Posted by MikeT23 on 3/18/2014 9:43:00 AM (view original):
I suppose a .280 hitter with 30 homers who never walks and strikes out a lot could be a MVP. I can't imagine how bad everyone else would have to be offensively for that to happen but I guess it could. Otherwise, there's no reason to believe he's figured something out. He hasn't had a spike in walks or drastic decrease in whiffs. And that's what has to happen for him to be something else.
Devil's advocate:
other than his MVP season, Josh Hamilton has only hit .300 once
Juan-Gone fits that description and did it twice
Finally, in the guys from the past few decades category:
Terry Pendleton
Enough said? Dude was 30 with 3700+ plate appearances coming into the 1991 season. .259/.308/.356. That's all.
I was the first one to jump on jtp for saying Jones was an MVP. And part of it is because modern Sabermetrics mean a season like Pendleton had in 1991 probably isn't an MVP season. But let's not act like it's that absurd.