At RealGM, we use the Field Impact Counter (FIC) to objectively measure how effective players are performing and then use the Reina Value to evaluate their financial worth. The player with the highest FIC for the season, therefore, ?deserves? the highest salary, which is Alex Rodriguez?s $28 million contract for 2008. The player with the 10th highest FIC 'deserves' Carlos Zambrano's $16 million salary. Click here for more information about the Field Impact Counter and the Reina Value. *Through Wednesday?s games Player, Team: FIC (Reina Value) 1. Albert Pujols, STL: 330 (+102%) Winning fifty games may be the baseline for an NBA player to get an MVP award, but I don?t believe that should carry over to baseball. No player has meant more and performed as well on a daily basis in all of baseball than Albert Pujols and his 1.122 OPS. The Cardinals won?t make the playoffs but the fact that they are even flirting with contention despite a whole slew of injuries is a testament to what Pujols does for that lineup and no single player has had the impact on his team like him since Barry Bonds during those first few seasons of the new century. 2. CC Sabathia, MIL: 302 (+113%) Sabathia won?t be around Wisconsin long enough for parents to stop naming their kids Brett and begin opting instead for Carsten Charles, but giving the Brewers a victory every time he steps on the mound and putting them into the postseason for the first time since 1982 is no small feat that will go underappreciated. The Brewers are 12-1 during Sabathia?s 13 starts in Milwaukee. 3. Lance Berkman, HOU: 290 (+49%) Berkman?s explosive 22 homer, three triple, 30 double first half has offset his human .300/.412/.506 post-All Star break performance. 4. Roy Halladay, TOR: 281 (+99%) Halladay is liked by the FIC because of his eight complete games, but as his ERA climbs (yielded five runs in six innings on Wednesday), he looks more and more like Cliff Lee?s runner-up. 5. Cliff Lee, CLE: 280 (+366%) I was way off, like many people, in my expectations of the Indians this season and it is unfortunate that Lee?s 0.55 ERA during the month of September wasn?t going towards a pennant chase. 6. Tim Lincecum, SFG: 263 (+4,123%) Lincecum rebounded from a poor performance in Colorado to go 8.1 innings against the D-Back, striking out nine, walking two and yielding one run. 7. Dustin Pedroia, BOS: 261 (+3,616%) Pedroia is batting .442/.524/.692 with a .420 BAbip over his past 13 games. 8. Carlos Beltran, NYM: 255 (-11%) As hot as Pedroia has been recently, Beltran has been hitting .381/.429/.786 over his past 11 games. It sounds well and good to say Carlos Delgado, but he?s 69th in the season FIC, behind Beltran, David Wright and Jose Reyes. The MVP is an award that should look at the entire season, not just who is hot in August and September. 9. Mark Teixeira, LAA: 253 (+32%) The Angels didn?t need Teixeira to reach the postseason, but he has outperformed expectations by hitting .362/.444/.610. The question will be if he can replicate those numbers during October. 10. Carlos Quentin, CWS: 250 (+3,900%) If Quentin is unable to return, his breakout 2008 season is frozen at .288/.394/.571, 36 homers and 100 RBIs. 11. Aubrey Huff, BAL: 248 (+100%) It is hard to believe that Huff has better numbers than anyone on the Yankees and anyone on the Red Sox outside of the second baseman, but his .950 OPS, 31 homers and 46 doubles have been outstanding. 12. Ervin Santana, LAA: 248 (+90%) Left handed batters have a .708 OPS against Santana versus .587 for righties. 13. Justin Morneau, MIN: 248 (+68%) Fewer balls are going out of the park for Morneau this season, but he has 41 doubles, already a career high. 14. Matt Holliday, COL: 248 (+68%) As the Rockies have faded, so has Holliday, who is hitting .194/.306/.258 in September. 15. Francisco Rodriguez, LAA: 247 (+58%) Rodriguez has 56 saves as he stands at the doorway of Bobby Thigpen. 16. Cole Hamels, PHI: 245 (+3,046%) Hamels has been Charlie Manuel?s best pitcher throughout the season, but Brett Myers has a 1.90 ERA and 65 K?s in 71 innings since the break, trailing only Sabathia in the second half. 17. David Wright, NYM: 244 (+198%) Wright has a 1.302 OPS over the past seven days as the Mets try to create some separation between themselves and the Phillies. 18. Brandon Webb, ARI: 244 (+182%) Webb has given up 13 earned runs (15 unearned) during his last two starts, which have lasted a total of nine innings. 19. Manny Ramirez, LAD: 243 (-18%) The recent Manny ?Being? NL MVP talk is interesting but it can?t be truly taken seriously. He?s hitting .396/.488/.776 since becoming a member of the Dodgers and they certainly don?t have a lead in the NL West without him, but he?s only played 38 games. If voters were to give the award to a player that was traded and subsequently changed the complexion of the pennant race, then they may as well vote for Sabathia. 20. Johan Santana, NYM: 240 (-9%) The Mets have won Santana?s last seven starts as he?s limited the home run better overall this year (down to 23 from 33 last year).