The Padres had Thursday night off. They open a 3-game set against the Diamondbacks Friday night at PETCO Park, and it's BEERFEST!!!!
With what I'm about to say, you may think I started Beerfest a bit early. But no. I'm 90% sober. Here goes.
Chase Headley should be a candidate for National League MVP Award.
Yes, a player in a small market on a team with a losing record and no realistic playoff aspirations should be getting run as the best in the NL. Here's why.
The N-L really doesn't have a breakout stud this year. Ryan Braun is putting up numbers, but voters will probably hold a grudge against him because of last year's drug test debacle.
So, who does that leave?
The guys getting the most publicity are Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen and Giants catcher Buster Posey. Both are great players and well deserving. Headley is right there with them.
There's a stat called WAR, which stands for Wins Above Replacement. Basically, if a guy got hurt and had to be replaced with someone from the bench or the minor leagues, how much would the team suffer?
The National League leaders in WAR are McCutchen, Posey, Braun, and Chase Headley. The Padres would lose about five more games if they didn't have their leader in home runs, RBI, batting average, hits, runs, slugging %, on-base %, and OPS (on-base plus slugging %).
I'm not saying he should win the award, but he should definitely be in the conversation. The fact he's not is totally lame.
