No, the real surprise during today's MVP voting was the fact that Miguel Cabrera received more first-place votes (1) than Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira combined.
I'm not saying Miggy didn't have a great year because he did, but let's break it down. His batting average and on base percentage wasn't as good as Mauer's or Jeter's. He didn't hit as many dingers, drive in as many, or slug as high as Teixiera, plus only 4 AL first baseman had more errors than his 7 (I know defense doesn't matter a ton in MVP voting, but my point is Tex had the better all-around season).
And perhaps this is going through his numbers with too fine-toothed of a comb but...over the Tigers last 9 games of the season (where they blew a 2 game lead in the AL Central and ended up missing the postseason) he hit just .205 with 3 RBI. These were critical games against the White Sox and Twins and his team went 3-6 in that stretch. If you recall, right smack dab in the middle of all this was the domestic incident with his wife where, according to police, he was more than three times over the legal limit, "very uncooperative and highly intoxicated." Nobody was charged with a crime and I wouldn't say this rough patch alone would automatically disqualify him from the award. I'm just saying Mauer, Jeter, and Tex kept their noses clean when it mattered most.
Apparently the one guy who gave Miggy a first place vote is a writer from Japan. Curious, to say the least.
It's also worth pointing out that this is the second time in a week that a Detroit Tiger has inexplicably received a first-place vote for a major postseason award despite the presence of several more qualified candidates. Justin Verlander had a great season just like Miguel Cabrera did. But just like Miggy wasn't better than Mauer, Jeter, or Tex, Verlander wasn't better than Greinke or King Felix.
6 comments:
I have to disagree with the concept of "when it mattered most." If Miggy doesn't mash for 5.5 months, then the Tigers wouldn't have even been discussing the playoffs.
What period "mattered most" to the two Yankee contenders? The last two weeks when they had to "hold" a 6 game lead? Or Aug 1-20th when they grew their lead from 0.5 to 6.5?
Sorry to be math guy, but I hate small sample size analysis. I mean, if we're going to lean on small sample sizes, the Yankees were 13-15 without ARod, and 90-44 with him. Seems to me that he was their MVP.
Like I said, Cabrera's poor end to the season was the last (and weakest) point of my argument against him receiving a first-place vote. The fact that he led the league in zero offensive categories and finished top-5 in batting average, hits and OPS only are far more compelling reasons. But there's no denying he let his team down during the last week and a half with his play and his off-field run-in with the law.
He was certainly one of the Tigers' most valuable players this season (Verlander was pretty indispensable too), and one of the league's most valuable, too. But in the end when the pressure and the stakes were the greatest, he didn't take care of business whereas Mauer did.
It's the equivalent of a QB on a surprising team having a great first 15 games, leading his team to chance at a playoff appearance, but then getting smashed and having the cops called to his house the night before week 17, only to throw 3 picks and have his team miss out on the Wild Card by 1 game. Is that guy the Most Valuable Player in the league when other guys have seasons that are just as good (if not better) but don't suffer a letdown at the very end? When you talk sample-size, it's a pretty fair comparison. 9 games out of 162 in baseball versus 1 game out of 16 in football.
Just out of curiosity, do you think Cabrera's one first-place vote was justified or are you just disputing the small sample size argument I made?
You probably should check your dates. Miggy's incident happened the last Friday in the regular season. The Tigers went 1-1 (well, 1-2 counting the extra game) after his incident.
So the 9-game stretch you cited is just another 9-game stretch. I ask about the Yankees to make the point that all 162 count equally, and it's hard to say which ones "matter most." The 9 games that start April 29th where Miggy went 15 for 34 matter just as much in the standings as those last 9.
As for pointing out the Yankees' record 28 games in, I was raising the argument that ARod was the engine that powered the Yankees, and neither Jeter nor Tex was the Yankees' MVP. When it came to the AL MVP this year, there was only one right answer, and Miggy or Tex or Jeter are all equally wrong. So I'm not really bothered that Miggy got a first place vote and they didn't.
When it mattered most Miggy was beating up his wife in a nightclub.
In response to Matthew:
I'm not questioning your math because that's what you do, but don't question my journalism because that's what I do.
I am well aware of when the Cabrera incident happened. I linked to the story where it was reported and as I said in the post, the incident happened in the middle of his 9-game slump at the end of the season. There were 6 games before it, then 3 after (it wasn't the mathematical midpoint, but I was using the term "middle" to mean something more along the lines of "between two points or events"). If the Tigers went 2-1 during those 3 games, they would have been in the playoffs. But they went 1-2, so they missed out.
And I couldn't disagree more that the 9 games I cited count as "just another 9-game stretch." These were the last 9 games of the season in a pennant race! Are you kidding me? Yes, mathematically, those 9 games were worth as much in the standings as the games in late April to early May, but I think any baseball fan or sports fan would argue that there's a monumental difference in their importance. The stakes are higher, the pressure is greater, and there's significantly more at stake. As an old baseball coach used to say, "it's pretty easy to pitch when you're down 10 runs." Wanna know why? Because there's NO PRESSURE! The same applies for baseball games played in April and early May. It's easier to hit when you know you have 130 games left in the season.
By your logic, closers and middle relievers should make the same amount of money because the outs recorded in the 6th inning are worth just as much as the last out of the 9th, but they're not, so they don't.
As for your Most Valuable Yankee of '09 comment- methinks I have the topic of my next post.
Long story short- pretty glad I started blogging again.
interesting read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one learn that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
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