http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/08/18/getting-started-on-josh-hamilton/

Joe Posnanski makes some very good points, however, I find it incredulous that he thinks Josh isn't one of the type five players in baseball this season, yet deems him the MVP front-runner.

Thoughts?

Posnanski's piece is in response to this Tom Verducci article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/08/17/josh.hamilton/index.html?eref=sihp

I'm also not seeing where he stated that Hamilton wasn't one of the top 5 players this season. He notes that Hamilton is tops in WAR on Fangraphs and #6 on Baseball Reference, but he goes on to say that he leans toward the Fangraphs assessment. All he ultimately ends up saying is that Hamilton isn't a better player than Pujols.

I actually agree with Joe Posnanski. Hamilton is my favorite player, was my favorite prospect of all time, and is one of the five best hitters in baseball this season; however, he doesn't have the long-term track record to suggest that this season isn't at least a little fluky. I think if he can keep this up for the rest of this year and sit around .325/.400/.600 for the next three years, then he'd have a legitimate case as being on of the top five players.