MATT HOLLIDAY Outfielder- Colorado Rockies.
This is the one that caused all the controversy amongst the voting baseball writers of the SB Nation. It wasn't the Baseball Writers Association of America making the decision at SBN, but the same Borda count voting method was used to determine the winner of the SBN NL MVP Award.
As described on wikipedia, "The Borda count is a single-winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference." So from first to tenth, it's 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points with each candidate receiving the, "number of points corresponding to the position in which he...is ranked by each voter." (Got it?)...
The list of candidates provided for SB Nation voter:
Matt Holliday Prince Fielder
Jimmy Rollins David Wright
Chipper Jones Hanley Ramirez
Chase Utley Albert Pujols
Ryan Howard Jake Peavy
Miguel Cabrera Brandon Webb
Aramis Ramirez Eric Byrnes
Derrek Lee Ryan Braun
Brad Penny Jose Reyes
John Smoltz Troy Tulowitzki
Adam Dunn Roy Oswalt
Carlo Lee Todd Helton
The San Francisco Giants Left Fielder
The Top 5...
Matt Holliday (OF) Colorado
Prince Fielder (1B) Milwaukee
Jimmy Rollins (SS) Philadelphia
David Wright (3B) New York Mets
Chipper Jones (3B) Atlanta Braves
Matt Holliday's fourth Major League season, at the age of twenty-seven, produced a .340 BA, with 36 HR's and 137 RBI's, 50 doubles, 6 triples, and 11 stolen bases, as the Rockies went all the way to the World Series where they were swept by the Boston Red Sox. (And I'll assume this was all for Holliday's offense, cause the defense often looked...um...shaky?)
Holliday ran away with the voting as a result of his 12 1st place votes, with only Jimmy Rollins and David Wright receiving first place votes, 4 for Rollins season of .296 BA, 45 doubles, 9 triples, 25 HR's 83 RBI's and 41 stolen bases...
David Wright, who you'll remember received only one first place vote from the SB Nation's baseball writers, finished the 2007 season with a .325 BA, 42 doubles, 1 triple, 30 HR's 107 RBI's and 34 stolen bases...
I'd have to agree that Matt Holliday was the Most Valuable Player in Major League Baseball in 2007, but I can't agree with the voting on Wright, which saw four voters place Wright 8th overall in the National League, and only four voters overall place Wright in the Top 3 players in the NL...
Are New York Mets fans overhyping Wright? Or is Wright feeling backlash from the rest of the National League's fans for the success the Mets have had the last few seasons? You decide...
Take a look at what the SB Nation's Mets blogger Eric Simon had to say about it over here...
http://www.amazinavenue.com/story/2007/11/8/144455/593#commenttop
(If you don't click, Amazin' Avenue cast it's 1st place vote for Hanley Ramirez (SS) Florida...David Wright?...2nd in their opinion...Matt Holliday?...4th)