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Leading National League MVP, Cy Young and ROY Candidates

By faketeams

Baseball Happenings' dynamic feature that draws on the collective knowledge of the blogging community to provide intelligence on which players are currently considered the leading contenders for the big three baseball awards - MVP, Cy Young and ROY - for the American and National leagues enters its 4th week.  The second round of NL voting will be available here in separate posts.  THe NL MVP tally is up.  

Here is the way I voted.  My biases for voting in the Cy Young and MVP awards lean towards those hitters and pitchers playing on contending teams.  ROY determination is not tied are strongly to his team's record, but good rookies on expected play-off contenders will get additional consideration.

NL Cy Young:

  1.  Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
  2.  Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants
  3.  Edinson Volquez Cincinnati Reds
Webb's six wins and almost seven inning per start average beat Lincecum's and Volquez's almost six innings per start.  Add in the fact, Webb is leading the staff of the best team in baseball, and this begins to look like an unanimous winner.

NL MVP:

  1.  Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies
  2.  Derrek Lee Chicago Cubs
  3.  Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals
All three players are leading their teams, but Utley is single-handedly making up for the absence of last years' MVP, Jimmy Rollins, and 2006 MVP Ryan Howard's sub-.200 start.  I still like Diamondback's RF Justin upton to surprise, but I sense he will share the offensive glory with other teammates who also breakout like Conor Jackson and Mark Reynolds.

NL ROY:

  1.  Kosuke Fukudome Chicago Cubs
  2.  Geovanny Soto Chicago Cubs
  3.  Jair Jurrjens Atlanta Braves
With the Chicago Cubs in need of OBP, the arrival of RF Kosuke Fukudome's .444 OBP is just what the doctor ordered.  Add-in a rookie catcher with a .415 OBP, and the Cubs look like they could run away with the NL Central.  Helping these teammates rank 1st and 2nd in the NL ROY voting are OPS greater than .900 for each.

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