2009 SB Nation Awards: MVP

by royalsreview on Nov 12, 2009 9:00 AM EST Comment 21 comments

Did the SB Nation baseball bloggers get it right?

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Alex Gonzalez? Really?

There are some baffling votes on here that do little to make this exercise seem worthwhile. It's mostly downballot silliness, but if you think Michael Cuddyer is the 7th "most valuable" guy in the AL you are stupid. If you think Toriiiiiii Hunter was the third best AL player in 2009, you are stupid. If you think Jason Bay was the second best player in the AL, you a) voted on May 30th and b) are stupid.

This stuff makes me blush. Instead of showing how SB Nation's bloggers might offer an informed alternative to the "real" Baseball Writers, we get the same old thing: local player I watched was really awesome based on mojo or traditional stats or having a great smile.

The good news is that a) Mauer won and b) the overall results make sense. Credit to us for that. At the individual ballot level however, I'm disappointed.

I was not one of the guys who voted for Greinke. (NYRoyal included him on his ballot.. however) I know its not exactly the way the rules are, but I just treat MVP as "best position player". It seems odd to me to have a separate "best pitcher" award, but then treat MVP as an overall award, without a separate "best position player" award as well.

I had a boring ballot, which I think is usually a sign of a good one: 1) Mauer, 2) Zobrist, 3) Jeter, 4) Longoria, 5) Figgins, 6) Gutierrez, 7) Teixiera, 8) Youkilis, 9) Pedroia, 10) Cabrera.

Here are the NL results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

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Comments

wow

think im officially done reading this blog, i agree some of those players shouldnt be on the list but the stupid thing takes the cake, swear to god everytime i try and root for the royals are at least participate in anything in this city the people come out and show the arrogance. And it is very funny to me. A city in which both sports are in turmoil I would expect some irrational behavior but to start calling people out on opinions isnt very smart nor does it make people want to read the blog, or support the teams with fans like this

Pujols takes out "I" in BIG and "A" in MAC, previously considered to be an unyielding, consonant threat

by DESTROYER on Nov 12, 2009 9:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Officially?

Jeez, if you had just said that you were going to leave, that would be one thing. But if you’re officially done, I have no idea what I — or this blog — will do without you.

Seriously, your deep hatred of arrogance will be sorely missed around here. I can’t even imagine, for example, how depressing it will be that you don’t respond to this comment. I officially feel tears coming on.

And how dare RR give his opinion on other people’s opinion! The sheer arrogance of that! Blogs aren’t supposed to offer commentary or witty satire! They’re supposed to report and let you decide!

"You know what, I mean I cried in bed for a while, moaning 'Why!? Why did this have to happen?'"

Zack Greinke on the Brad Pitt - Jennifer Aniston split

by DCRoyals on Nov 12, 2009 10:41 AM EST up reply actions 3 recs

Arrogance, DESTROYER?

ONE person voted for Torii Hunter, and it happened to be a 3rd place vote! How does that even happen? Probably the same reason he keeps winning Gold Gloves even though he’s been average or worse out there for years. Torii Hunter was tied for 3rd on his own team in terms of WAR. Chone Figgins, Kendry Morales beat him, Erick Aybar tied him. But yes, Torii deserves that 3rd place AL MVP vote.

Alex Gonzalez got a lone 10th place vote, he played 44 games in Boston this year. How does that even qualify for MVP? This guy with a 95 OPS+ in Boston gets an MVP vote? His UZR is 6.7, so he’s not a terrible fielder, but his total WAR for the year was .5. DDJ, Billy Butler, Callaspo, and Soria should have received votes before Gonzalez. That’s why it is dumb.

I agree that the downballot players aren’t necessarily important, but the Torii Hunter vote for 3rd really gets me. Plus, there are 9 Red Sox players on that list, with 6 of them receiving just 1 vote.

by AxDxMx on Nov 12, 2009 11:05 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

you’d better stop talking that way, AxDxMx, or if DESTROYER comes back he’s going to get really mad and then leave again

Blank

by benfunke on Nov 12, 2009 12:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Greinke should obviously have been the MVP

But I guess “good baseball men” (and bloggers) know what the rules really are. Sigh.

Zobrist-Mauer could have gone either way.

Arguably dumbest thing on the list (aside from Greinke not being the MVP) is Teixeira finishing ahead of Jeter..

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by devil_fingers on Nov 12, 2009 11:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

So if Teixeira wins the MVP

does he have to split it with AROD? He was terrible til ARod got off the DL.

by AxDxMx on Nov 12, 2009 11:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I am doing the AL MVP for BtB and want to see what the main stream media is picking.

Got the list from mlb.com and not a mention of Zorbist:

Link

More on this next week, but with the MVP position and D matter little.

Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.

by Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal) on Nov 12, 2009 11:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

At some point

I want to do “research” on Jeter. He’s usually been overrrated, of course. But every few years, he has a really good year… and then gets underrated. I suppose it comes with the media attention and all that — people just seem incapable of properly understanding when he’s playing well or playing poorly. I suppose it’s just people’s problems evaluating players in general amplified due to Jeter’s overexposure.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by devil_fingers on Nov 12, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

okay

I shouldn’t have said it was “dumb” that Greinke didn’t get MVP… I do think he should win it, but there are decent arguments (not just “he’s a pitcher”) for others.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by devil_fingers on Nov 12, 2009 11:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

To paraphrase Sam Mellinger:

“It’s silly to promote Greinke for MVP.”

by NotAHippie on Nov 13, 2009 1:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Too hard on Torii, by the way

he managed to finished ahead of DDJ in WAR for the second time in five years this season, after all!

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by devil_fingers on Nov 12, 2009 11:05 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

Crown his ass

by NotAHippie on Nov 12, 2009 1:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He's Not Who

We thought he was, obviously. I guess you just have to watch him every day.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Nov 12, 2009 2:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

My SBNation ballot

MVP
1. Zack Greinke
2. Joe Mauer
3. Ben Zobrist
4. Derek Jeter
5. Evan Longoria
6. Miguel Cabrera
7. Kevin Youkilis
8. Mark Teixeira
9. Chone Figgins
10. Franklin Gutierrez

The immoderate moderator

by NYRoyal on Nov 12, 2009 2:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

just curious...

but is there are reason greinke was your only pitcher?

by royalsreview on Nov 12, 2009 2:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Negligence

I knew Greinke had a better WAR than any AL position player and thus, in my mind, deserved to be AL MVP. But after that, I only looked at position players. Instead, I should have compared top position players and pitchers by WAR, etc. That would have led to a few more pitchers in my top 10.

The immoderate moderator

by NYRoyal on Nov 12, 2009 2:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Comparative or contributory?

subject of my torts class today.

"You know what, I mean I cried in bed for a while, moaning 'Why!? Why did this have to happen?'"

Zack Greinke on the Brad Pitt - Jennifer Aniston split

by DCRoyals on Nov 12, 2009 2:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Res ipsa loquitur

The immoderate moderator

by NYRoyal on Nov 12, 2009 3:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ahhhh

Law dork jokes. A tear comes to my eye for days past. When thousands of borrowed dollars were flying out of my pocket every semester, and hundreds of hours were blurred together in a haze of legal study. All without being able to divert my attention with this blog.

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Nov 12, 2009 4:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs