What would it take for a pitcher to win the National League MVP award?

Really there are two questions here: What would it take for voters to vote a starter into the award? And what would it take for a pitcher to be worth more than a position player?

First, a bit of history. Twenty-one pitchers have won the award since 1911, meaning it happens about once every 10 years. The last time it happened for a starter was 1986, when Roger Clemens won the award with a 24-4 record and 238 strike outs. Those benchmarks won’t be hit this year, but is it possible that some of the conditions will be met? Could Roy Halladay or Clayton Kershaw find themselves with two pieces of mega-hardware after the season?

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We had so much fun hanging out in San Francisco that we thought we’d do it again. This time, we’re bringing together Mets and Yankees (and, really, any baseball) fans for one of the last days they can all enjoy baseball — together.

And, sure, we’ll leave some football on one of the televisions, okay.

On Sunday, September 25th, we’ll blow the horn for FanGraphs East and announce happy hour drinks and our own private space for our particular brand of nerdery. Come to Amity Hall any time after one PM eastern, and we’ll be hanging out, talking baseball and enjoying happy hour prices. And there will be a ton of togetherness because really how much can you hate a Mets fan right now. Oh! Also, come downstairs. We’ve got the downstairs bar.

And this is who will be hanging out:

David Appelman, FanGraphs Dark Overlord, so dark
Mike Podhorzer, Serious about (fantasy) baseball, RotoGraphs
Eno Sarris, Fan of Graphs, Fan, Not and Roto
Niv Shah, ottoneu founder and Cleveland Midges fan
Craig Glaser, Bloomberg Sports’ goggled superhero and Mets fan
Amanda Rykoff, espnW contributor, beer lover and Yankees fan
James Kannengeiser, professional curmudgeon and Amazin Avenue writer
Chris McShane, Amazin Avenue backbone, ready to dance
Eric Simon, Amazin Avenue head honcho guy, generally nice dude
Mike Axisa, aka “Mike from RAB, FanGraphs & Trade Rumors,” you know, just Mike
Ben Kabak, River Avenue Blues!
Joe Pawlikowski, music lover, FanGraphs escapee and River Avenue Blueser

So I’m sure there will be some enjoyable conversations. Exciting even.

If you are under 21 years old, you may come to the event, but you’ll have to check in with me. The bar may want you to wear a bracelet to identify you. Annoying, but at least you’ll get to hang out and have burgers and sodas.

When Nike makes moves, the sporting world listens. They are, after all, the top sporting apparel company in the business.

So when they released contracted universities from any commitment to use Nike baseball bats during the upcoming season, it set off some waves. Presumably, it was a chink in the Nike armor, and an admission that their bats were suspect. But there’s more to this, even more than we can hope to uncover today.

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Chris Carpenter signed a two-year $21-million extension with the Cardinals this week. That sounds better until you realize that the team already had an option on Carpenter worth $15 million. Somehow they managed to finagle an extra cheap year out of their ace for another $6 million. How much might the oft-injured pitcher have made on the open market?

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It’s clear the Giants are in desperation mode. Now seven games out with 19 to go, they’ve jettisoned their disappointing veterans and have called on hands onto the deck. Wednesday night, facing righty Aaron Harang in San Diego, two of those callups were in the game. Did their inclusion on the lineup card actually constitute a mistake on the part of the Giants? Has their search for lightning in a bottle set them astray?

First, the more obvious head-scratcher. Perhaps on the basis of his Tuesday night home run, 27-year-old rookie Brett Pill was inserted into the sixth spot. Pill is a righty. Brandon Belt is a lefty. Harang is a righty. So that’s strike one for the managerial team in San Francisco.

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We’d like to meet you. In person. You know, get to know more about you and what makes you tick. What makes you smile, what numbers to dial.

So we’ve put together a low-key meetup for our friends in the Bay Area.

On Tuesday September 6th, around five pacific time, we’ll gather at the Gordon Biersch Brewery near the ballpark in San Francisco. Our friends at GB will be providing free appetizers, drink specials, and a private space for our nerdly conversations about baseball. We’ll have Stephen Strasburg’s debut on a television or two, at least until the Giants start their game against the Rockies. (In fact, if you want to come early, I’ll be at the bar for the beginning of that Nationals game.)

Attending the meetup will be the following studly dorks:

Grant Brisbee, proprietor of McCovey Chronicles and SBNation writer extraordinaire
Carson Cistulli, NotGraphs destroyer and FanGraphs poet-laureate
Patrick Newman, FanGraphs cameo provider and proprietor of NPBTracker.com
Eric Freeman, Ball Don’t Lie writer, founding member of The Classical and Giants fan
Eno Sarris, tender lover of beers, sandwiches and FanGraphs
Howard Bender, RotoGraphs writer and founder or SF Giants Report

Oh, and a message from Monsieur Cistulli: if someone is willing to house him for any period of time starting Sunday and ending Wednesday, he’s got a nice bottle of prosecco with your name on it. Get all the Cistulli you could want!

Going into this season, ZiPS projected Madison Bumgarner to have a 3.93 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP built on the back of a 5.84 K/9 and a 2.78 BB/9. It’s safe to say that he outdid those conservative numbers this year. Was this more about improvement or consolidation of talent? In other words, did Bumgarner say the same in the face of regression, or did he take fundamental steps forward this season?

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Research often inspires more questions than it answers. That’s acceptable because asking the right questions is such an important part of doing the right research. Every presentation at SportVision’s 2011 Pitch F/x Summit either asked or answered a worthy question, making the summit a great way to spend an day talking about baseball.

That said, of course a couple presentations stepped to the fore.

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The Blue Jays shipped fan-favorite John McDonald and fan-hated Aaron Hill to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Kelly Johnson. Strangely, even though Hill is the only player with a possible contract currently in place for 2012, this deal opens up many possibilities for the Blue Jays and increases their flexibility.

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Offense is down around baseball, but the hot corner is suffering more than most. Consider this factoid, discovered in the process of deciding whether or not the Cubs should pick up the $16 million option on Aramis Ramirez: Shortstops are hitting .259/.312/.369 so far this year — and third basemen aren’t much better (.257/.317/.382). What gives?

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