Stan Musial Award ballot

The Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (VSBB) is a proud member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA). This year, the VSBB has the honour of casting the Other Baseball Chapter ballot for each of the five awards given to players and managers in both the National and American Leagues.

Last Thursday, we posted our ballot for the Walter Johnson Award, presented to the top pitcher in each league. Yesterday morning, the alliance announced the results: Philadelphia's Roy Halladay and Seattle's Felix Hernandez were runaway winners in their respective leagues. In fact, Halladay was a unanimous selection by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Today we present the VSBB ballot for the final award, named after Stan Musial. The Stan Musial Award goes to the MVP in each league. Casting the ballot on behalf of the VSBB is guest blogger Michael Poplawski.

National League

The National League charts were topped by a pair of slugging first basemen from the Central division: perennial MVP Albert Pujols, who led the NL in runs, home runs and RBI and rising star Joey Votto, who led the NL in OBP and SLG. There was little to choose between them, but I've gone with the division-winning Cincinnati Reds' Votto over the St. Louis Cardinals' Pujols.

My third-place vote goes to my Walter Johnson choice Roy Halladay.

1. Joey Votto 1B (150 GP, 174 OPS+ 6.2 WAR)
2. Albert Pujols 1B (159 GP, 173 OPS+ 7.2 WAR)
3. Roy Halladay SP (33 GS, 165 ERA+, 6.5 WAR)
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B (160 GP, 152 OPS+, 6.3 WAR)
5. Ryan Zimmerman 3B (142 GP, 142 OPS+, 5.3 WAR)
6. Matt Holliday LF 158 GP, 149 OPS+, 5.5 WAR)
7. Troy Tulowitzki SS (122 GP, 138 OPS+, 5.6 WAR)
8. Ubaldo Jiminez SP (33 GS, 161 ERA+, 7.1 WAR)
9. Aubrey Huff 1B-OF (157 GP, 138 OPS+, 5.9 WAR)
10. Carlos Gonzalez OF (145 GP, 143 OPS+, 4.5 WAR)

American League

In the American League, my top three choices came from three playoff-bound teams. I gave top billing to Evan Longoria, who provided the Tampa Bay Rays the most solid third base play in the major leagues as well as his potent bat. Runner-up is the Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton, who also was solid all-around but, unfortunately, missed 29 games. Third place goes to New York Yankees stalwart infielder Robinson Cano.

1. Evan Longoria 3B (151 GP, 142 OPS+, 7.7 WAR)
2. Josh Hamilton OF (133 GP, 175 OPS+, 6.0 WAR)
3. Robinson Cano 2B (160 GP, 142 OPS+, 6.1 WAR)
4. Shin-Soo Choo RF (144 GP, 148 OPS+, 7.3 WAR)
5. Adrian Beltre 3B (154 GP, 141 OPS+, 6.1 WAR)
6. Miguel Cabrera 1B (150 GP, 179 OPS+, 6.9 WAR)
7. Felix Hernandez SP (34 GS, 174 ERA+, 6.0 WAR)
8. Jose Bautista RF-3B (161 GP, 166 OPS+, 5.6 WAR)
9. Carl Crawford LF (154 GP, 134 OPS+, 4.8 WAR)
10. Joe Mauer C-DH (137 GP, 137 OPS+, 5.6 WAR)

- Michael Poplawski