al mvp race

So if the Yanks were a 3rd-place team, Teixeira's numbers wouldn't stack up quite as well?

 

Exceedingly well-said.

 

If the Yanks were in 3rd place, it's likely because Tex -- and his numbers -- are keeping them out of 4th place.

Do you think the Twins would be four games out without Mauer? No way.
Do you think the Yanks would be seven games up without Tex? Probably not, but they'd still be in first.

 

Hard to say if they'd still be in first without Tex.

What if they had Tex but not Jeter? Would they still be in first?

The what-if game gets kind of dicey, though.

 

Yeah, you're right.

One player simply cannot have that much of an effect on the position in the standings. That's why it's a fool's game to base your MVP opinion on all those intangibles.

One in a million, you might get right. The rest of the time, it looks foolish to pick Gibson over Strawberry -- or, dare I say it, Pendleton over Bonds. (OK, so maybe two in a million. ;D)

 

Howard over Pujols...three in a million.

 

Hey, I have an idea for a good way to stay out of the What If Weeds. How about we use actual, concrete production as our primary yardstick in determining an MVP?

 

JC, that was well said. No player is above criticism. You make an excellent point that the flip side of Jeter's critics are equally over the top. Most of them are born-and-bred Yankee lovers (another strange tribe). More irritatingly, some of them have been known to inhabit broadcast booths.
Really, if people like Tim McCarver, Steve Phillips, et. al. would just STFU about Jeter until he actually does something in a game (which happens often enough), Jeter would receive less criticism from the public at large. He is a partial victim of collateral hatred damage.

 

But I like the intangibles, dammit!

Pope, what is your definition of "concrete production"?

 

Tangibles. R, H, HR, OBP, SLG, SB, RBI. Take the guy who had the best season. If it isn't clear who had the best season, I don't mind looking to standings or who "carried" the team at key moments. But you start from plain old production and work backwards.

 

The only reason to cite the 1988 NL MVP voting is as an anti-drug PSA. As in, if Strawberry's dumb ass isn't strung out, he hits better than .269 and he doesn't get jobbed out of the MVP, and the writer's don't look like tools for giving the thing to a guy who hit 25 homers, whiffed 120 times and slugged Strawberry's BAC. In conclusion, don't use drugs.

 

That's unfair and it's bullshit, though I'm not downplaying Jeter's abilities. I've been saying his production this year isn't up to the level of a number of contenders for the AL MVP, including Mauer, Texeira and Young.