Phillies’ Bryce Harper (3) and Andrew McCutchen are both preseason candidates for the 2020 National League Most Valuable Player (Joe Mahoney)
Phillies’ Bryce Harper (3) and Andrew McCutchen are both preseason candidates for the 2020 National League Most Valuable Player (Joe Mahoney)Associated Press

BoopProps: Six Phillies to win National League MVP Award

No Sixers Monday. No Flyers. No Union. No Big 5 (nor City 6) . . . Heck, the NFL Combine doesn’t even start for another week.

But the Boys of Summer are starting to simmer down in Florida. Before you know it, they will be playing games, then games that count, and then, before the kids get their final report cards, the debate will begin on whom has taken the early lead for the individual awards − Most Valuable Player and Cy Young.

So, before all that happens, let’s get some bets down.

We will allow ourselves $25 to bet on various Phillies to win in each category.

There are two Phils who have Cy Young odds posted at Parx – Aaron Nola (+2200) and Zack Wheeler (+5000). We are going to wait until we see them start throwing in actual exhibition games to decide how to divvy up the Cy Young allotment.

But the NL MVP, we can lay that out from jump start:

> Bryce Harper (+2500/$10): He had himself a pretty good year despite the fact that the regular batter behind him (Rhys Hoskins) disintegrated into dust shortly after the All-Star Break. Harper hit .240 in April, then .255 (both May and June), .259 (July), .277 (August) and .278 (September). And we suspect his preparation for the 2020 season started about 10 minutes before Halloween dawned, just as the Washington Nationals, his former team, completed a late-Game 7 rally to win their first World Series.

> Rhys Hoskins (+6600/$5): Yeah, his second half (.180, 9 homers) was Domonic Brown-ish, but he had a stretch covering the 2018 and 2019 seasons where he belted 31 homers in 100 games.

> J.T. Realmuto ($6600/$5): A Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove! Only one Phillie had done that since the Reagan administraion (Jimmy Rollins, 2007). If he performs the same way and the Phillies' starting pitchers perform well with him behind the dish, he can jump – perhaps by a great deal − from his 14th place finish in the 2018 NL MVP voting.

> Didi Gregorius (+10000/$3): How cool would it have been to have Harry Kalas still around to pronounce this guy's names a dozen times a night through the summer? He was 20th in the AL MVP voting in both 2017 and 2018. Rollins was 21st in the 2006 NL MVP voting. He did fairly better in the 2007 tally.

> Andrew McCutchen (+12500/$1): His own NL MVP Award, as well as four other Top-5 finishes, are a half-dozen years in the rear-view mirror. But he was on a pace for 124 runs scored in 2019 before going down with a torn ACL. His return to MVP consideration alone would be a great story. Worth a single.

> Jean Segura (+12500/$1): To be honest, we didn’t even realize he was still a Phillie. But he did hit .280 last season and was up in doubles, triples and home runs from the previous year in fewer at-bats. And he led the NL with 203 hits in 2016. He turns 30 on St. Patrick’s Day. Yeah, it’s like throwing away a dollar, but it’s our dollar.

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