Imaginary Diamond

No matter how you’re looking at it, from a fantasy or reality perspective, Lance Berkman has been the runaway choice for Most Valuable Player honors.

The 32-year old slugger hit his league-leading 15th home run against the Giants on Thursday night, lifting the Astros to their 11th win in 13 games and continuing a remarkable May hot streak. Berkman leads the majors in doubles, homers, RBIs and OPS, and he is hitting .587 with a .648 on-base percentage this month.

While a triple crown would be a reach for Berkman, a career-best season is well within his grasp. And that’s saying a lot, considering he hit .315 with 45 homers and 136 RBIs in 2006. One subtle difference between what would have been a very good start and his ridiculous start has been the way Berkman has hit left-handed pitching. He’s a .275 lifetime hitter against lefties, but is hitting a whopping .459 (17-for-37) against them in 2008.

The power numbers have been plenty in fantasy, but he tops off the line with seven stolen bases in eight attempts. To put that number in perspective, Berkman has at least as many steals as threatening baserunners B.J. Upton, Grady Sizemore, Rickie Weeks, Brandon Phillips and David Wright. No player comes close to matching his overall value on ESPN’s Player Rater, which assigns number values to a player’s contributions in each category.

FANTASY SPIN
Don’t do anything crazy, like trying to sell high on Berkman right now. Sure, you could fetch a nice ransom, but do you really want that production in another manager’s lineup? At least two of the three following circumstances must apply for you to even consider it: 1.) He must be traded to a last place team; 2.) Your remaining offense had better be pretty stacked; 3.) You must be able to rectify serious issues with your speed and/or pitching staff by shopping him.

Here’s a quick breakdown of MVP candidates, in both fantasy and reality. Expectation plays a part in some of the fantasy choices. If preseason hype was low for a player, a la Cliff Lee or Nate McLouth, special consideration was given.

FANTASY - MIXED LEAGUES
1. Berkman
2. Hanley Ramirez, SS, Florida Marlins
3. Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies
4. Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves
5. Brandon Webb, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Cliff Lee, SP, Cleveland Indians
7. Josh Hamilton, OF, Texas Rangers
8. Miguel Tejada, SS, Houston Astros
9. Carlos Quentin, OF, Chicago White Sox
10. Dan Uggla, 2B, Florida Marlins

REALITY - NATIONAL LEAGUE
1. Berkman
2. Ramirez
3. Utley
4. Webb
5. Jones

REALITY - AMERICAN LEAGUE
1. Manny Ramirez, OF, Boston Red Sox
2. Hamilton
3. Lee
4. Torii Hunter, OF, Los Angeles Angels
5. Justin Morneau, 1B, Minnesota Twins

More MVP thoughts …
Baseball Factory likes Jones over Utley as runner-up to Berkman for NL MVP honors.

Armchair GM handicaps the NL awards race.

Berkman got Fantasy Hurler’s Line of the Day on Thursday.

Dustin Hockensmith is editor of ImaginaryDiamond.com. He can be contacted at dhockensmith[at]fantasysports101.net.