AL MVP Picks
The award season is in full swing and many debates have been settled. The NL Cy Young race had a number of quality candidates, including Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, Trevor Hoffman, and Carlos Zambrano. Webb won the award, something that I did not appreciate since it will almost certainly mean he will go much earlier in next year's roto drafts. In any event, he was certainly deserving of the award. In the AL Cy race, there was no real debate and Johan Santana received his second Cy Young Award...both by unanimous vote. Pretty impressive.
That brings us to the league MVP voting. The AL winner will be announced first, and the field of quality players is very long. Derek Jeter is the leader in the clubhouse, followed by the likes of Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and David Ortiz. Lost in all of this was Travis Hafner, a man who had a freakishly good year. Despite missing the last month of the season to a broken bone in his hand, he remained the leader in VORP and many other stats as well. The guy was putting up Pujols numbers with no recognition...he didn't even get selected for the All-Star game!! If the Indians were anywhere near the division lead, Hafner would have been the runaway winner. That wasn't the case, so Hafner is unfortunately out the the discussion, but he is my early pick for 2007 MVP.
The two Twins candidates were both very good this year, leading their team to the division title after a slow start. Both Morneau and Mauer had career years, but I'm afraid neither one have any chance to win this award because they will split the votes of the writers. Besides, their stats were compelling but not as good as the remaining candidates. Both Twinkies are gone.
That leaves Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, two rivals and combatants meet again in a battle for an individual award. The accomplishments of Big Papi have been well documented, from the walk off homers to the record breaking HR totals this year. Certainly Ortiz has a massive advantage in all the major power numbers, posting a .636 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.049 while hitting a Red Sox franchise record 58 home runs. These numbers dwarf the .483/.900 split for Jeter with 14 home runs.
However, Derek Jeter's Yankees applied a major smack down to the Red Sox in the second half of 2006, including a humiliating five game sweep at Fenway. This alone almost put Ortiz out of the mix, but a frightening heart condition leading to missed playing time appeared to lock up the MVP for Jeter.
Jeter has won the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove for the shortstop position this year already, and it appears that 2006 is the opportunity to give the lifetime acheivement award to Jeter. Not so fast. Ortiz refused to be denied and came back with a vengeance at the end of the year. There is not doubt that Jeter's Yankees were better than the Red Sox, but that certainly was not David Ortiz's fault. David Ortiz posted a sick EQA of .328 this year to Jeter's .309. Derek Jeter had a higher amount of win shares.
This is a very close race that really will leave out a deserving player no matter who is chosen. The power stats are not their for Jeter, but he did play shortstop all year and ran the basepaths intelligently. David Ortiz put up ridiculous power numbers but still didn't receive as many win shares as Jeter did. He also missed time, although it was definetely not a matter of heart....no pun intended.
I am sure you are all dying to know my pick. Here it is. Since the race was so close, and one player was a DH and the other played one of the most physically demanding defensive positions in the time; the edge must be given to the everyday position player.
Your 2006 AL MVP is......Derek Jeter.
NL tomorrow!
That brings us to the league MVP voting. The AL winner will be announced first, and the field of quality players is very long. Derek Jeter is the leader in the clubhouse, followed by the likes of Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and David Ortiz. Lost in all of this was Travis Hafner, a man who had a freakishly good year. Despite missing the last month of the season to a broken bone in his hand, he remained the leader in VORP and many other stats as well. The guy was putting up Pujols numbers with no recognition...he didn't even get selected for the All-Star game!! If the Indians were anywhere near the division lead, Hafner would have been the runaway winner. That wasn't the case, so Hafner is unfortunately out the the discussion, but he is my early pick for 2007 MVP.
The two Twins candidates were both very good this year, leading their team to the division title after a slow start. Both Morneau and Mauer had career years, but I'm afraid neither one have any chance to win this award because they will split the votes of the writers. Besides, their stats were compelling but not as good as the remaining candidates. Both Twinkies are gone.
That leaves Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, two rivals and combatants meet again in a battle for an individual award. The accomplishments of Big Papi have been well documented, from the walk off homers to the record breaking HR totals this year. Certainly Ortiz has a massive advantage in all the major power numbers, posting a .636 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.049 while hitting a Red Sox franchise record 58 home runs. These numbers dwarf the .483/.900 split for Jeter with 14 home runs.
However, Derek Jeter's Yankees applied a major smack down to the Red Sox in the second half of 2006, including a humiliating five game sweep at Fenway. This alone almost put Ortiz out of the mix, but a frightening heart condition leading to missed playing time appeared to lock up the MVP for Jeter.
Jeter has won the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove for the shortstop position this year already, and it appears that 2006 is the opportunity to give the lifetime acheivement award to Jeter. Not so fast. Ortiz refused to be denied and came back with a vengeance at the end of the year. There is not doubt that Jeter's Yankees were better than the Red Sox, but that certainly was not David Ortiz's fault. David Ortiz posted a sick EQA of .328 this year to Jeter's .309. Derek Jeter had a higher amount of win shares.
This is a very close race that really will leave out a deserving player no matter who is chosen. The power stats are not their for Jeter, but he did play shortstop all year and ran the basepaths intelligently. David Ortiz put up ridiculous power numbers but still didn't receive as many win shares as Jeter did. He also missed time, although it was definetely not a matter of heart....no pun intended.
I am sure you are all dying to know my pick. Here it is. Since the race was so close, and one player was a DH and the other played one of the most physically demanding defensive positions in the time; the edge must be given to the everyday position player.
Your 2006 AL MVP is......Derek Jeter.
NL tomorrow!
posted by Zac at 4:47 PM
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