Are you kidding us? The ‘61 Yankees are not even the best Yankees lineup ever, not really even close. Almost nothing you say makes sense.

You talk about the Yankees “core of HOF’ers”. Maris is not in the HOF, does 2 players make a “core”? The Reds had 3 HOF in their lineup (Bench, Morgan, Perez), plus Rose who would be if not for gambling. I will grant Perez really shouldn’t be HOF, but still.

You call C, with Yogi/Bench, a draw. Yogi caught less than 40 games in ‘61 FOr his career, comparable to Bench, at the time, not even close.

Somehow, you have Clete Boyer, a terrific defensive 3B who couldn’t hit water falling out of a boat, over Rose. Huh?

Taking an absurd draw at C and a ridiculous advantage at 3B, you STILL only have the Yankees ahead at 4 of 8 positions.

If you want to see a really strong Yankee lineup, try 1938.

Do I think Mauer is the MVP? Yes I do. I think he is playing enough better than anybody else in the AL so that he deserves to be the MVP even if he was a first baseman. The catcher thing, the toughest position on the field, is just gravy. Do I think somebody is stupid for picking Texeira or (say) Kendry Morales instead? No. I disagree with them, and I would reject their attempt to buy me a conciliatory beer, but I can understand their reasoning. The difference is, I could *not* understand why somebody would pick Ichiro ahead of Mauer.

Anyway, I’m happy to root for Mauer, who is a great player. And I’m always happy to root against Yankees, who get far more than their share of MVP votes. But I think this case is far closer than the idiots who don’t think Blyleven belongs in the HOF.

Sorry, but I call bullshit.

The *worst* things that have been said about Teixeira in Joe’s comment threads is that:

a) He’s not MVP worthy (which isn’t a slag, simply an exposition).
b) He’s the 4th best first baseman in the AL (hey – that’s still pretty damn good!).
c) Objective measures of his defense in the 2009 season, despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, show him to be below average.

The fact that Joe Mauer has played fewer games has almost certainly boosted his rate stats. He’s great, but I have a hard time believing his true talent level is 193 OPS+. Those games, even at a clip better than his actual talent, would likely cost him.

Playing a lot of innings is good, and important. To break it down differently, Albert Pujols has played just as many games with a 193 OPS+ as Joe Mauer.

AND, he’s played 30 or so more games at something like an 180 OPS+. Those games would add value even if they were average; the fact that they’re so far beyond average means that Pujols has given you Joe Mauer’s hitting season PLUS a month of vintage Frank Thomas thrown in.

That, incidentally, is why the first qualification is “games played.”

instead of saying, “hey, stop picking on yankees fans,” write a nice long post about how great tex actually IS, throw some nice logic and/or stats in there, etc…as I tell my kids, whining won’t getcha anywhere.

us yankee haters can say anything we want, but this ain’t a-rod redux where sox fans (like me) are saying “man, i’m glad we didn’t sign him.” tex is a consistently elite-level player. i can’t stand the guy now that he’s got pinstripes on, but i sure wish the sox had him batting cleanup. good god, just look at the guy’s stats, watch him play…he’s a stud.

think about it this way: when i wore my manny jersey to yankee stadium during pedro’s “who’s your daddy” ALCS start, i expected to get abused a little bit. and i did (actually, a lot).

similarly, when you’re a yankees fan, your team is running away with first place, spending out of the stratosphere, signing smaller teams’ best players year after year, getting tons of coverage (i lie awake at night wondering if minka and k-hud will put all this pettiness behind them), yadda yadda yadda, when the opportunity for people to abuse you a little bit comes up, expect it. but just like i kept cheering loudly instead of whining, fight back my man.

Just for the record, I’m a big fan of Joe’s and I’m always linking his blog to friends of mine and people I know. But I’m not doing that anytime soon for HIS sake, because I know the friends I have, most of whom are also Yankee fans, might like his writing but aren’t ever coming back to the blog when they see a lot of unwarranted Yankee and Yankee fan bashing going on in the comments.

Just cause we have a few idiots like #88, don’t sit here and act like every Yankee fan is like that. The vast majority aren’t, and honestly, you guys might not notice since you agree on the Mauer thing, but a few of the blogs regular posters are being just as obnoxious as #88, using name calling and bashing people for their opinion without even trying to argue their side. It’s just nobody is calling them on it because they’re doing it in the context of Mauer for MVP.

Please be fair. Yankee fans read this blog too, and it’s disappointing when I keep reading after Joe’s level headed posts and see people bashing Yankees and their fans for no apparent reason.

By the way, not at all directed at you McKingford, just as some of the other comments, but when did “Let’s praise Joe Mauer” turn into “Let’s bash Mark Teixeira and Yankee fans!”?

2009: 283/382/553 OPS+ 141
2008: 308/410/552 OPS+ 151, MVP 20th
2007: 306/400/563 OPS+ 150, MVP N/A
…
2005: 301/379/575 OPS+ 144, MVP 7th
2004: 281/370/560 OPS+ 131, MVP 18th

The one thing you can say about him is that he’s pretty consistent. But you certainly can’t say that this season sticks out, because he’s got at least 3 seasons where he was better. Yet in those 3 seasons, the highest he finished in MVP voting is 7th, and one year he didn’t even rank in the top 20.

How insane is it that a guy can win an MVP by having a worse season, and thus, just because he switched teams? In what way is the MVP then an *individual* award?