Joey Votto won the NL MVP award yesterday over Albert Pujols. Votto has now cemented himself as one of the greats of the game, but Pujols is still the greatest because Votto might have won this year, but Pujols is likely to finish in the top three again next year. --Cliff Corcoran at si.com
Victor Martinez close to deal with Tigers that could be worth 4 years $50 million. Remember the Dunn to Tigers rumors. Are they settling for V-Mart because Dunn's price was too high? --Jon Paul Morosi from foxsports.com
The Nationals own Ryan Zimmerman finished 16th in the voting despite being one of the best defensive players in the game, batting over .300 for the first time in his career, and generally looking like a star at the plate and in the field. --Adam Kilgore from washingtonpost.com
This trade purposed by Zuckerman is actually less than what I thought it would take for the Nationals to land Upton*. --Mark Zuckerman at natsinsider.com
*Here is why I do it; Zimmermann (looks good but has yet to stay healthy and no sure thing), Norris (most likely the second best prospect the Nationals have and it would hurt to lose him, but if Ramos succeeds he likely has to move to first and his bat simply isn't as valuable there. Also the Diamondbacks have Montero so Norris would most likely move to first for them as well), Desmond (Espinosa, Lombardozzi), and Storen(relief pitcher). It does sound like a lot and the thought that it would hurt is somewhat true, and the Nationals are more than one piece away from winning, but Upton is young and signed for the next five seasons. With Justin Upton the Nationals 2013 line-up could look like this: Justin Upton, Danny Espinosa, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Chris Marrero, Steve Lombardozzi, Wilson Ramos, and Eury Perez.
One of the reasons Storen can be moved easily is that relief pitching is highly volatile and the Nationals have done a good job of stockpiling good young power arms. Like Cole Kimball who picked up the save in the AFL championship game, and wants everyone to know they came to win. --Byron Kerr at masnsports.com
The Nationals don't have to trade bullpen help just as part of a mega-deal. It could be traded in a smaller deal like for the Rays short stop Jason Bartlett which would then allow the Nationals to include Desmond in a package for pitching. --Phil Wood from masnsports.com
The search for the Nationals new color commentator has been a quite one, but some fans are missing Rob Dibble and all his bluster. --Joe Drugan at section409.com
Dunn likely to be offered arbitration. --Tim Dierkes at mlbtraderumors.com
General Baseball
Have you stopped to question what time of year it is? Is it still the 2010 season or is it already 2011? My personal feeling is that the off-season is kind of like a voyage out at sea. Teams are preparing to arrive on the distant shore of the 2011 season while still looking back fondly on the season that was. --Craig Calcaterra from nbcsports.com
One of my favorite debates of the past season was Team Felix vs. Team CC. As it turned out Team Felix was much stronger, but the vocal minority still wants their voice heard and feels like Team Felix was a bunch of nerds that bullied everyone with their keyboards. --Barry Petchesky from deadspin.com