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sportscardtheory
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Who would you choose as the A.L. and N.L. MVPs so far this season? (be sure to choose one from each league)
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Who are your A.L. and N.L. MVPs so far this season
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markakis8
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- Oct 31, 2008
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I'd put Verlander there instead of Miggy.
rymflaherty
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I voted Fielder in the NL.
Didn't vote in the AL - Since my pick wasn't included.
I've moved on to the Ellsbury bandwagon. What he's done this year is great, and he's put up numbers across the board consistently. While it's close, I think I have to give it to him over Gonzalez at the moment.
To not be a complete "homer" - I'll admit Granderson is having an incredible season as well.....but as a Sox fan there's no way I could pick a Yankees player in a poll like this, so he'd get my vote for second.
Gonzalez third.
Didn't vote in the AL - Since my pick wasn't included.
I've moved on to the Ellsbury bandwagon. What he's done this year is great, and he's put up numbers across the board consistently. While it's close, I think I have to give it to him over Gonzalez at the moment.
To not be a complete "homer" - I'll admit Granderson is having an incredible season as well.....but as a Sox fan there's no way I could pick a Yankees player in a poll like this, so he'd get my vote for second.
Gonzalez third.Hallsgator
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Brian McCann
Tomlinson21RB
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Jacoby Ellsbury
scotty21690
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and Matt Kemp.Tomlinson21RB said:
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sportscardtheory
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braden said:
Agreed. He is the best player in the A.L. this year. He is having a Barry Bonds "after they stopped pitching to him" season.
People pick Granderson because he leads in some of the flashy numbers like runs and RBIs and plays for the Yankees, but Bautista leads the league in most of the true "baseball" numbers like on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, HRs per-at-bat, etc... oh, and he still leads in HRs.
Bautista would have much higher numbers in all categories if they would actually pitch to him.
To put in perspective how much better Bautista's season is compared to the other front-runners, their at-bats:
Gonzalez 502
Young 501
Granderson 459
Cabrera 447
Bautista 393
Yet Bautista still leads the league in HRs and slugging percentage. Clearly if he was pitched to, he would probably lead in many other categories as well.
sportscardtheory said:
Granderson's having a phenomenal year and it would be far from a travesty if he won. But I'm constantly dumbfounded at people referencing RBI and Runs.
And while A. Gonzalez is a fantastic player having a great year, he's gotta be like 5th or 6th now in the AL. Hell, he's probably 3rd on his team.
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sportscardtheory
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Oh yeah, Bautista also leads the league in ABs per-HR, walks per-AB and walks per-plate appearance.
markakis8
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braden said:
Exactly why I wouldn't give it to a Yankee or a Red Sox at this point. The Yanks have Granderson, Tex, and Cano (not to mention other "subpar" superstars) and the Red Sox have AGone, Ells, and Pedroia (not to mention other "subpar" superstars). The Yankees and Red Sox would still be in 1st or 2nd without any of those guys.
So that leaves me with two players who are having phenomenal seasons: Jose Bautista and Justin Verlander.
Then I look at this: The Blue Jays would be in 4th place with or without Joey Bats. The Tigers would be in 1st with Verlander and in 3rd without him.
So my vote (right now) is for Verlander.
rymflaherty
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braden said:
I'm not saying this is right or wrong, so really not trying to open up this can of worms, simply explaining my thoughts - I just don't think of an "MVP" as a guy playing to half filled stadiums in games that for the most part are inconsequential.
Or at least not when there are guys on the top teams putting up "MVP Caliber" seasons. To me that's why they have awards like the Hank Aaron award.
Again, not saying that's right - so if that is a bias or stupid way of thinking, so be it....that's just why I would not put Bautista first. Though I will say - I gave my top 3 without him, and his numbers are great, so I probably should have put him in there 3rd instead of Gonzalez, if I was going to put another Red Sox (Ellsbury) first.
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sportscardtheory
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Some more perspective on Bautista's season. Here are the categories that Bautista leads ALL OF BASEBALL in or is second in.
1st in all of baseball
WAR
Homeruns
Walks
On-base percentage
Slugging percentage
OPS
At-bats per-homerun
Walks per-plate appearance
Walk to strikeout ratio
Runs created
Runs created per-27 outs
Isolated power
Secondary average
2nd in all of baseball
Runs
Intentional walks
HELLO. How on earth can anyone not think this is the best player in baseball, let alone the A.L.
1st in all of baseball
WAR
Homeruns
Walks
On-base percentage
Slugging percentage
OPS
At-bats per-homerun
Walks per-plate appearance
Walk to strikeout ratio
Runs created
Runs created per-27 outs
Isolated power
Secondary average
2nd in all of baseball
Runs
Intentional walks
HELLO. How on earth can anyone not think this is the best player in baseball, let alone the A.L.
Tomlinson21RB
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sportscardtheory said:
Who said he wasn't the best player in baseball this year? It's an MVP discussion, not best hitter in baseball discussion.
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sportscardtheory
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Tomlinson21RB said:
So you think that statistically being the absolute best player in baseball in a particular season has no bearing on whether or not that player should be MVP for that season?
There is no better player in baseball THIS SEASON, so how is he not the most valuable player THIS SEASON.
Tomlinson21RB
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sportscardtheory said:
I think there are different ways to look at MVP, but usually people look at the "most valuable" part. Most times MVP's don't go to players on 4th place teams.
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sportscardtheory
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Tomlinson21RB said:
Albert Pujols just won the MVP Award in 2008 on a 4th place team.
markakis8
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sportscardtheory said:
He did say most times, not every time. Since 2008 - that's 6 MVP awards and 1 went, or 83%, went to a team not in 1st or 2nd place
Crewfan82
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Tomlinson21RB said:
Sorry, Tomlinson, but you aren't making much sense here. The "Most Valuable" part doesn't mean the best player on the best team; even though most people tend to think it does. I think Bautista is much more valuable to the Jays than Ellsbury is to the Sox, which would be the "Most Valuable" correct?
Tomlinson21RB
Active member
Crewfan82 said:
It has to do with what value the player adds to his team. Taking Ellsbury off the Sox has a far greater effect than taking Bautista off the Jays.
Ellsbury WAR = 5.9
Bautista WAR = 7.6
So, at first glance you're right. Bautista is more valuable, but let's look a little further.
Boston is essentially tied for first place in the division, only .5 games back for first. They have a 7.5 game lead in the wild card. Subtract 6 wins, and they're out of the race for division winner and in a tight race for the wild card.
Take 8 wins away from Toronto and they go from being 4th in the division and 13 games behind to 4th in the division and 21 games behind, still leading the orioles by 7 games.
So, I'll admit there is more than one way to look at the "value" a player adds to his team. Ellsbury has been so good that people have mostly overlooked Carl Crawford taking a 20 million dollar turd on the field.
