Analyzing the media is not something we typically do around here at How To Watch Sports. We analyze sports. That’s what we do.

But every once in a while something crops up in sports media that I think deserves critique. As a sportswriter I’m a part of the media, so I don’t consider myself exempt from any such criticism. I’d like to provide a couple examples of the specific examples of what I’ve noticed, and then address its ethical implications as a journalist.

First example. While driving to the office one day recently, I was listening to a morning sports talk show that I don’t often hear. The topic, a hot one seeing as I live in Phoenix, was former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.

Leinart had just taken some flak from Trent Dilfer. Dilfer, appearing on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, had dismissed the Cardinals as a contender in the NFC West race because of Leinart’s shortcomings (this was while he was still with the team—apparently Coach Ken Whisenhunt agreed). Specifically, Dilfer asserted that Leinart doesn’t have the leadership presence or command in the huddle—the “it” qualities—to be a good quarterback.

This radio host, in turn, was leveling fireball after fireball at Dilfer—not refuting his claims about Leinart, but instead attacking Dilfer’s career as a player. He insisted that Dilfer’s criticisms were hypocritical, as Dilfer himself hadn’t had those qualities himself as a player.

Second example. This time it was a different radio show, though with a similar situation. This time the topic was former All-Star pitcher Rob Dibble, and his recent criticism of Stephen Strasburg and his injuries (before it was revealed that Strasburg would have surgery and miss the rest of the season). Dibble suggested that sometimes you have to “suck it up” and play through the pain, instead of sitting out. Strasburg, to give context, had just left a game after 56 pitches because of pain in his forearm.

The broadcaster in question had a few choice words for Dibble. He let Dibble have it for criticizing Strasburg while being plagued with injuries during his own playing career—he pitched in only seven different seasons and sat out two entire seasons because of injuries or surgery. (Side note: it appears that the folks at Deadspin offered the same criticism, and likely originated it.)

Third and final example. I’m not citing a specific incident here, as I saw this particular example come up several times. In this case it was shells fired at TNT analyst (and former NBA player) Charles Barkley for criticizing LeBron James’s decision to leave Cleveland and join the Miami Heat—when Sir Charles never won a title himself.

The question, then, is this: is it hypocrisy for a player-turned-analyst to require current players to do what they didn’t?

I asked around and got mixed opinions, but my instinct is that no, it’s not. It’s their job. Playing and analysis use different skill sets, and many analysts didn’t play professionally at all. The implication is that it’s okay for Steve Young to pick apart Leinart’s intangibles, but not Trent Dilfer—and if both are doing so in the chair of a professional sports analyst, then I disagree.

To bag on Dilfer, Dibble, or Barkley in these situations is probably making light of what they learned from substantial careers in the pros. My hunch is that 13 years in the NFL, working with five different teams’ systems and winning a Super Bowl as a starter (all items on Dilfer’s resumé) give insight into the position that a couple decades of watching a lot of football—even with a critical eye—can’t touch.

Further, players with clear weaknesses may actually be the most qualified to comment on that particular skill. Suppose Ron Artest retired, became an analyst (wouldn’t that be the day? I’d watch), and vocally criticized a player for getting into fights and generally being a distraction. You can call him a hypocrite, or you can figure that Ron-Ron knows a lot more about that topic than someone who never threw a punch.

It’s not a perfect science. If Shaquille O’Neal retired and became the newest ESPN guy (man, I’d watch that too), I might hold it against him if he criticized a big man for not making his free throws. And despite my self-righteousness, I’d say we do have to draw a line in quality of players, too—listening to Trent Dilfer is still several cuts above listening to Ryan Leaf.

That said, if Leaf was picked up by the mothership or a major network, you’d have to assume that he’d have at least some decent chops as an analyst. The media outlet would actually add credibility to a mediocre player.

We all get an opinion, though, and even local radio personalities get to say what they think (and got their job via some measure of talent and/or insight). And I do, too. I just wrote about 800 words criticizing members of the media, and I know I wouldn’t be happy if it was leveled my way.

It’s food for thought. It’s a reminder to think before we wage war on someone who disagrees with us, and a suggestion that name-calling isn’t a good replacement for properly refuting an argument.

And if I’m wrong, maybe somebody will flame me out for it.

Gone are the days when every single one of the best basketball players in the world plays in the NBA. It makes things a little more difficult as a fan, as when international competitions roll around there’s a lot of talented players we’ve never heard of.

That said, the NBA still remains the gold standard, even with the rise of other leagues internationally. It’s still true that most of the best players play in the NBA: it’s got the prestige, the fame, and often the bigger salaries that draws talent out of their home countries. Generally NBA teams are able to get their man—the Minnesota Timberwolves’ inability to bring Ricky Rubio stateside is a rare, if obvious, exception.

With that in mind, I’ve combed through the rosters of the top teams in the 2010 FIBA World Championships to find the players that play (or have played) in the NBA. With the expansion of the international game, it’s actually surprising to see how few NBA players show up on non-U.S. rosters.

United States

A quick glance shows us that none of the top NBA players at their positions are playing in this tournament. Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard are four of the #1’s, and all would have represented the U.S.—Pau Gasol is the the other, but he’s also conspicuously missing from Spain’s roster.

This table also reaffirms how young this team is, with Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom, and Tyson Chandler leading the way in experience. Perhaps the most shocking revelation that we get, however, is that only Billups has more than one All-Star appearance in the NBA, with a total of only four players even having one. Didn’t see that one coming.

Spain

Marc Gasol shows up in the BDL rankings as the 9th-best center in the NBA, and it’s hard to argue with that. He’s quickly risen to prominence with the Memphis Grizzlies in just the last year or two, and it still doesn’t seem like he’s hit his ceiling yet. His only national teammate currently playing in the NBA is Rudy Fernandez, who still technically belongs to the Portland Trail Blazers—but might not for long.

This Spain team, though, has a few asterisks. The obvious one is Ricky Rubio, who certainly has the talent to play in the NBA, to likely make an All-Star team, and would definitely appear within BDL’s top 30 point guards (probably within the top 15 or so). If we were rating talent instead of NBA experience, Rubio would get high marks.

The other exception for the Spanish is that Jose Calderon, previously on the roster, has had to drop out with a hamstring injury. Calderon plays for the Toronto Raptors, has five years of NBA experience and is rated as the 20th-best PG in the NBA—and he’s going to be greatly missed by this Spain team, which has already fallen short of expectations.

Greece

It shouldn’t be taken as a knock on the Greeks, though, who are still regularly counted among the favorites to medal. Instead, it says two things: (1) A1 Ethniki (the Greek league) is hiding a lot of talented players, and (2) teamwork should not be considered lesser than individual talent in international play.

One to keep an eye on is Nick Calathes, the guard who played college ball at Florida. The Minnesota Timberwolves took Calathes in the second round of the 2009 draft, and will likely call upon his services in the future.

Argentina

With Luis Scola (of the Houston Rockets), Carlos Delfino (of the Milwaukee Bucks), and Fabricio Oberto (of the Washington Wizards) starting, Argentina has 14 combined years of NBA experience leading the way. Scola and Delfino made BDL’s top 30 lists, too, and both ought to be familiar to NBA fans.

The Others

The NBA talent in the FIBA World Championships don’t end there—not in the slightest. Check out a few more strong teams with current NBA players on the roster (not comprehensive):

Lithuania: Linas Kleiza (Toronto Raptors)
Brazil: Leandro Barbosa (Toronto Raptors), Anderson Varejao (Cleveland Cavaliers), Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs)
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova (Milwaukee Bucks), Semih Erden (Boston Celtics), Omer Asik (Chicago Bulls), Hedo Turkoglu (Phoenix Suns)
Slovenia: Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns), Primoz Brezec (Milwaukee Bucks)

Unlike all the other awards the AL has to offer, the MVP Award has an exciting race of eminently deserving candidates. To start it out, let’s take a look at the dark-horse candidate.

Robinson Cano

If the MVP was picked at the end of June, Robinson Cano would’ve won it. After the season’s third month, Cano was hitting.353/.402/.581. In 2010, Cano has improved every facet of his game to make up for the departure of Hideki Matsui in the five-hole, and has stepped up to fill the void of Alex Rodriguez as a cleanup hitter when A-Rod’s body acts up. However, Cano’s line has dropped to a more human .325/.389/.562. Although it’s still an outstanding line, Cano is only in the discussion because he started out hot and because he’s the best hitter on the best team in baseball.

So far, though, 2010 has been a breakout year for the 27-year-old. He’s playing a Gold-Glove-caliber second base and has become one of the league’s most-feared hitters. Hitting his prime and with the long-predicted power finally kicking in, Cano will have ample opportunity over the next several years to win an MVP. This year though, is not that year.

Miguel Cabrera

The big man is probably the most feared hitter in the AL, leading the league in intentional walks with 27 (a surprise 2^nd: Ichiro. Who knew?). He leads the league in OBP (.433), OPS (1.072), and RBI (107), is second in the league with a .338 batting average and 33 home runs, and has a triple slash of .338/.433/.638 (also first in SLG). He’s developed into the hitter that everyone knew he could be, and still is only 27.

The problem is that he plays first base and so offers little defensive value to his team, and also that he is second in the league in batting average, not first. Really, Miguel Cabrera has a legit shot to win the award. If he won, I don’t think it would be a huge upset, and he would deserve it. But he’s not going to. Instead, this man will:

Josh Hamilton

After a long and winding road to the big leagues, Josh Hamilton has finally lived up to his potential. The Texas slugger is hitting .361/.413/.637, leading the league in batting average and hits. He’s second to Miggy Cabrera in OPS (1.050), and OBP, and is fourth in HR with 31.

What pushes Hamilton over the edge, however, is that he plays an excellent center field, a much more valuable defensive position, and has not committed an error yet this year. As a hitter, he’s slightly less valuable than Cabrera (Cabrera’s WAR: 6.3, Hamilton: 6.0), but as an all-around player, Hamilton has the edge. The final nail in the coffin is twofold: First, since his performance losing the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, Hamilton has been a media darling and they would like nothing more than to give him an MVP Award. Second, he’s playing for a contender, and when he’s not in the lineup, the Rangers just aren’t the same team. That’s true of the Tigers without Cabrera as well, but the Tigers aren’t really all that much with Cabrera in the lineup.

The 29-year-old centerfielder has finally lived up to his lofty expectations and, if he avoids a September meltdown, will be rewarded for it this season, regardless of what Miguel Cabrera does. The award is Hamilton’s to lose. In the “year of the pitcher,” Hamilton has put up the best numbers of his career and will almost certainly lead his team to their first playoff berth since 1999, making him, hands-down, the 2010 AL MVP.

BAM.

The problem with voting for a league MVP is that there’s no clear definition of what “valuable” means. Each voter is instructed to decide for themselves what it means to them. Should it mean the most irreplaceable player? Is it the player who enjoyed the best season? Or should it be the best player who also played for a playoff team?

It’s no secret that voters tend to give weight to a player playing for a playoff team, but that doesn’t mean an outstanding player from a mediocre team can’t win the award. Alex Rodriguez won the 2003 AL MVP award despite playing for a sub-par Rangers team. Barry Bonds won the NL MVP from 2001-2004, even though the Giants only made the playoffs in two of those years.

So our short list will focus on players likely to still be playing in October, but we won’t ignore two guys who clearly deserve to be here, even though they’ll be watching the playoffs from home. Consider the following:

The middle three on that list are all likely to make the playoffs. The other two? Not so much. Let’s run through them one at a time.

In a season full of injuries and disappointment for the Colorado Rockies, Carlos Gonzalez has been a bright spot. Along with closer Huston Street, he came to Colorado in 2009 as part of the trade with Oakland for Matt Holliday, and even if you ignore Street’s considerable talent as a closer, it looks like the Rockies got the better end of the deal. CarGo is already contending for the triple crown, leading the NL in batting average and only a few homers and RBIs away from the lead. If he wins the Triple Crown, he’s pretty likely to take home the MVP, too.

The only blemish on his record, apart from his negative UZR rating, are his home/road splits. At Coors Field he has a slash line of .386/.431/781 (yikes), but on the road, he’s hitting just .275/.296/.437 (yikes, but the other way). Voters may have a hard time overlooking that, especially considering Denver already has a reputation as an offensive wonderland.

Despite playing for the best team in the NL, Adrian Gonzalez has somehow slipped under the radar this year. He’s “only” hitting .299 with 27 homers, after all. Nothing remarkable, right? Gonzalez hasn’t put up the eye-popping numbers that CarGo, Pujols, and Votto have, but he’s consistently been the only source of offense for the Padres this season. If you consider an MVP as the player most important to his team, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better fit than this Gonzalez.

Unless, of course, you were to consider Albert Pujols. The Cardinals haven’t exactly been world-beaters this year on offense outside of him. He currently holds the HR lead in the Triple Crown race, but doesn’t appear likely to overtake Gonzalez and Votto in the batting average category (currently trailing by 16 points). His WAR is “only” at 5.8 this year, which is actually his second-lowest in his career (he’s averaged about 7.0 WAR over the last few seasons). By his own standards, this is a down season, which makes it scary that he’s still in the hunt for his fourth MVP. Imagine if he were to get it going like the last couple of seasons again.

If you’re looking for a good underdog story, Joey Votto is probably your man. The Reds weren’t supposed to be good this year, and Votto certainly wasn’t supposed to be this good. To make things worse, he was snubbed from the NL All-Star team and had to be voted in by the fans. He’s inches away from being the leader in all three Triple Crown categories, which would make him a lock for MVP. He’s also a solid defensive player, racking up a 5.0 UZR.

But if you’re looking for otherworldly defense, you have to go with Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman. He didn’t get a lot of attention this year, what with the Stephen Strasburg circus, but he’s quietly put together an insane season on defense. Take a look at his UZR again. That’s right, it’s an otherworldly 23.3. That’s more than twice as much as our other four guys combined. His WAR is just barely less than Votto’s, too (6.2). If the Nationals were headed to the playoffs, Zimmerman would be a lock for this award. He’d be a lock if the award was for defense, too. Unfortunately, they already have an award for that (hello, Gold Glove), so he’s not likely to gain much traction here.

At this point, I think this race is still too close to call. Adrian Gonzalez isn’t likely to win the award simply because he’s not likely to win the Triple Crown. If any of the other three snags it, the award is theirs, easy. If not (and I don’t really expect any of them to), I have to give this to Votto. CarGo won’t make the playoffs, and Pujols has already won the award. Votto is the best story here, and that’s what puts him over the top.

The Cy Young Award is reserved for the best pitcher in each league. In the AL, the race is pretty muddled. Let’s have a look at the candidates in no particular order.

Clay Buchholz

Although he’s started fewer games (23) than most of the candidates on this list, the 26-year-old leads the league in ERA (2.21) and has a respectable 15-5 record. A 20-game-winner he is not, but he is still one of the best pitchers in the league.

The fact that he doesn’t pitch for a major contender (the Boston Red Sox) works against him, as well as his proclivity for walks (3.4/9) and his lack of strikeouts (101, 6.2/9). Someday, perhaps next year, Clay Buchholz could win a Cy Young, but this year, he’s probably not that guy. For better or worse, the Cy Young race is decided primarily by wins, with a secondary emphasis on ERA and strikeouts. Buchholz only has one of the three.

Felix Hernandez

King Felix is having yet another royal season, currently second in ERA (2.38) while leading the league in IP (211.1) and strikeouts (200), completing five games (3^rd). Working against him is basically only the Seattle Mariners offense, which has limited Hernandez to a meager 10-10 record so far this season. On the plus side, Hernandez was a very close second last year to Zack Greinke, so he’ll get some rollover points that could put him over the top in a race that has no clear frontrunner.

Unlike Buccholz, Hernandez’s low win total doesn’t work against him, but instead gives him a bit of a sympathy vote. When you have that few wins and you’re that good, it’s just not a meaningful stat for anybody anymore, even BBWAA voters. Really, there’s no reason Hernandez shouldn’t be crowned the best pitcher in the AL this year. But there’s also no reason that other pitchers shouldn’t either.

CC Sabathia

This is one of those guys. At 18-5, Sabathia has the most wins in the Majors and is a shoo-in for his first 20-win season. As a rule in this day and age, if you get to 20 wins, you get a Cy Young. The problem is, Sabathia’s 3.14 ERA is 8^th in the league and almost a full run higher than Buchholz and Hernandez’s. Also, CC’s inflated win total is a product of the league’s best offense playing for him every time he takes the ball and he hands it to the best closer in the game to secure his victories. Sabathia has a lower strikeout rate, a higher walk rate, has a higher WHIP, and allows almost another full hit per game than Felix Hernandez, but has eight more wins.

Having said that, Sabathia has been on a tear lately, as he always does near the end of the season, having not lost since August 1^st when he gave up all of three runs. If Sabathia can continue on a hot streak and lower that ERA under 3, he’ll probably get the award.

Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee, whose otherworldly total of 12 walks this season is Cy Young-worthy in and of itself, is a serious candidate because of name recognition and how dominating he can be, although working against Lee is his awful August in which he has gone 1-4 with a 6.39 ERA, raising his ERA from 2.51 at the beginning of August to 3.37.

Although Lee’s back problems are catching up to him, if he can have a good, healthy September and help the Rangers wrap up the AL West, then he’ll be a serious candidate to divide up some votes and sneak for his second Cy Young Award.

Surprise Pick

So after all that, I’m picking none of the above. All the proposed candidates are similarly great, but none of them are the kind of exciting standouts that the National League has to offer, and none of them stick out from the crowd. Of the above candidates, I’d say that Felix Hernandez probably deserves the award most, and that CC Sabathia will win it.

But in a year like this one, where there is no clear dominating force, the award should go to a man who has never been anything but a dominating force, and a man who placed 2^nd in Cy Young voting in 2005, the closest he ever got to winning one.

I speak of course, of the immortal one, the man who is sporting (by far) career-lows in ERA (1.13), WHIP (.076), and H/9 (5.1):

Mariano Rivera.

The Great Mariano has allowed 6 (!!!) earned runs this season, in 47.2 innings of work, has given up 1 HR (!!!), 27 hits, and has put up an ERA+ of 355. For some perspective, Pedro Martinez holds the modern record for ERA+ by a starter with 291 in 2000 (100 is average, higher is better). Although Rivera doesn’t qualify for single-season records, he does qualify for all-time statistics in ERA+. Pedro Martinez is second in the history of baseball with 154. Mariano is first…with 206. Eventually you just get tired of the exclamation points and the surprise. The man is 40 years old and is putting up the best statistical season by a pitcher in the history of baseball.

Yes, he’s a closer. Yes, he’ll throw far less than 100 innings. But is there any man more important to his team’s success than Mariano Rivera?

In “the year of the pitcher,” where no one has broken away from the pack, is there a better time to pick the guy who’s been so far ahead of the pack for so many years that we forget he’s even in the race? 2010 is the perfect season to recognize arguably the game’s greatest pitcher ever for his body of work and for his continued run of freakish and mind-boggling success. Which would be more terrible: Felix Hernandez not winning a Cy Young this year, or Mariano Rivera never winning a Cy Young Award?

This season, the Sandman has shown yet again why when he comes into a game, it’s over. No one starter can be proclaimed the best. So let’s give the Cy Young to the best: Mariano Rivera.

"Hey, Carlos. Thanks again for helping me win the Cy Young."

For months, the NL Cy Young race was a complete foregone conclusion. The Colorado Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez rocketed to a 15-1 start, and as late as June 6, he had a sub-1.00 ERA. The man was pitching completely out of his mind, and it looked like he was an absolute lock to win the award.

And then the second half of the season happened, and things turned out a little differently than we imagined.

But that’s why they play the games, right? If we didn’t bother playing the games, Jimenez would have won the Cy Young, the Yankees would already have their 28^th championship, and we wouldn’t have been able to see miracle seasons from the Padres and Reds.

That’s not to say Jimenez isn’t a contender, though. He’s on my short list, along with a few other pitchers you might have heard a bit about.

Let’s go through these guys one at a time and consider why they might earn some Cy Young votes.

The big things Jimenez has going for him are his outstanding first half and his record. (That, and his awesome name. My wife can’t remember it exactly, so she calls him “Hey Baldy”. I’m not actually sure if he has hair or not under that hat, but I like the nickname.) More often than not, voters are swayed by an impressive-looking record, and Jimenez has an excellent chance to get to 21 or 22 wins. His once-stellar ERA has dropped a bit to 2.71, and his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching – essentially ERA without the benefit of the defense behind you) is the highest on my list at 3.14.

What concerns me most about Jimenez is his low K/BB ratio (only about 2 strikeouts per batter walked, not good) and the low number of innings he’s pitched. He’s certainly put up some incredible numbers, but there are other pitchers who have matched that over longer periods of time. I expect Jimenez to rack up some votes (particularly if he passes 20 wins), but I don’t think he deserves to win.

Adam Wainwright, however, is a different story.  His numbers are similar to Jimenez’, except for his much lower ERA (2.30), his slightly higher K/BB ratio, and the fact that he’s pitched almost 20 more innings (good for almost three more average games). Wainwright has been lethal this season, and if the St. Louis Cardinals hadn’t decided to melt down over the last couple of weeks, he’d be sitting at 20 wins at this point. Instead, we’re left to hope the voters look past his record and give him the votes he deserves.

Josh Johnson is in a similar boat. His 11-5 record isn’t bad, but if he were playing for a higher-profile team, we’d be hearing a lot more about him and his incredible 2.28 ERA. Instead, he’s playing for the third-place Florida Marlins and remains largely a mystery to us. Even more impressive is the fact that he’s racked up that ERA while still posting a .300 BABiP (batting average on balls in play – essentially, hits the pitcher can’t control, as opposed to strikeouts, walks, and home runs). That’s not too shabby. Ordinarily, I’d be torn between Johnson and Wainwright for my Cy Young vote.

But then we come to Roy Halladay, and everything changes. No matter how you slice it, Halladay has been absolutely incredible this year. Throw out those 10 losses inflicted on him by the anemic Philadelphia Phillies offense and he’s everything you could want in a Cy Young winner. He’s pitched more innings than the rest of the guys on this list and still has the best ERA and the highest WAR (by far). He’s managed all that on the highest BABiP on the list, and has a staggeringly high K/BB ratio – nearly twice as high as his closest competitor. Halladay’s 190 Ks are the biggest reason he dominates his opponents so completely. If the Phillies could just score some runs, we’d be looking at 20 wins easy, and this wouldn’t even be an argument.

So I expect these other three to get their fair share of votes, but if there’s any justice in the world, Halladay ought to win this year’s Cy Young in a rout.

A lot of players get tagged with the label “overrated.” This changes a bit the definition of overrated. If everybody knows somebody is overrated, then are they really overrated anymore? So clearly Derek Jeter isn’t overrated anymore. And nobody thinks enough of Aaron Hill for him to really be that overrated.

The contest for the most overrated player in the AL came down to how a player is perceived vs. how good they actually are. This formula left me with three players who are WAR-positive, but not as good as they are thought to be: John Lackey, A.J. Pierzynski, and Carlos Pena.

John Lackey, longtime “workhorse” and “big-game pitcher” has spent most of his time in Boston on the disabled list, putting up a mediocre 12-8 record with a 4.60 ERA and giving up the most hits in the AL at 201. Despite all that, Lackey has also put up a 1.1 WAR this year and could most definitely turn it around and turn in a decent year. He is no longer, however, an elite pitcher.

Carlos Pena, the Tampa Bay Rays first baseman, has turned in his worst year in Tampa to date, putting up a .214/.341/.447 line, the second-lowest batting average among those who qualify in the American League. Although the lefty’s defense is still Gold Glove quality and he still gets on base at a decent clip, hitting .214 just isn’t the sign of an elite first baseman. Working for Pena, however, are that with his .447 slugging percentage and his 26 home runs show that when he does get his bat on the ball, it goes far. That has led to a respectable 77 RBIs and a mediocre 1.6 WAR, which is certainly an amazing number for a guy hitting .214. He hits it when it counts, I suppose, so Carlos Pena is not the most overrated player in the AL.

That just leaves on candidate: White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Pierzynski, the longtime feisty Sox catcher, has hit his way to a .258/.291/.370 line this season. The average is the second-lowest he’s ever put up, the OBP is the lowest, and so is the sub-.400 slugging percentage. Pierzynski is an everyday starting catcher with a .661 OPS, the fifth lowest in the AL among those who qualify, and easily the lowest of any catcher. The next-lowest is Kurt Suzuki of the Oakland A’s at .684.

Here’s Pierzynski’s numbers—notice how his OBP, SLG, and OPS have fallen off the map, and his home runs are well behind pace:

Although Pierzynski is a team leader and a fan-favorite, he just has no business being a starting catcher in this league, especially for a team with playoff aspirations. Although nobody spends much time talking about how good A.J. Pierzynski is, he’s living off a reputation he earned back when he was relevant during the White Sox World Series season of 2005 and it’s time it was updated.

Obviously this subject is highly subjective, but it’s difficult to deny that A.J. Pierzynski avoids being perceived as the true offensive abyss he has become. With a WAR of 0.7, A.J. Pierzynski is the most highly overrated player in the American League.

We know, Carlos. We can't believe you make $19 million, either.

We’ve been focusing on the best and brightest in the NL so far this week, but we’re going to pause for a bit and consider the other end of the scale today. Clearly, not everyone in the league can be an MVP candidate, but most players can be considered at least average. However, there are those special few that are not only below average, but making superstar money. Those happy few will be honored here today as we look for the most overpaid player in the NL.

Finding the most overpaid player is more than just searching the list of the highest-paid players in the league. The player who makes the most money in the NL is actually Johan Santana of the New York Mets (due to make $20,144,708 this year, which, although a lot, is actually less than four Yankees), and while you might not think he quite deserves that much, you have to agree that he’s a talented pitcher and is at least coming close to earning his keep.

In fact, there’s a tidy statistic for that – WAR (Wins Above Replacement). WAR tells you how many wins you would stand to give up if you replaced any given player with a generic replacement level player. Santana has a WAR of 3.7, meaning he accounts for nearly 4 wins by himself. $5 million might sound like a lot per win, but he’s at least contributing wins to his team. Santana is off the hook with us.

Let’s take a look at position players first and see how they stack up. Below are seven players who all make a strong case as the most overpaid player in the league:

WAR is going to be a useful stat in evaluating how much of their salaries these players are actually earning, but some more basic stats like batting average and home runs are included so we can get a sense of whether or not they’re passing the eyeball test.

Players like Ryan Howard and Manny Ramirez immediately come to mind as players with enormous contracts who are past their prime, but surprisingly, they have higher WAR numbers than most players on this list. Howard has an anemic slash line, but his 23 dingers do a bit to balance that out. Granted, he costs you over $14.6 million per additional win (or $826,000 per homer), but it’s clear he’s not the worst offender on this list.

My initial thought was that Todd Helton would run away with this, as he earns over $17 million each year and is a shell of his former self this year. In fact, the numbers say that he costs your team nearly $52.3 million for just one additional win. (For reference, that’s slightly more than the Oakland A’s entire payroll.) And his WAR of 0.3 is bad, but if you notice, there’s a player up there who makes more and actually contributes less than the Toddfather. The Mets’ Carlos Beltran takes the cake here, earning over $19 million to actually produce less than a replacement player. Part of his terrible performance this year has to be because he missed a few months due to knee surgery, but it’s not as though he’s been tearing up the world while he’s been playing. He’s barely above the Mendoza line, actually has a lower slugging average than his OBP, and he’s only hit two home runs (at $9.7 million apiece) all season. Yikes.

But as terrible as he’s been, at least he plays every day. The same can’t be said for pitchers. Let’s take a look at some of these guys and how they measure up:

Carlos Zambrano has to be the poster boy for the overpaid player in MLB. Not only is he earning nearly $19 million to only produce 1.3 WAR, but he was suspended for a fair chunk of this season. Once he came back, he spent time in the bullpen until finally returning to the rotation recently. Earning that kind of money to only play every five days is one thing, but when you’re only playing an inning or so per game, that’s much, much worse.

That makes me wonder why teams pay such high prices for relievers who hardly pitch at all. I’m already on the record that I think saves are way overhyped, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my most overpaid player is a reliever. I wanted to go with Francisco Rodriguez, but his WAR of 1.4, ERA of 2.20 and K/9 ratio of 10.52 made me reconsider. Couple that with the fact that the Mets aren’t technically paying him anymore, and it’s tough to consider him as overpaid.

No, I’m going to have to go with Phillies closer Brad Lidge at this point. Lidge famously melted down last season, and it’s not as though he’s really regained his form this season. His K/9 ratio of 10.86 hides the fact that he has an ERA of nearly 4.00 (and considering he’s only pitched 32 innings, that’s a lot of runs to give up), and his WAR is only 0.2. Couple that with his $12 million salary and you’re looking at a player who costs you $60 million for just one additional win (or roughly as much as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ entire salary).

That’s an awful lot of money to tie up in someone who only pitches at most an inning per game. Looks to me like we have a winner.

Follow Sam on Twitter at @TheRealSamOrme.

This guy might be the only person in the world who expected the Padres to contend for the playoffs in 2010.

While you can use statistics to support candidates for most the MLB end-of-season awards, that’s not quite the case for the Manager of the Year award. After all, managers don’t have batting averages. They don’t hit home runs. They don’t have ERAs, and they can’t blow saves.

In fact, the only stat you can use to even remotely measure a manager’s worth is wins.

And that’s what we do, really. The Manager of the Year award, most years, is given to the skipper of the club that has the most wins in their league. Since the award was first given out in 1983 (to Tommy Lasorda), its winners have averaged over 95 wins a year. Not too shabby.

So if we’re assuming that the award will go to the manager of the team with the most wins in the NL, that means we’re looking at a dead heat between Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves (currently 75-55), Dusty Baker of the Cincinnati Reds (also 75-55), and Bud Black of the San Diego Padres (currently 76-53). With just under a month left to play, anything could happen, but it looks likely that the award is Black’s to lose.

Except that’s not the only consideration we use, because the award isn’t always given to the team with the best record. A fair amount of the time, the award is given to the manager whose team that most outperformed their expectations. A perfect example would be Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies, who took over a team sitting at 18-28 and piloted them to a 74-42 finish, including winning 20 of his first 25 games. Considering that was a team picked to finish fourth in its division, it’s safe to say he overachieved.

So which NL teams have overachieved this year? Two of our division leaders (Black’s Padres and Baker’s Reds) still qualify, but Cox’s Braves were supposed to be good. Not this good, perhaps, but challenging for the divisional title, at least. We can probably scratch Cox off the list, even though winning the Manager of the Year award in his last season would certainly be poetic. He might be considered if his team gets to 100 wins (which would require an unthinkable 25-7 finish), but it’s probably safe to count him out.

So we’re really left to debate between Black and Baker. Baker has done a tremendous job with the Reds this year. Almost everyone picked the Cardinals to win the NL Central, yet as we head into August, the Reds lead the division by 5 games. Travis Wood came agonizingly close to a perfect game in July. Joey Votto has emerged as an MVP candidate (more on him on Friday). And all this from a team that wasn’t expected to do anything this year. Seems like Baker should be a lock, right?

Perhaps, but at least the Reds were expected to be mediocre. The Padres, on the other hand, were expected to be flat-out terrible. Virtually every analyst had them picked to finish dead last in the NL West. (A few brave pundits picked them to finish ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but not many.) Instead, the Friars built on their torrid finish to 2009 and shot out of the gate. All throughout May, June, July, and August, people kept saying there was no way the Padres could keep this pace up. And all throughout those months, they’ve been proving people wrong. They currently hold the best record in the NL and the third-best in all of baseball (behind the twin terrors of the Yankees and Rays).

So Dusty Baker certainly helped the Reds to exceed their expectations, but Bud Black has completely obliterated them in San Diego. It doesn’t help that Baker has already won the award three times (1993, 1997, and 2000, all with the San Francisco Giants) while only one Padre has ever won the award (Bruce Bochy in 1996). I expect Black to win this award going away, and deservedly so. The Padres are one of the best stories of 2010 (just like the 2008 Rays), and it’s only fitting that he be recognized for it.

Manager of the Year is one of the most arbitrary awards of all the arbitrary awards. Quite frankly, I’d like to just give the award to Buck Showalter and call it good, but we can’t do that in good conscience, can we? Instead, so we can all sleep at night, let’s take a look at the best skippers the AL has to offer.

Right off the bat, we’re going to eliminate any teams without a winning record. What we’re really looking for is a team that’s outperforming their expectations and making the most of what they’ve got. There are currently eight teams in the AL with a winning record. Immediately we can eliminate Joe Girardi. Nobody with a $200 million payroll gets Manager of the Year. Next, we can eliminate Bob Geren of the Oakland Athletics because no pets, even Billy Beane’s, are allowed. Third, we can ditch Cito Gaston because his Blue Jays aren’t much good at anything except for hitting home runs and not measuring up to the Yankees/Rays/Red Sox monster they’re cursed with. In another division maybe, but the Jays just aren’t anything special in the behemoth that is the AL East.

Now to the real contenders. That leaves six legitimate candidates for Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays, Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox, Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins, Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox, and Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers. I think we can next whittle away by denying Joe Maddon of his second Manager of the Year Award. Unfortunately for him, the Rays now have legit expectations and you don’t win awards for meeting expectations.

As well as the Rangers have done this year, I don’t see Ron Washington walking away with a Manager of the Year Award in a year where he’s lucky to still be employed. On the other hand, maybe that’s precisely why he’d win it.

If the White Sox don’t win the Central, then Ozzie’s out, and even if they do, it’s still no sure thing, although a White Sox winning streak would probably also coincide with a highly publicized Manny hot-streak that could only work in Ozzie’s favor.

The surest contenders and probably the most deserving of the award are managing veterans Ron Gardenhire and Terry Francona. If the Twins win the Central, Gardenhire will win the award for, surprisingly, the first time. In a season where the Twins lost Justin Morneau for a good chunk of time, Joe Mauer had a down year, and have been without Joe Nathan all season, Ron Gardenhire has kept his club along their all-too-familiar path of surprising contending consistency. For that, and for all his past work, Gardenhire deserves a Manager of the Year Award.

But not this year. This year, the award should go to Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox. The Sox have had a down year, no doubt about it, but let’s put it in perspective. If the Sox were moved to the Central today, they’d be two games back. If they were in the West, they’d be a half a game up on the surprising Rangers.

But they aren’t. Instead, Francona and his club are mired in the East where they’re a distant third and all-but-eliminated from playoff contention. But Francona’s election would not be unprecedented. His AL East foe, Joe Girardi, won the award as a rookie manager in 2006 for the Marlins, finishing under .500.

It is entirely possible that the Red Sox will finish the year as the third-best team in the league in a season where they’ve had to deal with injury problems the likes of which haven’t been dealt with by any other team in either league. And through it all, Terry Francona has been the class act that he’s always been while keeping his team on an even keel. Even though they may not be the best team in the league, it’s clear that the Red Sox, this year at least, have the best manager in the league in Terry Francona.