I am not going to say I know who the National League MVP should be, but I know who it shouldn't be, Carlos Gonzalez. We have seen this type of thing before, most recently in 2007 when Matt Holliday and Jimmy Rollins were the frontrunners for the MVP. That year Holliday was hurt tremendously by the huge difference in his home/away splits. This is a big deal when you play your home games in Coors field.
Gonzalez is a fine player, but when you look at his splits it just kind of stuns the mind. Carlos Gonzalez isn't anything more than an average player on the road. His percentage numbers are:
.293 BA .327 OBP and a .459 SLG, that rounds out to a very mediocre .786 OPS.
A serviceable player no doubt, but nothing that even comes close to making you think MVP. His numbers at home are something completely different, something of Ruthian proportions. His percentage numbers at home are :
.388 BA. .434 OBP and a .752 SLG for a 1.186 OPS.
Those numbers are ridiculous, steroid era type numbers. Voters look at this, they understand that parks play a huge part in stats now, and Coors is public enemy number one for that. When the split difference is that large, it really hurts the player because his stats basically say that he only crushes the ball in the thin air, anywhere else and he is just average. This is different than when Larry Walker was around. Larry Walker had a big split as well, but he was generally All-Star caliber even with his road numbers. Carlos Gonzalez is not, he isn't even good.
He also gets some pub as a good defensive player, and its true he has made some great catches. But great catches do not make a great defensive player. (cough, cough Gary Mathews Jr.) He posts a negative UZR at both Centerfield and Right Field. He is really just an average outfielder.
Carlos Gonzalez is a good player, and probably will be good for many years, BUT he is not an MVP type player, he is just elevating the ball and riding the Coors affect.
