MVP Props for Pena

How good was Carlos Pena this season? He garnered enough attention to finish ninth in the American League MVP voting, announced Monday.

Pena hit 46 home runs and drove in 121 runs — both career-highs and team records. Not bad for a guy who was the final cut of spring training, then brought back at the last minute to fill an injury void.

He was named on 24 ballots and was voted as high as third by two writers.

I think voting him third is a little too much, since he didn’t lift the Rays out of last place or prevent them from finishing with the worst record in baseball. But ninth?

Pena was one of the more pleasant surprises in baseball in 2006, let alone on the Rays, and there were more than a few GMs who wished they had his left-handed bat in their lineup down the stretch.

But if a tree hits 46 home runs and drives in 121 runs and has a has a .627 slugging percentage in a forrest and that tree is Carlos Pena and that forrest is Tropicana field, will anyone hear him? The answer, judging from the MVP voting, is no.