Derrek Lee will not win the 2009 NL MVP award. Barring a completely unforeseen positive test of some kind (like discovering he's half machine) the name Albert Pujols is already engraved on that trophy. So don't take this as an argument that DLee deserves it over his 1B counterpart in St. Louis. However you define "MVP," whether it's the league's best player, the best player on a winning team, or the most indispensible player for any team, Albert Pujols is pretty much the runaway winner in every category. Heck, Prince Albert even wins the contest of which player makes his teammates better. Look at Matt Holliday's stats before and after joining the Cards this year, or check out Aaron Miles' 2008 numbers.
I won't provide links to either set of stats, as I believe both are technically to be considered malware.
But I did want to take a moment and praise D-Lee for being the lone offensive bright spot for the Cubs this season. Without him, I genuinely shudder to think where this team would be. Here's the stat that says it best: Derrek Lee has a very distinct shot at doubling the RBI output of the 2nd-place run producer on the 2009 Chicago Cubs.
Derrek Lee: 96 RBI
Alfonso Soriano: 55 RBI (he's probably driven in his last run)
Aramis Ramirez: 49 RBI (the biggest threat at preventing this feat)
Ryan Theriot: 49 RBI (the pace has slowed of late)
Kosuke Fukudome: 48 RBI (always tough to double up)
Milton Bradley: 39 RBI (for the sake of parallelism, I feel the need to comment here)
I don't want the heart of the Cubs order to stop producing runs to help Derrek make them look even more impotent than they already do. But if a player drives in twice as many runs as anyone else on the team, his value is inarguable. Derrek Lee owns 16.9% of the Cubs RBI this year, roughly one in every 6. (In case you're wondering, Pujols has driven in 20.1% of his team's RBI . . . without him, the whole NL Central might be in danger of retraction.)
Things are bad this year. But for Derrek Lee, at least, it's been all good. When the Cubs return to Wrigley, he deserves a standing O (for being the Only source of Offense in '09).
