mvp debates getting silly, again

So in the past week I've heard Dustin Pedroia come up as an AL MVP candidate, when he's not the best player on his own team (Youkilis). And now I've heard Carlos Delgado come up as an NL candidate, again, not the best player on his own team.

I'm not sure what the convention is, but it sounds like "Have good September on contending team when people are finally paying attention to baseball, or have such a monster season that nobody is even close and your team is still pretty good". A-Rod did this last year with one of the best seasons in history and had the AL MVP wrapped up by about June. Albert Pujols is having a similarly very good year (while playing hurt) but Lance Berkman is right there with him, and so his team. Both aren't necessarily even going to make the playoffs. As a result, they're busy putting other options up.

Pujols could probably win the NL MVP just about every year, so that would get boring. It would be better (palatable) if they were proposing people who should be in the debate (and not Delgado). That would be Carlos Beltran if it had to be a Met. Or Jose Reyes, again, if it has to be a Met. Delgado is basically racking up RBIs because he's got those two on base..and Beltran has almost as many RBI anyway. Or David Wright...again a Met with a ton of RBI.. so yes, Delgado is a good player having a good year (or half year-depending on how you look at it). But he has three players who are better than he is on his own team, plus probably a pitcher (Johan Santana). How he can come up in an MVP debate at all is beyond my ability to comprehend. If Manny Ramirez had been traded sooner, I'd suggest he's the best option for this "Have a great stretch run on contending team" candidate that people seem to want to vote on. (Hitting almost .400 as of today for LA).

Personally it looks to me like it should be Pujols anyway, and Berkman if not him. They are both on good teams competing in a tough division for post season potential (albeit slipping away) and neither has much in the way of supporting cast players. Take them away, the teams they are on suddenly suck. That sounds pretty valuable. Take Delgado off the Mets and they're still a very good team (with four very good players at least). That does not.