Here's my take. Of the teams that aren't in the race, you're looking at
Albert Pujols
Chipper Jones
Matt Holliday
Lance Berkman (close to playoffs, but doubtful)
Hanley Ramirez
Of the teams that are in contention, you're looking at
Chase Utley
Ryan Howard
David Wright
Carlos Beltran
Carlos Delgado
Derrek Lee
Ryan Braun
CC Sabathia
Manny Ramirez
I don't believe I'm leaving anyone out. One could argue Aramis Ramirez, but I'm going with Derrek Lee because of his stellar defense.
CC and Ramirez are interesting candidates because of their late season arrival. They have been the difference for their teams with Manny being the key guy for LA.
I think you can subtract Ryan Howard, Carlos Delgado and Ryan Braun because they're just not in the same league as the rest. They've helped their teams immensely, but they're not the most valuable on their own teams! I guess if late success doesn't factor in, then you can also get rid of CC and Ramirez.
Now, you've narrowed down the list to these guys:
Chase Utley
Derrek Lee
David Wright
Carlos Beltran
Albert Pujols
Chipper Jones
Lance Berkman
Hanley Ramirez
Hitting wise, these guys are the most valuable in the league. Factoring in defense, we see that Albert Pujols is atop for first basemen, so kick out Lee and Berkman. Chipper is way ahead of Wright, so David is out. That leaves you with
Albert Pujols
Chase Utley
Chipper Jones
Carlos Beltran
Hanley Ramirez
There's always those intangibles and non quantitative characteristics that separate a good guy from a great guy in the club house. This is something I can not speak for, so I have no idea.
Of these guys, I would pick Pujols with Beltran coming in at a close second.
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