AL MVP

[Hank_Scorpio]

Justin Verlander wins it.


Haven't seen the vote tallies, but saw the announcement he won.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Verlander first, Ellsbury second, Bautista third

Verlander 13 first place votes, Ellsbury four first place and Bautista six (think that was the breakdown, but not completely sure).

 

[JosephC.Myers]

Hard to argue. He won so many games that it overcame the anti-pitcher bias when it comes to MVP voting.

 

[Gehrig]

I think Bautista should have finished ahead of Ellsbury.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I have no problem with Verlander winning. How did Ellsbury finish ahead of Bautista? No offense to Ellsbury, had a hell of a year and was one of the very few Red Sox not to fold in September, but really, that's a puzzling choice.

 

[MankyJimy]

This is bulls&@t. I can't believe they actually gave it to a pitcher when there are position players deserving of the award. Jeter was my pick but I would've settled for Cabrera or Cano.

 

[Bulldog Smoltz]

I'm OK with Verlander winning it, but I'm disappointed that Bautista was snubbed again. He has had two incredible seasons in a row and MVP voters seem only mildly impressed. His team's lack of a great record should not weigh so heavily in the voting, IMHO.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Winners win MVPs!

 

[LongTimeListener]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

 

[MankyJimy]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

Ellsbury had a better season than Batista. Look up Jose Batista's second half numbers. Then look up Adam Dunn's. Identical...

 

[Dick Whitman]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

There's WAR.

Not perfect, but at least an attempt to equalize comparisons between pitchers and position players.

 

[JosephC.Myers]

Bautista's has come a long way from being an OK player for the not-so-OK Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

[Dick Whitman]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

Ellsbury had a better season than Batista. Look up Jose Batista's second half numbers. Then look up Adam Dunn's. Identical...

No.

Bautista had a pedestrian second half, but he still hit .257 to Dunn's .158. And 12 HR's to Dunn's 2.

 

[LongTimeListener]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

There's WAR.

Not perfect, but at least an attempt to equalize comparisons between pitchers and position players.

"Not perfect" would be a very mild criticism of WAR. I don't want to get into the whole of sabermetrics, but I think generally speaking, that's the bridge too far for a lot of people who are otherwise inclined to appreciate advanced metrics.

 

[outofplace]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

Ellsbury had a better season than Batista. Look up Jose Batista's second half numbers. Then look up Adam Dunn's. Identical...

No.

Bautista had a pedestrian second half, but he still hit .257 to Dunn's .158. And 12 HR's to Dunn's 2.

I knew that didn't sound right. Thanks for doing the research.

Manky, could you at least ONCE do some research before you post? Or maybe put some genuine thought into it? Jeez.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Headline:

Verlander goes 14-1 against AL Central, 11-4 against good teams, to win MVP

 

[MankyJimy]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

Ellsbury had a better season than Batista. Look up Jose Batista's second half numbers. Then look up Adam Dunn's. Identical...

No.

Bautista had a pedestrian second half, but he still hit .257 to Dunn's .158. And 12 HR's to Dunn's 2.

Still the fact that we're even comparing Batista to a guy who had the worst season ever shows that he has no business being included in an MVP discussion.

 

[Dick Whitman]

This is going to turn out to be one of the less controversial MVP choices, certainly less controversial than previous years of pitchers winning, because there's no set of stats to compare Verlander's contribution to Ellsbury's. We have a way of looking at Ellsbury and Bautista and saying "that's crazy" about the idea of picking Ellsbury. But pitcher vs. hitter is still entirely subjective.

There's WAR.

Not perfect, but at least an attempt to equalize comparisons between pitchers and position players.

"Not perfect" would be a very mild criticism of WAR. I don't want to get into the whole of sabermetrics, but I think generally speaking, that's the bridge too far for a lot of people who are otherwise inclined to appreciate advanced metrics.

Obviously, I knew you of all people were not going to take kindly to that answer.

But at least it's some attempt to compare value across species.

Even though Abner Doubleday didn't invent it, it's still probably useful for what it's worth.

 

[JakeandElwood]

I can't believe I'm going to post a serious thought following a Manky post, but you do realize you're the only one comparing him, right? The others were simply pointing out the absurdness of the comparison.

 

[JC]

If we don't feed the troll he may actually go away.