UPDATE: PTOLEMAIC MVP AS OF 6/26/12

Upon further review (where have you heard that phrase before?), we've decided to calculate the Ptolemaic MVP rankings on a weekly basis. That will probably result in the season-end point totals looking a good bit like the actual MVP voting numbers as they're calculated from the BB-WAA ballots. (Just another way that we try to ease the more entrenched into our downright strange new world.)

For more details on just what a Ptolemaic MVP award looks like, simply type "Ptolemaic" into our slightly wayward search engine.

What's interesting about this updated approach is that the numbers get displayed and broken out by the seven offensive categories that get ranked--OPS, OBP, SLG, HR, RBI, R, and BA. We've tried to weight it so that the more useful stats (OPS, OBP and SLG) get a disproportionate weighting, but we've also decided to be pretty generous with the points for HR and RBI, if only to blend the two competing approaches to the MVP. (Yes, in the modern world it's called selling out to both sides: then again, one might suffer the following fate--which, once the punk-primed whelping subsided, would result in a "cancelled subscription"...)



But let's not get dragged down by such inexorable prophecy, and focus on the current results.

Let's start with the AL first:

We should note that the results here represent five weeks of data, which means that current AL Ptolemaic leader Josh Hamilton has been pulling down an average of a bit more than 14 Ptolemaic points a week since our rolling two-month snapshot data has kicked in.

However, the weekly totals show that Josh is declining: 18, 17, 17, 12, 8. That's also been the case for current runner-up Paul Konerko: 14, 12, 12, 10, 4.

Is anyone making a move? Well, Robinson Cano piled up 11 Ptolemaic points in the last week. That just might be the average weekly point total for the overall winner: we'll see.

Would we actually vote this MVP ballot in the order that the Ptolemaic method creates? In all likelihood, not quite. But it ain't bad.

Let's go over and take a look at the NL...

Joey Votto, already the BB-WAA MVP in 2010, is making a strong run for award number two this year and is now basically the mirror image of the man who stood in his way for the MVP award for so many years (Albert Pujols, still a few magic beans short of his usual killer tomato act).

A few interesting names on this list, including embattled NL 2011 MVP Ryan Braun. And then there's our old pal Melky Cabrera, trying to ride batting average to the top of the Ptolemaic thrill ride. (Melky is making Giants' GM Brian Sabean look like a genius again--two words: Jeff Kent--while embattled lefty Jonathan Sanchez is still struggling in KC.)

It's also rare to see a catcher as far up in the rankings as Carlos Ruiz. It won't last, but it will be one of the memories of spring 2012 that Carlos had such a lofty batting average--the highest for an NL catcher (at this point in time, at least) since Mike Piazza in 1997.