Tom Glavine walked off the Shea Stadium mound for the final time last season losing more than just the New York Mets’ opportunity to make the 2007 postseason. Glavine’s abysmal performance (seven runs in one-third of an inning) effectively eliminated his third baseman David Wright from consideration for the NL MVP award as well. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins took home the award following his Philadelphia Phillies’ historic comeback. The Phils stormed back from seven games down with seventeen left to play, to become the NL East Champions on the final day of the season.
Rollins’ candidacy for MVP was substantiated on the notion that his value was so strong that he willed the Phillies past the Mets into the postseason whereas Wright was simply unable to do the same. Luckily for Rollins, his team’s soft-tossing left-handed starter, Jamie Moyer, outperformed Glavine on the final day of the season, throwing five and one-third innings while allowing just a single unearned run in a victory over Washington. Had Moyer and Glavine swapped pitching lines on September 30th, Wright would likely be the reigning NL MVP.
Wright was a greater player than Rollins in every meaningful aspect. He was penalized for no other reason than having teammates inferior to those of Rollins. A quick analysis of both players’ individual statistics proves how flawed this logic is:
-Wright posted a .325/.416/.546 line with 30 home runs and 107 runs batted in, while Rollins hit at a .296/.344/.531 clip with 30 home runs and 94 runs batted in. A 90 point difference in OPS is the difference between Derek Jeter and Marco Scuturo. Despite having 112 more at bats, Rollins had just 16 more hits. Wright would have simply had to produce Johan Santana-like offensive numbers over his next 112 at-bats to match Rollins’s hit total.
-In a sport without a clock, an out is the most valuable possession a team has. In 2007, Jimmy Rollins made more outs than any other player in baseball. Rollins’s .344 OBP was just 19 points higher than Wright’s batting average.
-Measuring by VORP, had both teams replaced their stars with league-average fill-ins at the same positions, the Mets would have suffered worse. Wright was second in the NL with an 81.1 VORP, while Rollins ranked 9th (66.1), one place below teammate Chase Utley. That’s right; the 2007 NL MVP was not even the most valuable player on his own team. If Rollins’s season held more value than Wright’s, it is certainly not evident in his production.
David Wright is the last person who should have been held accountable for the Mets collapse. Wright posted September slashes of .352/.432/.602, with 6 home runs and 20 RBI. Wright closed his monster September on a 17-game hit streak. He was held hitless just four times in the entire month. Wright carried the Mets into contention through the final game of the season; a game that ended as quickly as it started, through no fault of his own. He was robbed of the 2007 MVP Award.
Which brings us to 2008…
Somewhere along the line, the media has irresponsibly hopped aboard the “Carlos Delgado for MVP” bandwagon, feeding into the irrational frenzy that Mets fans are currently engaged in. If the Mets hold off the Phillies down the stretch, the clamoring for Delgado will only grow stronger.
Yes, this is the same Delgado who was among the worst players in baseball on July 4th. The fact that he salvaged his season enough to avoid being platooned, and even released, is an accomplishment in itself but it does not make him worthy of being the NL MVP.
Games in April mean as much in the standings as games in September. Delgado’s performance of late is only making up for the hole that he put the Mets in earlier in the year. Had Delgado been better than Jose Vidro during the first three months, the Mets would have had a better record than 42-44 on July 4th. As a result, they would have a greater cushion than the current half-game lead they hold over Philadelphia. Delgado’s July and September are only repaying his debts from April through June. If the requirements of becoming NL MVP are two great months, then Manny Ramirez is far more deserving of a candidate than Delgado.
Mets fans: Ask yourselves about your own team before even acknowledging the actual National League MVP. If you lost one of the following five players for the remainder of the season, who would be the most difficult to replace: David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran, or Carlos Delgado? You’d have to be insane to consider Delgado, even intuitively. By every value based measure: VORP, Runs Created, Win Shares, etc., Carlos Delgado ranks last. As stated by Max Kellerman of 1050 ESPN Radio, Delgado is not even the MVC—Most Valuable Carlos, as his production is not nearly as meaningful as that of a center fielder who provides value on both sides of the field.
So who deserves the NL MVP? Simple. The best player in the National League: Albert Pujols—and it’s not even close. Pujols is having a monster season that is going unrecognized because of the regularity in which he puts up his numbers. He is so dominant that it just isn’t fun to vote for him. He has outperformed his peers in every aspect and deserves to be rewarded for it. It is not Pujols’s fault that his teammates are not as good as Santana, Reyes, and Wright. If anything, that shows how valuable he really is. Trade Pujols for Delgado and which team becomes better? He should not miss out on the MVP because the other 24 St. Louis Cardinals are not as good as the New York Mets.
The MVP is an individual award. It is not a team award. The playoffs are the team award. Arguing for Delgado is arguing the semantics of the word “valuable”. And turning the MVP award into a semantics argument takes away from the true intention of the trophy. Only the voters have a chance to right this wrong. To do so, they must name the most deserving player in the National League, Albert Pujols, the 2008 NL MVP.
My Ballot (AVG/OBP/SLG, HR-RBI):
10. Lance Berkman, HOU: .322/.426/.586, 28-100
9. Manny Ramirez, LAD: .401/.481/.745, 14-44
8. Carlos Beltran, NYM: .280/.371/.490, 24-103
7. Jose Reyes. NYM: .298/.359/.474, 14-59
6. Chase Utley, PHI: .289/.377/.533, 31-95
5. Geovanny Soto, CHC, .285/.363/.502, 22-83
4. Ryan Braun, MIL, .290/.336/.562, 35-97
3. Johan Santana, NYM: 210 IP, 13-7, 2.70 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 179 K
2. David Wright, NYM: .298/.386/.534, 31-114
1. Albert Pujols, STL: .357/.461/.645, 33-101
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5 comments:
Agreed on Pujols. It's amazing how Sportscenter doesn't have a topic every morning about him. Every time they show someone they consider an NL MVP award candidate, they should what Pujols did in captions, because he probably went 2-3 with 2 walks, a homer and a doube with 2 rbi's and a run scored (with the Cardinals losing 6-3). As much as I absolutely hate David Wright, I agree with you that he got screwed last year. David Wright did his best 1999 Chipper Jones impression, when he went for .336/10/23 in August followed by .307/10/23 in September to knock the Mets out of the playoffs. Sorry Nick, I had to throw a Braves reference in there somewhere, but this one actually makes sense.
-Brian
Haha, no it's valid and quite frankly, I wouldn't expect a response from you WITHOUT a Chipper reference.
Truth be told though, if you take the way boxing analysts compare boxers from different weight classes with pound-for-pound rankings, and you use that mentality to compare Chipper Jones inning-for-inning with any of the aforementioned MVP candidates, you can argue that he has been the second best player in the NL, trailing just Pujols between 2007-2008. His rate stats are almost indistinguishable from Pujols:
Chipper's OPS:
2006- 1.005
2007- 1.029
2008- 1.037
Pujols's OPS:
2006- 1.102
2007- .997
2008- 1.098
The only thing against Jones is that he hasn't stayed healthy enough to warrant serious consideration. But honestly it's amazing what he has done the last three seasons, in what should have been the tail-end of his career. I've developed a newfound respect for him for it. I just don't understand why the guy can't stay on the damn field!
I'll tell you exactly why the only switch hitter to have a career batting average of over .300 with 400 home runs can't stay on the field. MLB issued its first steroid policy at the start of the 2005 season.
From 1995-2004: his first real season to the last non-tested MLB season: Chipper Jones missed a total of 86 games. For an average of 8.6 games per season. He's no Cal Ripkin, but that is a very reliable All-Star to have on your team.
Now on the contrary:
From 2005-2008, present season:
Chipper missed a total of 165 games. With an average of 41.25 per season. True, age does factor into those missed games with little nagging injuries, but you cannot overlook that alarming comparison.
His batting average split is an anomaly:
1995-2004: .302
2005-2008: .330
We'll just chalk that up to becoming wiser with his age.
If you put Chipper on the field for 150+ games a year over the past few years, its not hard to imagine the Braves run of division championships is still going.
Although, I'm not that much of an idiot. This year I'm chalking up for a loss. With the end of the year rotation of OUR ACE Mike Hampton, Jair Jurrjens, Jo-Jo Reyes, Jorge Campillo, and James Parr, I just want this season to end as soon as possible.
-Brian
How does my man CC not crack the top 10? You clearly aren't biased against pitchers (Johan) or guys acquired at the deadline (Manny).
For me, it's the combination of both that pushes it over the top.
Like, I have nothing against boring girls or dumb girls, but if a girl is boring AND dumb, then it becomes a problem.
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