Kuzul

The votes are in and your 2010 National League MVP is the Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto.

The vote wasn’t even close as Votto received 31-of- 32 first place votes. The Cardinals Albert Pujols finished a distant second and the Rockies Carlos Gonzalez finished third.

“It’s pretty fricking awesome to beat Albert Pujols for the MVP Award,” he said.

Votto, 27, hit .324 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI.

Pujols led the NL in home runs (42) and RBI (118), and Cargo led the N.L in average at .336, but Votto’s team was the only one to make the postseason.

In just his third full year in the majors, Votto led the NL in on-base percentage (.424) and slugging percentage (.600).

Let’s take a look at why Votto could compete for the next 10 MVP’s.

Begin Slideshow

Over the last four weeks, Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists have released the results of our mock vote for every significant MLB award, from Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers to Rookies of the Year and Cy Youngs.

Yesterday, we reached the apex of our American League awards with the announcement of Josh Hamilton as our AL MVP. Today, our series comes to a close with our choice for the National League Most Valuable Player.

This time, the top 10 vote-getters are featured here, with commentary from the writers who chose them. The full list of results—featuring 41 players who were picked on our ballots—is after the No. 1 pick.

Thank you to all the writers who voted and contributed commentary. I hope it’s been as fun for all of you to read these as it’s been for me to write them. If you missed one of the previous 15 slideshows, the full list with links is at the end.

So read on, see how we did, and be sure to tell us what we got wrong!

Begin Slideshow

November is upon us and we have entered into that time of year when all sports fans turn there attention to the NFL, college football and the start of college basketball. With that said, it is still time to announce the end of the year MLB awards.

It will be interesting to see which players come away with this years awards. The race is extremely tight in the American League, where there are four candidates who have a legitimate shot at winning the award. While in the National League, it will be a foot race between three sluggers.

In the AL, the race is between; Robinson Cano, Josh Hamilton, Jose Bautista and Miguel Cabrera. All four of these players had very strong statistical seasons in many areas of the game. When it comes to MVP awards, a non playoff team member should never win over a playoff team participant. Therefore, the AL race is between Cano and Hammy.

Both of these players had very nice seasons while helping to lead their teams into this years playoffs. With over .300 batting averages and nice doses of power, each hitter was able to get the job done at the plate.

Hamilton missed almost all of September and because of this, definitely lost some stat numbers. This may have a small effect on some of the votes. Since Cano is a second baseman he will also get some extra votes do to his position.

When it is all said and done, I believe Josh Hamilton will come away as the 2010 AL MVP. His .352 average is just straight remarkable and this will be the difference maker when it comes to the voters.

In the National League, the race will also be a close one. Albert Pujols and Joey Votto will be the top two finishers, with Carlos Gonzalez finishing in third place.

My playoff rule is in effect here once again as Votto is the only player of the group who helped lead his team into this years playoffs. However, when it comes to statistics, Votto is also better then the rest.

All three, hit over 30 home runs, scored over 100 runs and drove in over 100 while batting above .300. When it comes to the deeper statistics, Votto was on a whole new level. With his .600 slugging percentage and his .424 OBP he clearly proved to the world that he deserves this years coveted award.

The MVP awards will be announced to the public next week and all baseball fans should look for Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto to come away as the recipients.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

On Wednesday, Bronson Arroyo, Brandon Phillips and Scott Rolen took home Gold Glove awards, as it was the first time since 1977 that the Reds had multiple winners in the same season.

For Cincinnati, great glove work was a big reason in it capturing it’s first NL Central title in 15 years, as team records were set for fielding percentage (.988) and fewest errors in a season (72).

Unfortunately, shoddy fielding was a big part of their undoing in the NLDS against the Phillies, but that doesn’t take away from their overall reputation.

With the exception of Jonny Gomes, everyone who played on a regular basis was an average or an above average fielder.

For Rolen, who is light years better at third base than Edwin Encarnacion ever was, this is nothing new for him, as this is his eighth one.

The 35-year-old had declining production at the plate as the season advanced, but those struggles at the dish never affected his work in the field.

Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals deserves an honorable mention, and as Rolen gets older, will certainly have his opportunities as well.

At second base, Brandon Phillips is a stud, simply put. 

He ate up a lot of ground balls that were seemingly destined to end up in right field, as this is his second Gold Glove.

The third recipient, Bronson Arroyo, is a tall, lanky athlete who fields his position well, and at 33 years old, is a first-time recipient.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, all three of these individuals should be in the running again next year, and Joey Votto, Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce are improving fielders that will also get future consideration.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It is almost time for the baseball awards to be announced. Many fans overlook the value of a good manager. You can look to teams like the Mets and the Marlins that have had turmoil with their managers and see why it is important to have someone who can take control of what is going on. There have been a few managers that have stood out this year.

The candidates include Padres manager Bud Black, Reds manager Dusty Baker, Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Braves manager Bobby Cox who will likely get some votes based on his lifetime achievements.

Begin Slideshow

There were a lot of players whose average was based on a lot of luck in 2010.  What are the prospects of them replicating those numbers in the upcoming season? 

Will they continue to hold value?  Let’s break them down, one-by-one, and take a look:

1. Austin Jackson – Detroit Tigers – .396

We all kept waiting for the regression to come for Jackson, but it just never seemed to.  Despite posting a strikeout rate of 27.5%, Jackson’s luck helped him post a .293 average. 

Can we realistically expect that to continue?  He had a minor-league strikeout mark of 23.6%, so that number is extremely believable. 

With his speed, a higher than normal BABIP is not outrageous, but this was a bit over-the-top.  Look for his luck to turn in 2011, meaning his average will likely fall significantly.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him hit .260ish, and without power and only 24 SB, his value is likely going to take a significant hit.

2. Josh Hamilton – Texas Rangers – .390

It was a magical season, buoyed by an unrealistic BABIP.  Hamilton is a great player and will remain one of the elite, but he’s just not likely to hit .359 once again. 

As long as he can stay healthy, I’m talking .300/30/100/100 type of value.  People looking for a reason to downgrade him will point to the BABIP, but you really shouldn’t.

The only concern is his health.  Outside of that, consider him among the elite outfielders in the game.

3. Carlos Gonzalez – Colorado Rockies – .384

Many were expecting a breakout 2010 campaign and boy, did he deliver.  However, the BABIP is just one of the questions that surround him entering the 2011 campaign.

Can he deliver a 20.4% HR/FB again?  If not, that drop, along with the inevitable fall in BABIP, is going to cause his average to fall significantly.  It will also mean fewer runs and RBI, further hurting his potential value.

Don’t get me wrong, Gonzalez should be among the best outfielders available, but I just don’t see him repeating his .336, 34 HR, 117 RBI, 111 R, 26 SB campaign.  That said, even if he falls to .300/27/95/95/20, with the potential for more, what is there not to like? 

A regression is likely coming, but there’s little to be concerned about.  We’ll talk about him in a lot more detail in the coming months, however, so I’ll save the bulk of the discussion for later.

4. Joey Votto – Cincinnati Reds – .361

Like the two names before him, his value isn’t solely entrenched in his average (.324 in 2010), so a regression here is not going to be devastating. 

He has shown tremendous power and RBI potential, as well as adding double-digit stolen bases from a position where you rarely see it.  At a deep position, he’s emerged as one of the elite.

5. Omar Infante – Atlanta Braves – .355

Unfortunately for Infante, he has no power and no speed.  In fact, is he guaranteed to even have an everyday job entering 2011? 

He’s a career .274 hitter (who hit .321 in 2010) and has always been more of a utility player. 

With even a small fall in his BABIP, his value disintegrates, since average is all he has going for him (8 HR, 7 SB in ‘10).  Even with full-time playing time, he’s not worth considering.

6t. Justin Upton – Arizona Diamondbacks – .354

He’s posted big BABIP for the past two years, having posted a .360 mark in 2009.  Does that mean we should come to believe it?  Unfortunately, I don’t think so. 

The hope has to be that he can reduce his strikeout rate (30.7% in 2010) and rediscover his power (he went from 26 HR to 17 HR in 2010) in order to maintain a usable average.

Chances are he’s going to regress in the BABIP department, so if he can’t do those two things, his average is going to become unusable (he hit .273 in ‘10). 

It’s going to be interesting to watch how this plays out, because he has the potential to be one of the elite players in the game.  We will certainly revisit him as the season gets closer.

6t. Colby Rasmus – St. Louis Cardinals – .354

His feud with Tony La Russa and whether he asked out of St. Louis helped to mask that some of his success was buoyed by a lot of luck. 

However, before we say that he’s going to post an unusable average (he was at .276 in ‘10), he saw his strikeout rate go from 20.0% in 2009 to 31.9% in 2010. 

Considering his 22.7% minor league strikeout rate, there’s little reason to believe he’s that bad.  Even with a fall in his BABIP, he should continue to post a usable average.

8. Ichiro Suzuki – Seattle Mariners – .353

What is there to say about Ichiro that we don’t already know?  He has a career BABIP of .357 and is one of the best hitters in the game.  There’s no reason to expect anything less from him in 2011.

9. Jayson Werth – Philadelphia Phillies – .352

We have to expect a regression, but we can’t get a full grasp on his potential value in the average department until we know where he is going to play. 

If he leaves Philadelphia, the power potential may fall, which will certainly help contribute to a lower average.  We’ll revisit him once he signs via free agency.

10. Joe Mauer – Minnesota Twins – .348

Catchers just aren’t supposed to do this, but year after year, Mauer delivers.  With a career BABIP of .344, there’s little reason to think that he’s going to fall off in any way, shape or form. 

While we learned in 2010 that his power surge in 2009 was likely an aberration (28 HR), he once again proved that he’s among the elite average hitters in the game (.327 in ‘10).

What are your thoughts on these players?  Who is going to maintain their big 2010 seasons?  Who may regress in 2011?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 Catchers
• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• 2011 Fantasy Draft First Round Breakdown

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

While you worry about the outcomes of the ALCS and NLCS, Christian Skelly has you covered on the awards races.

Joey Votto, undeniably, had a career-year. He announced very loudly that he not only belongs in the same sentence as the other great NL first basemen but, with all due respect to the machine that is Albert Pujols, he very well could be the best.

When it comes to MVP voting, players are judged largely by their offensive statistics and specifically their Triple Crown numbers. Albert Pujols led the league in RBI (118) and homeruns (42). Carlos Gonzalez also had a breakout year, leading the league in average (.336) and he also hit for power with 37 Home Runs and 117 RBI.

Both Pujols and Gonzales had great years, but when the MVP is announced on November 24^th you won’t hear the name of either of those men. Instead it will be the young Canadian, Joey Votto.

Votto’s numbers are consistent across the board and he was the driver of the most powerful offense in the National League.  He led the league in slugging percentage (.600) and on-base percentage (.424) while batting .324 with 37 HR’s and 113 RBI. What really sets Votto apart from Pujols, Gonzalez and the rest of the league is the fact that he led the Reds to the playoffs while proving he was one of the league’s most clutch hitters. From the seventh inning on, Votto led the NL in average (.356), homeruns (14), and RBI (41).

Votto is a member of perhaps the most talented group in all of baseball: National League First Basemen.  When he wins the 2010 MVP award next month, the argument can be made he is the best of that bunch.

Here are the rest of my picks:

AL MVP:  Josh Hamilton

NL MVP:  Joey Votto

AL Cy Young:  Felix Hernandez

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

AL Manager of the Year:  Ron Washington

NL Manager of the Year:  Dusty Baker

AL Rookie of the Year:  Danny Valencia

NL Rookie of the Year:  Jason Heyward

These are my picks … who is your NL MVP?

You can read more from Christian Skelly and others at www.sittingandwatching.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 2010 MLB season had plenty of tremendous individual stories.

People were still talking about a potential Triple Crown bid by three different players in the National League in mid August.

As it turned out, Albert Pujols ran away with the home run crown with 42 and killed the intrigue.

But Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez put together some of the most impressive individual numbers of any player in recent memory.

Pujols didn’t sport the batting average of the other two, the Cardinals were a big disappointment as a team, and Pujols is always in the mix for MVP. Pujols is out.

So let’s take a look at the two leading candidates for the most valuable player in the National League; Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez.

Begin Slideshow

Poor Brooks Conrad.

The Atlanta Braves second baseman, whom the team was forced to place considerable faith in when they lost infielders Chipper Jones and Martin Prado to season-ending injuries, could not have had a harder time of it during Atlanta’s four-game loss to the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS. He collected just one hit and committed four extraordinarily costly errors, including three in the team’s Game 3 loss alone.

By the fourth and final contest, Cox could not even justify starting Conrad, and the man who had very nearly become a folk hero during a strong regular season now looks like the biggest playoff goat in Atlanta since Lonnie Smith.

Believe it or not, though, Conrad might not be the biggest goat of this year’s postseason. Several key contributors of whom much more was expected faltered nearly as badly as their teams made first-round exits, and thus Conrad has plenty of company. Where among the top five losers of the 2010 playoffs does he rank? Read on.

Begin Slideshow

On a few different fronts, it’s as easy as “1-2-3” for the Philadelphia Phillies this postseason. 

Last night, of course, the Phillies dispensed the upstart Cincinnati Reds 1-2-3 in the NLDS. The series sweep was of historic significance as it was the first ever in the postseason for the 127-year old organization— at least on the winning end. 

And the Phillies plan for the 2010 postseason revolves around the rock solid 1-2-3 foundation provided by “The Big Three” trio of ace starters. Cole Hamels fulfilled his part of the plan almost to perfection (a term that cannot be used gratuitously with Roy Halladay on the staff) by tossing a low-stress, high-gloss five-hit shutout in last evening’s clincher. 

Although Phillies players engaged in the customary series-clinching champagne celebration, they did so in a manner that suggested they had been there before, and still have places to go. 

Wrapping up the division series was but step one in their 1-2-3 postseason formula. Next on the agenda is achieving a similar outcome in the NLCS and then the World Series. 

From the outset of last night’s game until the final 95-mph heater that set Scott Rolen down swinging to end the game, Hamels displayed his unwavering determination to execute on those plans. 

In contrast to last season’s postseason, “Hollywood” brought a Halladay-like focus to wrap up the series last evening. When asked about his performance, Hamels made it abundantly clear that the NLDS victory was but one step towards the team’s goal of bringing another World Series Championship to Philly. 

That type of attitude and pitching performance has to be unnerving to the rest of the postseason field. 

After Shane Victorino made a terrific running catch of a Brandon Phillips liner in the first, Hamels never seemed to break a sweat as he suffocated the Reds’ high-powered offense. 

When Phillips started the home ninth with a base hit to awaken the Great American Ballpark crowd and provide a sense of hope, Hollywood coolly induced soon-to-be-MVP Joey Votto to ground into a tailor-made double play. 

Suddenly, it was as if a huge wet blanket had been dropped from the gaudy orange “Conan” blimp hovering above the stadium. 

Hamels’ mid-90’s fastball, low-90’s cutter, nose-diving change-up, and occasional hook had Reds hitters flailing and guessing all night. Never did he allow a free pass or more than one baserunner in an inning, while racking up nine strikeouts.

The Phillies offense remained somewhat in hibernation as it managed but two runs of support for their ace lefty. One run was again donated by the unexpectedly generous Reds defense, and the other came by virtue of a Chase Utley bomb into the right-center field bleachers. 

Besides the superior pitching of Halladay, Hamels, and the bullpen, the Phillies’ edge in postseason experience proved to be a large difference in this series. Not to take anything away from an excellent Phillies team, but the Reds were perhaps a little tight. 

Similar to the Phillies in 2007, Cincinnati got a taste of the postseason and appears to have a very bright future. They have a young core of talent that should provide strong offense, defense and pitching over the next few seasons—much like this now-seasoned Philly team. 

In this series, though, the Phillies took care of business 1-2-3 to accomplish step one of their postseason plan. 

With the champagne cobwebs mostly cleared from their heads today, it’s now time for the Phillies to focus on step two. 

They will take the wise course of one step at a time, but the big celebration will wait until the postseason plan becomes a matter of 1-2-3.  

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com