Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Joe Mauer started his season on the DL and ended it as the American League Most Valuable Player. There really was no other choice, as Mauer got 27 of the 28 first-place votes. It seems one of the BWAA members must be related to Miguel Cabrera, as that's the only way you can make a case that Cabrera should get the other first-place vote.
Mauer hit .365 with 94 runs, 96 RBI and a 1.031 OPS while playing Gold Glove catcher for the Twins.
Mauer beats out two Yankees in Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, who finished second and third, respectively. The numbers back the choice of Mauer, as he had a VORP (value over replacement player) of 91.0 to Jeter's 72.8 and Teixeira's 54.7 despite missing time to start the season and having 110 fewer plate appearances than Jeter and 101 fewer than Teixeira. Mauer was second in the league in WAR (wins above replacement) according to FanGraphs and led all position players in WARP1 (basically the same stat with different metrics) according to Baseball Prospectus.
What might be the most interesting result in the race is that of Ben Zobrist. Voters for the BWAA are asked to vote 10 spots in the MVP balloting, and 27 different players received at least one vote. (Voting results here.) Yet somehow, Ben Zobrist of Tampa Bay finished eighth in the voting and didn't get one vote higher than sixth place. Alex Rodriguez got four votes higher than any for Zobrist. In fact, Zobrist only received 11 total votes, which means 17 of the 28 voters didn't think he was one of the 10 best players in the American League.
The guy only had the third-highest OPS in the league (.948), tied with Teixeira and ahead of Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Bay, Kendry Morales and Derek Jeter. Oh, and he also batted .297 with 27 home runs, 91 runs scored and 91 RBI while splitting time between second base and the outfield and hitting in every slot in the lineup.
Add to that the fact that Zobrist was fifth in the league in UZR (ultimate zone rating) for any position player for his 91 games at second base and fourth in the league for all right fielders for his 59 games in right, and you can begin to see the player's real value. Oh, add to that fact that Zobrist started at least one game in 2009 at seven different positions (all put catcher and pitcher). He also led Fangraph's list for WAR, ahead of Mauer and far ahead of Bay, who finished one spot ahead of him in the BWAA voting. Zobrist was also third in BP's VORP (61.0) while Bay finished 15th in the league (47.4). But Bay's team made the playoffs and Zobrist's did not. So I guess he couldn’t have been all that valuable.
We can only take solace in the fact that the voters got the winner right. Well, except for one voter.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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the writers got it right. enough of all these stupid stats. mauer/jeter/tex/arod/and others are all more than numbers. where is the stat for baseball knowledge, throwing to the correct base/cut off man/making the play when it is needed.
by mikiede15 on Nov 23, 2009 3:57 PM EST reply actions
What percentage of the time does a major league baseball player throw it to the wrong base? Even one percent? There are plenty of terrible baseball players who make all the right decisions in the field.
There’s no such thing as knowing how to "make the play when it is needed."
by ShaunPhillips on Nov 23, 2009 5:48 PM EST reply actions
props for the Zobrist love…he kept that team afloat.
by buccaneers99 on Nov 23, 2009 7:42 PM EST reply actions
Zobrist? Who looks like the 2008 AL MVP, who looks like 85% of the voters and is the sort of overachiever out of nowhere that feeds their fantasies?How about a guy who has a glove neither Zobrist or Pedroia or Utley or Polanco can get near (and don’t forget the arm, which would be top 10 as a Shortstop)?A guy who has hit .342 with .525 Slugging (at 23) and had 97 RBI at 24?A guy who posted .320 Avg/.520 Slugging with 25 HR, 75 Extra Base hits and 85 RBI this season, after an MVP playing his position and posting .326/.493/17/73/83, how can such a guy, Robinson Cano, 2B on a world champion, not even get a sniff from voters or writers, who are the voters?Maybe its because he is sleek personified, not gritty, not emotional, not english speaking, not an overachiever – a natural, whose dad was MLB and who reminds veterans of Oliva and Carew with a stick and Alomar with a glove. Or maybe its because media outlets like TSN, ESPN and just about every other voting/baseball writing outlet are comprised of guys who can only dream of the Cano gifts and feel a hell of a lot more comfortable touting the likes of Pedroia and Zobrist, guess who the HOF will remember?
by vagabondguru on Nov 23, 2009 9:58 PM EST reply actions
Could it be that Zobrist hit for more power and got on base much more playing in a far inferior lineup and a stadium that actually can hold a few fly balls? Also, no one thinks Cano is strong defensively.
But hey, play up the racism angle.
by ShaunPhillips on Nov 24, 2009 4:05 AM EST reply actions
Yeah, Zobrist would go off in that New York lineup. Race has nothing to do with anything. How many MVP awards do Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols have? Rodriguez, Jeter (mixed race), Pujols and Manny Ramirez are the only players ESPN cares about. Their biggest headliner on the Red Sox is Ortiz. We got Pedro news around the clock until he came back. Yeah, ESPN is one racist outlet, always pushing those scrappy white guys on us. That might be the single dumbest post I have ever had the extreme displeasure of reading. Idiot.
by ChiAdam on Nov 24, 2009 12:33 PM EST reply actions
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