SB Nation's MVP Awards

by Tom Dakers on Nov 12, 2009 8:00 AM EST in News Comment 11 comments

We've come to the last of our SB Nation Awards, yesterday we posted the Cy Young, Tuesday the Rookie of the Year and Monday Manager of the Year. If you've been following along you know that the baseball bloggers voted on these, AL blogs voted for the AL awards, NL for NL. For the MVP voting we, just like the BBWAA, list our top 10 choices.

So our AL MVP award vote:

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

So I have no real arguments with the vote. Mauer was easily the best choice and our bloggers show they knew that. 9 of my 10 picks were in the top 12, I didn't pick any pitchers, which was just a personal choice on my part. The best pitcher this year was Zack Greinke and his team came in last in the weakest AL division so I didn't feel like I could call him a 'Most Valuable Player', they could have been last without him.

The one I picked that wasn't in the top bunch was Dustin Pedroia who finished 20th in the vote. I had him 9th on my ballot. He was pretty much as good offensively as he was last year when he won the writers MVP award and his defense was great. The ones that stand out for me? Jason Bay is way to high up on the list, to me. Jacoby Ellsbury was an interesting choice. I wouldn't have him on a top 30 list. Alex Gonzalez only played 44 AL games, but I'd imagine that they both were voted for by the same Red Sox fan. A terrible choice. Nick Markakis is an interesting choice too, a corner outfielder with mid-range power and an decent but not great batting average for a last place team.

The NL vote:

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

Unanimous and it should be. But then I expected the AL one to be too.

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Comments

Most boring MVP year ever. Mauer and Pujols had basically won them by the All-Star Break. Tremendous seasons from both men.

by dexfarkin on Nov 12, 2009 10:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

My top 3

AL: Mauer, Teixeira, Jeter
NL: Pujols, Ramirez, Utley

by Jevant on Nov 12, 2009 10:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I couldn't agree more on 5 of your 6 picks.

If Derek Jeter’s name was Joe Shmoe and he was on the Royals, he wouldn’t even be on this list.

Johnnie Morton: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

by craig in calgary on Nov 12, 2009 11:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

oh don't let hate for derek cloud you too much

he had a pretty amazing season.

by Tom Dakers on Nov 12, 2009 11:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But was it THAT much better than Aaron Hill who didn't sniff the Top 10?

Jeter = 107 Runs, 212 Hits, 18 HR, 66 RBI, .334 Ave, 871 OPS
Hill = 103 Runs, 195 Hits, 36 HR, 108 RBI, .286 Ave, 829 OPS

If you took the names out of the equation, isn’t it pretty much a wash?

Johnnie Morton: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

by craig in calgary on Nov 12, 2009 11:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

no no where near a wash....

of course in another thread you are arguing that Roy Halladay can’t be as good as Joe Carter because he hasn’t won a World Series…..This is Most Valuable player, not best player.

Jeter got on base 289 times and made roughly 422 outs.

Aaron him got on base 242 times and made about 487 outs.

Both were good, Jeter was better and helped his team win the division. Hill helped his team finish 4th.

by Tom Dakers on Nov 12, 2009 1:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You are saying Jeter helped win his team win the division which is a valid argument

But doesn’t that also prove my point why Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar are more Valuable Jays? Because they helped their team win a WS, whereas Doc didn’t?

Johnnie Morton: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

by craig in calgary on Nov 12, 2009 2:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't do a Most Valuable Jay list...

I did a best Jays list…….

I don’t think Carter was a better player for the Jays Jays than Roy was…I don’t think anyone would think that.

by Tom Dakers on Nov 12, 2009 2:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hypothetical question.

Aaron Hill was the 2nd baseman for the Yankees and had the EXACT same season statistically, where would he have fallen? 2nd? 3rd? 5th?

Johnnie Morton: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

by craig in calgary on Nov 12, 2009 11:00 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

He got one more point than Joey Freaking Votto!

Johnnie Morton: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

by craig in calgary on Nov 12, 2009 11:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ben Zobrist 2nd?

He had a good year, but for him to be ahead of the rest of the 7 directly below him I think is odd. NL was basically exactly what I thought it would be.

by jonnybluejay on Nov 16, 2009 3:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs