I'm pleased to see the voters did what was right, once again. No, I'm not talking about America's voters and the Democratic victories in the House and Senate. I mean the AL and NL Most Valuable Player awards. Despite my hopes for Carlos Beltran becoming the first Met to take the award, Ryan Howard was a lock. He earned that award in the batter's box, no question about it. But he's a butcher in the field. However, fielding doesn't hurt you in this voting -- as long as you do it (not many designated hitters win the award) -- it can only help you.
Around my part of the country, it seemed most baseball fans expected Derek Jeter to take the AL MVP, and he had an excellent season. But Justin Morneau (.321, 34 homers, 130 RBI) was an enormous part of their Central Division championship. I'm well aware that Joe Mauer was the batting champ, but clearly the Canadian-born Morneau was the offensive firepower on the Twins.
I have no problem with Johan Santana taking his second AL Cy Young award, but I'm not sure if anyone should have won in the National League. I suppose Brandon Webb was the best pitcher over the entire season, but no NL hurler was really great. This was the worst season for pitching in the National League in a generation.
6 comments:
Another person buying the Morneau Kool-Aid? Explain exactly how Morneau was the MVP of the entire league when he wasn't even the MVP of his team. You can't even argue that Santana wasn't the MVP of the Twins but let's leave pitchers out of the equation. Joe Mauer was much more of an MVP than Morneau. Morneau's power stats were better than Mauer's but Mauer played an infinitely more difficult position (as did Jeter) than Morneau. And it's not like Morneau will ever be confused with Hernandez or Mattingly.
As for Jeter, the guy put up his numbers in the #2 slot while Matsui, Sheffield and Cano were missing for large portions of the season. Let's also not fail to recognize that A-Rod was slumping for much of the year. So while people who don't watch the Yankees will continue to fool themselves into thinking Jeter put up his numbers in a "Murderer's Row" lineup, the fact is that only Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada had very good years.
I have no problem with a Twins player being selected MVP ahead of Jeter but that player in no way should've been Morneau.
Yes, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. But not quite for the reasons you state. I don't necessarily agree with it, but the MVP has tended toward power numbers and the level of fear a batter puts into an opposing pitcher's head. Morneau does that to pitchers more than Jeter does -- again, I don't necessarily agree, but I'm going by what I read and hear. For a pitcher to win the MVP, he basically needs to be either a closer or have such a fantastic statistical season as a starter that his value cannot be denied. Santana had a great season, leading the league in the three major stats, but it wasn't a year that will go down in the ages. Mauer? Love him. But he's got about as much power as Jeter. The MVP has morphed into this; I don't think it's what was intended. But Morneau did what the writers honor.
Also, while I'm a Met fan and a Yankee hater, I respect Jeter. The man has class. He's a true professional, and a Hall of Famer. I don't care what his eventual statistics come down to, he always has found a way to win and do it the right way. If Jeter had won the MVP this year, I wouldn't have complained. I think Morneau was more important to his team than Jeter was to his (an arguable point, I wholeheartedly agree), but if Jeter had taken those honors you would not have heard me complain.
Also, while I'm a Met fan and a Yankee hater, I respect Jeter. The man has class. He's a true professional, and a Hall of Famer. I don't care what his eventual statistics come down to, he always has found a way to win and do it the right way. If Jeter had won the MVP this year, I wouldn't have complained. I think Morneau was more important to his team than Jeter was to his (an arguable point, I wholeheartedly agree), but if Jeter had taken those honors you would not have heard me complain.
No way no how was Morneau more important to his team than Jeter. Both the Yankees and Twins made strong moves to secure their divisions in the second half of the season. The Yankees buried Boston with a 5-game sweep while the Twins finally overtook the Tigers during the final game of the season. With the second half of the season being so important to both teams let's consider this telling statistic:
From July 4 on, Jeter hit .368 with 9 HRs, 45 RBI and 54 runs scored, Morneau .348, 11 HRs, 58 RBI and 51 runs scored.
Those "power numbers" for Morneau aren't enough to overcome all that Jeter provided the Yankees. When the games meant the most Jeter was Jeter - better than most players, Morneau included.
It's a fair argument. Like I said, I wouldn't have complained if Jeter had won. But those statistics look pretty comparable, and the Twins came back from a lot farther back than the Yankees, when most everyone had left Minnesota for dead. Look at Mauer's stats over that time and they show a decline. Santana was excellent, of course, but starting pitchers rarely win the MVP. I don't feel Morneau gamed the system by winning the award. We can agree to disagree.
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