With the MLB award season now officially behind us I have a  major problem. In my opinion neither person who won deserved it. Grandy/Ellsbury should have won in the AL and I have NO idea how Kemp didn’t win…NO IDEA.

But instead of complaining or spiting out tons of stats that validate my argument, I’m going to suggest an alternative. A solution if you will…

So if there is a Cy Young for the best pitcher we NEED to make like a Babe Ruth award for the best hitter. I’m aware we have silver sluggers but that is for each position. I’m saying we have one award that goes to the BEST hitter in each league.

That word Valuable really throws things off. Because I believe the ONLY reason Braun won the MVP over Matt Kemp was because Braun’s team made the playoffs. I believe with my whole being that if you swapped Braun and Kemp, meaning put Kemp on the Brewers and Braun on the Dodgers Kemp would have won the MVP.

That to me isn’t right. So I’m saying make an award for the best offensive player in the league. This would totally negate the teams performance. This gives men like Kemp and Bautista a fair shot at winning.

I understand the perspective of VALUE and making the post season. But I don’t feel it should hurt players who have spectacular seasons….

So this post is dedicated to Kemp, Granderson, Ellsbury and Bautista. All of whom would have made great candidates for the Babe Ruth Award.

Y4L

JM

I know I am a day behind but after hearing Verlander won I had to talk to other baseball knowledgeable people to make sure my opinion wasn’t off based. However I seem to be in the minority thinking Verlander should NOT have won the MVP.

Here is some of the comments/discussions I’ve had about this

M.A. said Called it.

A.B. said Verlander totally deserved the MVP

I said No…Verlander wasn’t even the MVP on his own team. Cabrera was way more valuable then Verlander. Cabrera played in 161 and was a huge factor in every game. sorry bro I still think there were like 3 or 4 other guys that should have been MVP.

M.A. said You kidding me!? Verlander was 8.5 wins above replacement

I said Ohh WAR….he still only affected the outcome of 34ish games…Cabrera affected 161. Hands down Verlander deserved the Cy Young. But I can’t believe he was MVP.

T.L. said Without Verlander, this team would have been lucky to finish .500. That is the difference. Take Miggy out and yeah, they’ll drop a few in the wins column, but they’d still be in contention. Verlander is by far the most valuable player on his team. And the reason he got the MVP nod in the league was because he had virtually no competition. The best batter was easily Jacoby Ellsbury, who put up solid but non-historic numbers as he led his team to collapse. Verlander only got better down the stretch. He won 24 games, earned the pitching triple crown, led in nearly all statistical categories at his position, and almost single-handedly willed his mediocre team into the World Series. In my books, that is the definition of MVP.

I said I totally understand the Verlander argument and why he got the votes he did. But even if he won just 14 games they would have won the division by 5 games. A good chuck of his numbers came against a mediocre AL central. No other team in that division finished above .500. I can’t give the MVP to someone who only plays in only about 20% of their teams games. Verlander was dominate and the best pitcher last year but I would still give it to grandy,ellsbury,bautista and even cabrera first…just my vote.

AL MVP

As you can see by some of my comments above that is why I don’t believe Verlander should have won. Any of the hitters to me had a much better case. Oh and for the record above I’m making the case just that Cabrera was the MVP on the Tigers not of the AL. We all know who I would have voted for….

All of a sudden I don’t think my friend Jaime is as crazy for picking Bautista.

I have a theory on how to fix this MVP debate…and it involves Babe Ruth…..I’ll explain tomorrow.

The Babe

Y4L

JM

Some were shocked (writers on this site) others were not (a few commenters on this site), Justin Verlander was selected by the baseball writers as the American League Most Valuable Player earlier today. Verlander received 13 of 28 first place votes. It is the first time a pitcher has won the MVP award since Dennis Eckersley won it in 1992, and Verlander is the first starter to win it since Roger Clemens won it 25 years ago.

Verlander was dominant in 2011 and was a pre-season prediction by yours truly to win the Cy Young award. Verlander went (24-5) with a 2.40 ERA, 0.92WHIP, and a 9.0 K/9. That is what the baseball writers saw! They also saw Verlander hold a WAR of 8.5 which led ALL players in the American League. All a very strong case for MVP.

The counter and my argument, how valuable is someone who barely plays? I believe that all pitchers (starters, relievers, and closers) can and should be up for consideration for the MVP award. And in a perfect situation in a weak field even win it, but not this year!

It was a strong year for MVP candidates. But let me focus on three players in the race in addition to Verlander. Those players are the two debated on this blog, Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson, and the runner-up for MVP Jacoby Ellsbury. The hitters played in 149, 156, and 158 games in that order. Verlander played 34 games and had 251 innings to about 28 full games. It is hard to be so valuable in 34 games that you out shadow greatness for 150+ games.

-Jaime Eisner-

I do not own any rights to this image

Tomorrow the American League MVP will be announced and both Justin Marshall and I will have full coverage of the winner and we will discuss the positives, negatives, and why the baseball writers picked the player they did. Expect two fresh articles and another debate on whether the baseball writers got it right!

In the mean time, check out the previous two articles with Justin’s and my MVP picks. Comment and vote in our poll for who you think should be the MVP!

-Jaime Eisner-

• Justin Marshall: Most VALUABLE Player…I’m sorry he can’t be valuable to me if the team would have finished in the same spot without him. To me granderson, verlander and ellsbury have to be the top three most valuable players. Because without them their respective teams would have done much worse. Plus granderson’s power numbers were better and he plays a tougher position. Just sayin.
• Jaime Eisner:That is what the WAR (Wins above replacement) and WPA (Win Probability Added stat is for): Bautista has a WAR of 8.5 vs. Granderson’s 5.2. Bautista WAP is 7.86 compared to Granderson’s 2.86. Those stats are to specifically measure where a team would be without that player. Besides his astronomically better On-Base Percentage and the fact he was a plus defensively in WAR. Baustista alos has a RAR (Runs Above Replacement) of 78.7 compared to 66.3. Fangraphs clutch stat shows Bautista at 0.77 compared to Granderson’s -1.08. To me all those stats clearly outshadow several more Runs and RBIs.
• Justin Marshall:See my point is that you can spit out all the numbers you want…the Blue Jays still would have finished in 4th, with or without Bautista. Are they better with him sure, but he didn’t make a big enough impact to for me to consider him the most valuable when you have people like Granderson, Verlander, Ellsbury and even Miggy Cabrera who all I believe significantly helped their teams more then Jose. Without Granderson I’m not sure the Yanks make the playoffs, same can be said for Verlander and Miggy. That to me is more important then a players WAR or WPA. I’m all about numbers for things like ROY an CY Youngs but MVP gotta go a little deeper.
• Jaime Eisner: But those stats quantify the exact things you are saying you use for those players. It measures how significantly a player is to his team above a replacement level player and how likely a team is to win with that player. Those are what those two stats mean. I dont believe you need to be on a playoff team to be an MVP. The numbers above show that the Jays would have been mor eimpacted by a Bautista loss than the Yankees would in a granderson loss W/L record wise. I understand your argument but you are basically saying if the jays finished with 10 more wins as a team than that would be the only reason to consider Bautista.

This was a Facebook debate that the two writers on this blog, myself and Jaime Eisner, had about Jaime’s previous article on the American League MVP.

MVP

He had a great season but the Blue Jays would have finished in the exact same spot in the standings without him. Where as you take Granderson off the Yankees and I’m not convinced they make the post season. Granderson but a first place team on his shoulders and helped keep them there. Bautista shouldered a fourth place team. Grandy plays in a tougher city, at a tougher position. He is expected to do more and is a huge….HUGE reason the Yanks made the playoffs…oh yeah he also hit over 40 homers and drove in 119 rbis while scoring a LEAGUE LEADING 136 runs……and stole 25 bases. <—those my friends are MVP numbers to go along with an MVP performance.

• Justin Marshall: Most VALUABLE Player…I’m sorry he can’t be valuable to me if the team would have finished in the same spot without him. To me granderson, verlander and ellsbury have to be the top three most valuable players. Because without them their respective teams would have done much worse. Plus granderson’s power numbers were better and he plays a tougher position. Just sayin.
• Jaime Eisner:That is what the WAR (Wins above replacement) and WPA (Win Probability Added stat is for): Bautista has a WAR of 8.5 vs. Granderson’s 5.2. Bautista WAP is 7.86 compared to Granderson’s 2.86. Those stats are to specifically measure where a team would be without that player. Besides his astronomically better On-Base Percentage and the fact he was a plus defensively in WAR. Baustista alos has a RAR (Runs Above Replacement) of 78.7 compared to 66.3. Fangraphs clutch stat shows Bautista at 0.77 compared to Granderson’s -1.08. To me all those stats clearly outshadow several more Runs and RBIs.
• Justin Marshall:See my point is that you can spit out all the numbers you want…the Blue Jays still would have finished in 4th, with or without Bautista. Are they better with him sure, but he didn’t make a big enough impact to for me to consider him the most valuable when you have people like Granderson, Verlander, Ellsbury and even Miggy Cabrera who all I believe significantly helped their teams more then Jose. Without Granderson I’m not sure the Yanks make the playoffs, same can be said for Verlander and Miggy. That to me is more important then a players WAR or WPA. I’m all about numbers for things like ROY an CY Youngs but MVP gotta go a little deeper.
• Jaime Eisner: But those stats quantify the exact things you are saying you use for those players. It measures how significantly a player is to his team above a replacement level player and how likely a team is to win with that player. Those are what those two stats mean. I dont believe you need to be on a playoff team to be an MVP. The numbers above show that the Jays would have been mor eimpacted by a Bautista loss than the Yankees would in a granderson loss W/L record wise. I understand your argument but you are basically saying if the jays finished with 10 more wins as a team than that would be the only reason to consider Bautista.

 Over the next day or two, the baseball world expects the announcement of the Most Valuable Player awards for the National and American Leagues. There are two New York Yankees in the running for the AL MVP: Centerfielder Curtis Granderson and Second Baseman Robinson Cano.

Before the MVP of the league can be decided, the MVP of the Yankees needs to be decided! Here are the numbers:

Granderson: .364 OBP 41HR 119RBI 136 Runs and a WAR of 5.2 (-.2 defensively) with a -5.1 UZR

Cano: .349 OBP 28HR 118RBI 104 Runs and a WAR of 4.6 (-.2 defensively) with a -3 UZR

Granderson gets the edge in almost every category above and had a significantly better strikeout: walk rate as well.

Now let’s compare that to the other leading candidates:

Jacoby Ellsbury: .376 OBP 32HR 105RBI 119 Runs and a WAR of 7.2 (+.4 defensively) with a 15.6 UZR

Adrian Gonzalez: .410 OBP 27HR 117RBI 108 Runs with a WAR of 6.9 (+1.4 defensively) with a 11.1 UZR

Miguel Cabrera: .448 OBP 30HR 105RBI 111 Runs with a WAR of 7.1 (-.7 defensively) with a -3.8 UZR

Jose Bautista: .447 OBP 38 HR 103RBI 105 Runs with a WAR of 8.5 (+.4 defensively) with a -8.6 in RF and +3.8 on 3B UZR

Justin Verlander: 2.40 ERA 0.92WHIP 9.0 K/9 with a WAR of 8.6

My MVP would be Jose Bautista! Followed by Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson, Justin Verlander, and Robinson Cano, in that order.

Bautista has the highest 2nd highest OBP and WAR of any of the candidates along with 38HRs and plus defensive WAR.

Granderson is my most valuable Yankee. Baustista is my AL MVP.

-Jaime Eisner-

I do not own any rights to this Image

With two of the Yankee’s standout pitchers being shut out in the first two days of the award season, Nova coming in 4th in the ROY voting and CC coming in 4th in the Cy Young voting, it is time to turn our attention to the skipper.

Joe Girardi had arguably his best season as the Head Coach outside of the championship year of 2009. He lead the Yanks to a 97-65 record, best in the AL. Which has to be considered a great accomplishment given that most “experts” in the beginning of the season were picking the Yankees to finish 3rd behind the Red Sox and Rays. Not only did they finish first in the toughest division in baseball they did it with ease.

But the main reason I believe Girardi should be seriously considered for this award is because of what he had as a rotation. Here’s what is looked like on opening day, CC Sabathia, ?,?,?,? and no that is not a typo the Yanks seriously had four question marks pitching this year.

Nova was spectacular going 16-4, which I believe should at least have gotten him second in the ROY voting. Hughes was hurt, Burnett was well Burnett going 11-11 with a plus 5 E.R.A. Then you had two pitchers we took fliers on Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon. I have nothing bad to say about either of those two, given that they produced way beyond mine and I think the rest of Yankee Nation’s expectations.

So given that list, a broken down A-Rod and a bullpen at one point ravaged by injury I think the great managerial job from opening day to the final 162nd game was Joe Girardi.

Joe Girardi

Here’s why I don’t think he’ll win, the job he did wasn’t dramatic enough for the writers who are voting. Pretty much from day one the Yankees handled business and handled it well. Where as the Rays came out of pretty much oblivion to capture the wild card spot from the Red Sox…who just collapsed.

I think the writers will look at the Rays September run and award the manager of the year accordingly. In no way shape or form am I saying Maddon doesn’t deserve consideration, but people forget to make an epic comeback, you need to be almost down and out. Which is something that the Yankees never were.

So Joe you get my vote, know it doesn’t mean a whole lot but I admire the job he did as a whole last season. Lets just hope the writers do too.

Y4L

JM

Over the last couple days, two new MLB post-season awards were handed out. They were the Rookie of the Year award, and the Cy Young. A player from each league earns these awards every year. There were four Yankees in the running for the total of two awards.

The American League (AL) Rookie of the Year for 2011 was Tampa Bay Rays pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson. Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova was also nominated but finished fourth behind Hellickson and a pair of firstbaseman Mark Trumbo of the Los Angeles Angels, and Eric Hosmer of the Kansas City Royals. While I believe both Nova and Seattle Mariners pitcher Michael Pineda should be above the two firstbaseman, Hellickson was the correct choice. Hellickson out-pitched Nova in ERA, WHIP, Strikeouts, Innings, Hits allowed, and WAR. The only major category Nova had over Hellickson is Win/Loss record (16-4 as opposed to Hellickson’s 13-10) which has more to do with everyone but the pitcher.

The American League Cy Young, which is awarded to the league’s best pitcher, was awarded unanimously to Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. Yankees ace CC Sabathia was nominated and finished fourth behind Verlander and Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher James Shields. Not only am I ok with Verlander winning, but I’m ok with Sabathia finishing fourth! Shields,Verlander, and Weaver had better ERA and WHIP than Sabathia. Weaver and Verlander walked fewer batters. All three had more complete games and gave up fewer hits than Sabathia.

On a side note, two Yankees relievers were in the top 11 in Cy Young voting. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera finished 8th and Yankees Set-up man David Robertson finished 11th.

-Jaime Eisner-

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Starting on Monday the Major League Baseball award season gets under way. To be more specific the AL MVP is going to be given out on November 22. However I just came across an article that made a case that Robbie Cano’s great season might hurt Granderson’s great season.

In summary it was saying how some teams have multiple MVP candidates, which is great for their teams but bad when it comes to votes. So some writers may vote for Cano instead of Granderson for the MVP and visa versa. This takes away crucial points away from each player. To me Granderson deserves to be the MVP, “Granderson went on a power rampage, hitting a career-high 41 homers while driving in 119 runs and scoring 136 times. He was also a factor with his speed, stealing 25 bases.” (1) I think that summed it up rather well. He did all of this while playing one of the hardest positions in baseball, centerfield for the Yankees.

Now don’t get me wrong Cano’s “.302 with 104 runs, 188 hits, 46 doubles, seven triples, 28 homers, an .882 OPS and 118 RBIs” was great (1). And realistically the Yankees couldn’t have won as many games without either player.

But from watching as many Yankee games as I did this past season there was just something special about the way Granderson played. Every at bat you expected something spectacular to happen…every ball hit to center you expected Grandy to run down.

Later on I want to a specific piece centered around Granderson, but for now I just want to say I believe he’s the 2011 AL MVP no matter how the vote shakes out.

Granderson and Cano...CO MVP's?

Yankee For Life

JM

Oh and a special shout out to Wilson Ramos, the Washington Nationals catcher who was kidnapped in Venezuela. I hope they find you soon and I can’t wait to hear you’re ok and back with your family.

1. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111109&content_id=25943630&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb