Comments on: Mauer Power 8.16

By: Bryz

Bryz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:51:22 +0000

Joe, I do believe that Jeter finished in 2nd place when Morneau won his MVP, with Jeter being considered because he was “consistent” and “deserved it.” (These quotes may be wrong; if so, sue me. I have nothing of value for you anyways). Morneau may not have deserved that MVP, but I sure as hell felt that Jeter didn’t deserve it either.

Teixeira better not win MVP this year. I’m sure the Yankees would have been just fine without him this season. Without Mauer, I bet the Twins would be in Royal Indian country right now.

By: Richard Aronson

Richard Aronson — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:05:24 +0000

I-Rod was also considered to be one of the best defensive catchers of all time when he won his MVP. His team also made the playoffs. Mauer is good, but I think I’d pick all three Molinas as better defensively than Mauer, and that’s off the top of my head. But when the two best batting years EVER at catcher were not good enough to win MVP for a playoff team and another team that was only two games out are not good enough to win an MVP, I’m worried that another best batting year ever for a team not even close to the playoffs (6.5 games out at the start of the day) won’t be enough.

By: jay

jay — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:33:21 +0000

oops, i discussed the ‘99 AL MVP race without mentioning the word “steroids.” should probably be STEROIDS. all better.

By: jay

jay — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:16:25 +0000

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1999.shtml#ALmvp

look at that list…I-Rod won the MVP in ‘99 over the dudes behind him….and there are maybe 10-12 guys on that list who i’d pick over 2009 tex as the mvp. and mauer is having a season that makes i-rod’s look pedestrian.

if i-rod wins the MVP over guys having years that crack the conversation of “best ever at a position” (pitcher, 2b, ss, etc.) then GIMME A BREAK with the tex over mauer nonsense.

please don’t get me started on the “MVP comes from a winner” thing. i love the red sox to the point where i considered fenway as a middle name for a son (probably why fate conspired to give me two lovely girls instead)…and i’ll be the first in line to say that pedroia probably didn’t deserve the MVP last year.

my yankee-loving friends have returned to pre-2004 obnoxiousness…but this tex MVP thing is just stoopid. he might be third on his OWN TEAM. if we must have a yankees awards candidate, how about mariano the great for cy young? heck, i might give it to him over the stud starters right now, and at least it’s not an embarrassing conversation.

By: Richard Aronson

Richard Aronson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:26:21 +0000

Piazza was not slow until he got old after catching a lot of innings, something that would happen to any big catcher, and he used his speed smartly. I cite one game and I think it was from 1997. Dodger Stadium (back then with the huge foul areas, now much less a pitcher’s park). Game tied, 8th inning, Piazza was on second with two out. Wild pitch. Piazza ran hard and didn’t stop when the Cardinals’ catcher didn’t chase it hard, and scored from second base on a wild pitch. It would have been national headline news for baseball except Todd Worrell gave up two runs in the ninth to blow the save, 5-4. Oh yeah, in 1997 the Dodgers were in a tight pennant race, finishing two games out of first and four out of the wild card. The Rockies were five games further back.

Piazza, at least early in his career, was of average speed, and was usually a very smart baserunner who took whatever base was available to him. And as for the myth that Coors didn’t help Walker or Dodger Stadium didn’t hurt Piazza, for their careers: Walker Coors had an OPS of 1.172 (versus .965 for his career and .808 in Dodger Stadium). Piazza for his career in Dodger Stadium had an OPS of .924 and in Coors had an OPS of 1.115, versus career numbers of .922. Piazza batted .375 lifetime in Colorado versus .308 everywhere else; Walker was .381 versus .313. And Piazza might be listed as a weak defensive catcher, but somehow the Dodgers finished second in the league in ERA with him behind the plate. Colorado led the league in runs with 923; second place was 795. The Dodgers were 7th. Tell me again how Walker’s MVP was not because of Coors Field? Even if Walker was field agnostic that season, there were lots more Rockies on base for him to drive in at home than on the road, and RBI (in context of an offense that led the league by 128 runs because they played in the best hitters park in major league history) was why he got the MVP.

By: Chipmaker

Chipmaker — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:28:05 +0000

“some people will not vote a player MVP if his team doesn’t make the playoffs”

These people should be disqualified from ever again voting a BBWAA ballot for anything, including best groundskeeper or hot dog vendor of the year.

By: The Most Blunderful Time of the Year « The New Enthusiast

The Most Blunderful Time of the Year « The New Enthusiast — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:30:09 +0000

[...] 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment It’s getting to be my favorite time of year again. That’s right–it’s end-of-the-year awards debate [...]

By: Jason W

Jason W — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:28:09 +0000

Three things to clarify at first:

1) I’m a Twins fan and I love Joe Mauer;
2) I don’t believe that the MVP has to come from a contending/playoff team; and
3) I think Joe Mauer should be MVP

However…could there be some justification for not voting for Mauer because of his team’s record? The Twins’ starting pitching and bullpen (apart from Joe Nathan) has been lousy this year. Maybe, just maybe, Joe isn’t very good at handling a young pitching staff, or at least has been spending too much time in the batting cage and not enough time working with his young hurlers, and he is responsible for the Twins’ bad record in ways that go beyond his stats.

I don’t like it, but it’s just something to consider.

By: Pepper Goodface

Pepper Goodface — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:52:00 +0000

#58
I was just having a little fun using the absurd to illustrate my point. Which is UZR can be a nice component in a broader evaluation of defensive competence. But it has enough flaws that it is wildly insufficient to support declarative conclusions about players’ defensive “value” by itself, which many have tried to do.

I think Mauer is having an unbelievable season and may well deserve the MVP. But I’m also one of these luddites who takes a broader view of the definition of “most valuable” that encompasses more than “best statistical season”. In other words, I think there is a necessarily subjective analysis which unfortunately is sometimes subverted by East Coast bias, lifetime achievement considerations, etc. But even if a guy has a season like Babe Ruth in 1927, if it’s on a last place team, how “valuable” was he? Obviously, that’s not the case with Mauer this year. But the subjective element that allows accounting for things like relative success of the team, etc is why it’s a voting award and not strictly a linear accomplishment based on OBP, EqA, (insert your acronym here).

By: McKingford

McKingford — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:25:53 +0000

#42: You’re right – I don’t know if Cano has been saved from Steve Sax ignominy by all the scoops Teixeira’s been making at 1st. But my comment was in response to the point that Cano’s errors were way down this year, which must be Teixeira’s scoopy influence.

IOW, my point is that the reason Cano’s errors are down is that he has fewer fielding and catching errors, *not* fewer throwing errors (which would be the case if Teixeira’s scoopy goodness was bailing him out).

Now you want to argue that Teixeira is saving him from all the errors in a Bizarro World Steve Sax/Chuck Knoblach-time-space-continuum.