Joe Mauer (or maybe Justin Morneau) should have been the AL MVP, according to ESPN’s Rob Neyer. He’s got the stats to back it up. Of course, if Mauer and Morneau played in Boston, it would have been no contest to outpoll Dustin Pedroia, the first second baseman to win the award since 1959.
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9 Reader Comments
4:38 pm
Neyer makes a compelling case for Mauer. But I’m guessing the average voter in this thing doesn’t worship @ the shrine of Bill James and takes about 1/20 the time that Neyer to analyze who they should vote for. They look @ the 4 playoff teams and then look for a player who sticks out statistically.
4:50 pm
Most of the time, voters care about one thing: RBI.
OPS? Never heard of it!
If Morneau hadn’t made friends with Houdini the last three weeks of the season, he probably would’ve won, since the Twins would’ve won the Central easily.
5:01 pm
I watch games AND I’m a moneyball guy AND I used to play at a pretty high level. Now that I’ve self-qualified, I’ll go on record as saying RBI is a dumb way to choose, as it’s about 70% dependent on your teammates. OPS works. Looking at RBI is like using wins to determine who’s the best pitcher. WHIP and ERA are where it’s at for true pitcher value. When I look at the braintrust of sportswriters in this town as an example, though, I can understand how they may not rely on air-tight logic to decide.
6:58 pm
Morneau would have won it going away if not for another second-half slide. Mauer is just amazing. It’s frustrating to see a guy that big and strong not hit for a lot of power, but he’s the only catcher to have ever led the American League in hitting – and he’s done it twice. Unbelievable.
8:12 pm
I don’t know about that. Some people, who shall remain nameless for the moment, call Mauer a pussy on a semi-regular basis.
8:21 pm
I’d like to see some people say that to his face.
10:05 pm
he’d prolly cry
10:16 pm
I’ll say it. How often does he take an inside fastball and dump it into left field? I’d like to see about 20 points less of a batting average and 20 more home runs.
10:03 am
I am so excited for the new ball park. Here are some pictures from a recent tour. I reserved my season tickets for next season. Section 133 row 10. I am hoping to be sitting in a similar place for the new stadium.
http://www.twinsballpark2010.com/baseball/minnesota-twins/stadium/Home.html
MVP is nice to get but Morneau just needed to hit a few dinngers in the last few weeks and it would have been a lock along with the play off spot.
Mauer is still fairly young. Look how many homers Sosa hit in his first few years!
(Yes that is obviously a joke)