Should beat writers vote on awards?

Ed Sherman doesn't seem to think so.

I completely disagree with his assessment on this one.

http://www.shermanreport.com/yet-another-reason-why-beat-writers-shouldnt-be-voting-for-awards-backlash-in-arizona-over-writers-choice-for-nl-mvp/

 

Not sure what Sherman is getting at. Yes, baseball players can receive more money from their teams for winning an award, but what does that have to do with who should be voting? Is there really a difference between the D-Backs beat writer, a Sports Illustrated writer, an ESPN analyst and a popular website writer and how their votes can impact who wins an award?

And if they all choose to explain their vote, is there not a chance that backlash could come to any of them?

People need to remember that, while awards are nice, there's going to be some subjectivity in deciding who gets them and it tends to come more into play in situations in which more than one player has a good case for winning the award. The real question is, when a voter chooses to explain his vote, how well he presents his case for why he voted the way he did.

 

Beat writers have no business voting on awards.

Papers won't let their baseball writers work as official scorers because "we're here to cover the news, not make it." Writers should not be voting on awards and Halls of Fame.

It's another 1940s idea that should have died a long time ago.

 

Yeah, well the BBWAA created baseball's MVP award, so get used to it.

 

Didn't they do away with players receiving bonuses based on awards after Schilling said he'd give some reporter 100K if he won Cy Young and got a half-million bonus?

EDIT: Yeah, they did. - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3142555

 

Yeah, well, the BBWAA is rapidly becoming obsolete, so get used to <b>that.</b> It's not 1953 any more.

 

If they are obsolete, why do we still recognize their award as the top honor in the MLB?

 

<i>Rapidly becoming obsolete.</i> Read what's there.

As soon as MLB decides to do something different with the voting, do you think it will matter who originated the award?

 

If I'm the SE and the entire team is pissed at my beat writer over something he wrote, that's a hazard of the business.

If the entire team is pissed at my beat writer because he didn't vote for Joe Slugger, that's a situation that should never happen.

 

I like it best when awards are voted on by peers.

 

But the writers own the award. What's the MLB going to do, just take it away from them?

It's common sense the writers are not just going to give up voting for the award. So another award would have to be created. Maybe you should do that Smasher.

 

Near as I can tell, the "outcry" in Arizona amounted to a couple of tweets from dumbshits.

And let's not forget: If Piecoro voted for Goldschmidt over McCutcheon, that would have given Goldschmidt a grand total of one first place vote. No one who had a vote thought Goldschmidt was deserving.