a case of an injury that eventually healed.
I would tend to think pitch recognition has played a much bigger role than his injuries. He simply stopped swinging at those horrible pitches, thus forcing the pitchers to throw him more strikes, which he has been hitting.
When you look at this team and you discuss huge hits it continually comes down to one guy right now, Carlos Delgado.
MVP voting is totally unfair. If your team has 2 or 3 star players, you are really screwed! The fairest way to do this is only have ONE candidate from each team be in the running. This may mean voting for the MVP of each team and then the MVP of the league from that pool of players.
I give my vote to Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado for MVP’s
If the MVP doesn’t come from the Mets, just give it to CC.
Nobody on a contending team is really standing out. Ryan Braun, maybe?
The month of September will determine the MVP much like last year.
If the Mets win it seems very likely at this juncture it would be Delgado.
If the Phillies win it has to be Howard I don’t care what his average is that guy MASHES with RISP.
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