The MVP award is an individual award usually given to a standout performer on any one team. I’m all for Soto getting votes, but not at the expense of the depth of the rest of the players on our team that stand out. It’s hard to find one guy who really fits the bill as carrying the weight of our entire team, but I suppose you couldn’t have this conversation without Geo in the picture.

Did that make sense? Not really, but it’s Friday, so forgive me.

But its a solid argument… as far as Most VALUABLE Player, I think Soto is top 5, but with the way that the MVP voting goes, Soto wont even sniff the award.

essentially that it will be a victory if Soto receives top-5 CONSIDERATION…He concedes that he MOST LIKELY will not win the award, but I think it’s cool that Gammons wrote an entire piece about Geo…

Just askin’

“I know we win with pitching, and what I contribute offensively is secondary. Hey, it’s all about winning, not stats.”

as the Cubs, it’s difficult to single out on player and claim “we absolutely cannot survive without him”. The raw numbers say that the teams winning percentage suffers when Sori is not with the team, but because he is really the only position player that has sat out significant time, it’s difficult to say if those numbers are truly representative of his contribution to the team.

When you factor in the amount of touches of the ball that Geo gets and his offensive contribution to the team, one could make an argument that he is the player this team could least afford to do without. If that is the criteria for the most valuable player on the best team in the league, then you may have the strongest candidate.

I was listening Mike Murphy on the Score (Jeez, that’s almost too embarasing to type in a public forum. It was lunch and I was running off to somewhwere. What can I say?). In that talk, he asked, could a player be MVP for the league and not be MVP for his team? I get the point and I think it’s valid. Soriano is the only Cub that really has League MVP qualifications, but I think there’s an argument to be made that Soto, Theriot, and DeRosa could each individually be thought of as Team MVP’s.

Great article!

We all know Soto won’t win the MVP, but if someone HAD to vote for a team MVP, I would think it would have to be him because of both his offense and defense. Take those, and how he has handled this pitching staff… I give him a lot of credit for the Cubs being so awesome this year. I believe he’s played a very important part in Z, Demp, and all the pitchers who are doing fantastic this year. That is credit he deserves!

One thing though, Soto’s still young… as long as he doesn’t get hurt, we may very well be looking at a player who will go down in history as maybe one of the best catchers of all time. I could see him as a player like Johnny Bench, who is a force with the bat, but watches over a pitching staff that can win several world series. Soto may very well prove to be a guy a dynasty could be built around.

Even if he doesn’t finish top 5 in the MVP voting this year, he may be top 5 next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Throw in some top 10 votings… and well, we may be seeing the beginning of a Hall of Fame career!

GO CUBS GO!

Thanks for pointing it out to me.

I concern myself with MVP voting during those years when it’s August 15th and the Cubs are hopelessly out of the playoff chase and there is nothing else to get excited about.

Geovany Soto is impressive. His leadership skills behind the plate are deeply impressive. He reminds me of a young Jason Varitek in this regard. His hitting has simply amazed. Watching Soto over the long stretch I’ve come to appreciate how well he performs against GOOD pitchers in this league. Also, he is smart and highly adept at making adjustments. Not once have I seen Soto struggle with the bat for more than several games…he knows how to adjust in the batter box. VERY SMART baseball player. He gets it too.

MVP, like it or not, is an offensive award and Soto doesn’t have the gaudy numbers to get attention from voters from around the league. However, I do believe he is the MVP of this team for stabilizaing the position that hurt us the most last year. You only notice a catcher when he is doing bad. So, his quiet MVP numbers at his position are a sign that he is playing the position the right way.

but truthfully he better win ROY. Maybe in a few years he will be MVP.

Surprised Sue didnt beat to that subject line

I think an MVP is the player who if they weren’t on your team you would have won a lot less games. Sometimes that is something that is hard to measure with stats. The Cubs record has been much, much better with Soriano in the lineup then when he is on the DL. He won’t win it this year and probably won’t get many votes because his numbers aren’t as good as some others in the league and he missed too many games. The voters would probably disqualify him because he missed all those games, but the way we played when he was out proves his value.