Now, I am of two minds here. If we're talking David Ortiz and A-Rod, it's A-Rod. I just read an article that beautifully summed up my thoughts on the Ortiz vs. A-Rod argument. It was by none other than Conan the Barbarian at noMaas.org. Check it out.

Remember, ANYONE who can hit can "play" DH adequately. Those who can hit as good as or better than Ortiz, all while playing stellar defense at the hot corner, are few and far between. There are other players in the majors who would be a better DH than Ortiz is right now. There's not one player in the majors that would be a better all-around 3B than A-Rod. If you were to ask A-Rod to DH he could do it. Could you ask Ortiz to play 3B? Well you could, and just hope that Ortiz' family stampedes over the runner whenever a ball is hit in his direction.

But, I have another name to throw out there. Dreaming? Perhaps, perhaps. Mariano Rivera. I left a comment on an entry at WasWatching.com and got 3 positive responses. Basically, the thought here, as laid out by Jason O. over there... if the award is really relative value to the team, Rivera is ahead of A-Rod and Ortiz. If he finishes out the season strong, get's his ERA below 1.20, perhaps gets either 45 saves or a win or 2 more, what do you think? Let's see here...

Let's imagine that God is going to strike 5 random players with injuries - right now. They will be injured for the rest of the year, but be back next year and will be fine. You can pick 1 player that will be "safe". Who do you pick? Good arguments can be made for A-Rod, Jeter, Mariano. But, when you think about it, Mariano. Mariano is the reason we have a slight grasp on 1st place. Mariano is the difference maker with the Red Sox. He's the reason we're in the playoff hunt. Now, don't get me wrong. Without A-Rod? We could be out. Without Giambi's turnaround? Yep, could be. But, without Mariano? We're totally, totally screwed. (Edit: Rereading this, I'm kind of torn between Jeter and Mariano just because Jeter means so much, but the point stands). If fate had blessed the Red Sox with Mariano and us with Foulke, not only would we be out of the playoffs a bit ago, but last year wouldn't have been the first Red Sox World Series championship since 1918.

How important is Mo right now? Seriously. We have to throw him virtually every night. If we didn't have him now, forget about it. That's the MVP. He deserves serious consideration. He probably won't get it as there is a natural bias against pitchers - especially relief pitchers, that will keep him from getting it. But, Cy Young is more likely. He deserves even stronger consideration for that award. I mean, let's think about it. If you could trade Mo for this season for any starting pitcher in the AL that we don't already have - would you do it? I guess there are certainly arguments to make, but... for me, no. Mo's the guy.