SB Nation Awards: MVP

by Jim McLennan on Nov 12, 2009 11:43 AM EST in News Comment 37 comments

There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier. The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:

Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.

Number of games played.

General character, disposition, loyalty and effort.

Former winners are eligible.

Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.

You are also urged to give serious consideration to all your selections, from one to ten. A tenth-place vote can influence the outcome of an election. You must fill in all ten places on your ballot. Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, and that includes pitchers and designated hitters. Only regular-season performances are to be taken into consideration.

The above instructions are the ones given by the BBWAA to their members, when it comes time to vote for the Most Valuable Player award. Did the same criteria hold true for the SB Nation MVP awards? After the jump, we'll find out...

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

It's unanimous. Albert Pujols is the Most Valuable Player in the league this season. And, I suspect, if anyone did such a poll, he'd rank as the MVP for the entire decade, since his numbers are far and away the best of any position player since his arrival in 2001. In that time, in the BBWAA awards, he has never finished lower than ninth, has been in the top three six times (excluding this year) and, if the SB Nation ballot is any predictor, will pick up his third victory next week. This is for good reason. Here's a chart showing the ten players with the best OPS+ since 2000 (min. 3,000 ABs - why, yes, that figure was deliberately chosen to exclude Barry Bonds...).

Rk	Player	OPS+	PA	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Albert Pujols	172	6082	1071	1717	366	1112	811	570	.334	.427	.628	1.055
2	Manny Ramirez	160	5874	933	1562	348	1106	828	1085	.317	.419	.599	1.018
3	Alex Rodriguez	154	6768	1190	1740	435	1243	850	1243	.304	.401	.587	.988
4	Jason Giambi	152	5387	775	1171	303	912	942	965	.275	.418	.544	.961
5	Lance Berkman	148	6248	959	1553	309	1026	968	1030	.300	.413	.559	.972
6	Chipper Jones	147	5887	916	1535	273	921	884	768	.311	.413	.547	.960
7	Jim Thome	147	5681	877	1255	368	986	973	1431	.271	.399	.563	.962
8	Vladimir Guerrero	146	6094	929	1751	315	1037	569	670	.323	.392	.569	.960
9	Todd Helton	146	6409	1017	1756	260	981	1001	741	.331	.436	.569	1.006
10	Carlos Delgado	144	5938	863	1416	324	1045	796	1121	.286	.394	.553	.947

Pujols is there or thereabouts in just about every offensive category, and has batted .334 over a period of nine years - that's a point better than the epitome of the slap-hitter, Ichiro, who arrived here the same year. In the integrated era since 1947, only two players have a better average: Tony Gwynn (.338) and Ted Williams (.340). And, despite his domination, Pujols is still only in his twenties. Through their age 29 season, here are the top five hitters by OPS: Babe Ruth (1.195); Williams (1.129); Lou Gehrig (1.084); Jimmie Foxx (1.063) and Pujols (1.055). That's the kind of company in which Pujols operates: Cardinals fans are truly in the presence of greatness.

And then there's the also-rans - everyone else in the league. I don't have a complete copy of my ballot - the list I have is missing a name or two - but of the players I could assemble only Mark Reynolds ended up outside the first ten in the overall voting. My top three were Pujols, Utley and Tulowitzki: I tended to go for players who were the biggest help in getting their teams to the post-season, so Fielder, for example, was dropped lower down the ballot than his performance would likely deserve. Though I am probably happiest about the fact that Mandy was completely blanked: not one single person gave him a vote. Interestingly, the Dodgers didn't get anyone in the top ten, despite their league-best record.

Further down the ballot, from the Diamondbacks we find Reynolds in 20th, Justin Upton in 25th [I think he'll be going up from there in future seasons] and Dan Haren in 29th - Mark was the only one on my ballot. True Blue LA are up in arms over the 7th-place vote assigned to Juan Pierre. I believe that vote did come from us, but I can't recall if that was a missing vote from my nominations, or if 'charmer has some 'xplainin to do. :-) Given my fondness for using OPS+ as a metric - and Pierre ended up with a mediocre 105 there - I am inclined to go for the latter until 'charmer claims otherwise...

Over in the American League, Joe Mauer was almost as convincing a victor as Pujols, while Derek Jeter wasn't even the highest player on his own team. Justice was therefore served, and I will be able to go to sleep tonight. Here's the full AL ballot.

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

xxx

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Comments

Hate the Cardinals

but APul is the most prolific hitter of at least my time. Barry Bonds no longer counts and APul beats A-Rod without the roids.

Indianapolis Colts, taking focus away from my DBacks every Sunday.

by AJforAZ on Nov 12, 2009 12:11 PM EST reply actions

Hard to argue

and that photo is a great shot.

I am Shiva the Destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Nov 12, 2009 12:22 PM EST reply actions

How was I the ONLY person that voted for Pierre

and why would TBLA not like that? :/ Yes, it was me. The guy did really well while Manny was out, he kept LA in the hunt! If he had faltered like he did last year, there’s no WAY the NL West ends up being a runaway (even though it wasn’t really, at the end). I didn’t look at OPS+ specifically, that I remember, but his other numbers were decent, despite his being relegated back to part-time after Manny’s return.

Here’s my notes.

Most Valuable Player
1. Albert Pujols – No doubt the most dominant player in the NL this year
2. Prince Fielder – Also very dominating, 2nd in HRs, RBI leader, #2 in OPS
3. Ryan Braun – Uh, I didn’t put any notes here apparently
4. Todd Helton – Debated putting Helton 3rd and Braun 4th, because Helton was more important to his team’s playoff chances, but Braun’s offensive numbers (except AVG) were just a little better
5. Pablo Sandoval – Definitely the most important player to the Giants. Versatile infielder, Giants are nowhere without this guy
6. Hanley Ramirez – Maintained his strong rookie season, AVG leader, big threat, kept his team in it
7. Juan Pierre – Highest AVG on the Dodgers, he came back from a terrible season and took over for Ramirez with a fierceness, played well all season long. Probably the Dodger’s MVP.
8. Troy Tulowitzki – Sorry, but the Rockies are nowhere without Tulo, offensively and defensively.
9. Mark Reynolds – His AVG isn’t where it should be, obviously too many Ks, but he is an offensive force to be reckoned with.
10. Derrek Lee – Solid season for the Cubs. I honestly couldn’t think of any Phillies who were worthier than Lee though maybe that’s just because I didn’t watch them that much. I’m sure I should have had some Phillies in here.

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 12, 2009 12:33 PM EST reply actions

Sorry, but calling Pierre the Dodgers’ MVP is an insult to Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and even Casey Blake, who all had better seasons than Pierre.

by Amit on Nov 12, 2009 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

Well, I can see that...

at least for Kemp and Ethier. But I was very impressed with how Pierre really stepped it up after a horrible season last year, and he really kept his team in it. The problem was Pierre wasn’t qualified, at-bat wise, so many of his numbers – which WERE higher, such as his .308 average (above Kemp at .297, Ethier at .272), his .365 OBP (Kemp .352, Ethier .361) – didn’t “really count” because he didn’t have the number of ABs.

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 12, 2009 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

Unbelievable

Juan Pierre was great for one month. That is all, one bloody month. The following month in which he still played full time he sucked. Or at least as I consider it he sucked, maybe compared to Byrnes he was great but compared to Andre and Kemp and Manny he sucked. We laugh at the writers who vote for these awards and then we get votes like this from people who follow the game better then the beat writers. I don’t get it.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=pierrju01&year=2009&t=b

by meercatjohn on Nov 12, 2009 9:25 PM EST up reply actions

I'll give it a shot...

The following in no way constitutes an endorsment of Pierre for MVP, but it’s such a nebulous award, I can manage to see what the reasoning might be. At least, this is how I would justify it:

Pierre played balls to the wall at EXACTLY the time his team neede dhim the most. Manny had just been suspended…SUSPENDED!…for PED use. That could be crushing for a team, despite how big a lead they had at the time. It could make those youngsters think all the way back to the ’08 season (God knows I did) and question whether they had been a playoff team then, either.
Enter Pierre. Due to his play in May, was it(?), they not only weathered the loss of Manny, he helped them realize they might even be better (BETTER!) without him.

It’s hard to assign “value” to something like that, which is why there are these delightful arguements every year when people give their choices.

Again, not my choice, but it’s easy to see that Pierre held more value to his team for getting them through that dark time than his year long numbers bear out.

by Counsellmember on Nov 15, 2009 7:57 PM EST up reply actions

No Utley?

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 12, 2009 5:25 PM EST up reply actions

Thank you for bringing up Utley

How do you justify Pierre over Utley?

I wonder if Bud Selig will give the Yankees a receipt with their World Series purchase

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Nov 12, 2009 9:58 PM EST up reply actions

or anyone not named Pujols, over Utley for that matter.

Please hit better, Randy Winn.

by oldjacket on Nov 13, 2009 10:34 AM EST up reply actions

Pierre did not play well all season long

He had an awesome May (non coincidentally with a very high BABIP) and was hitting .374/.438/.496 at the end of play on May 31.

From June 1 through the end of the season, his carriage turned into a pumpkin and he hit like, well, Juan Pierre: .273/.326/.337 in 278 PA.

An argument can be made that Pierre wasn’t even a top 10 MVP on the Dodgers, let alone the entire NL. For instance, he was 13th on the Dodgers with 1.8 WAR.

by Eric Stephen on Nov 12, 2009 5:33 PM EST up reply actions

Well, well

Look at Mister “My team is so competent I can disparage a guy hitting .273!” Must be nice! =)

"Spam headline: 'YOU ARE CHOSEN!' Oh, Morpheus, you're getting pretty lazy."
"Or they are informing you you are Jewish in a very lame conversion campaign."
"In either case, sending me spam is not the way to invite me to Zion."

by kishi on Nov 12, 2009 9:21 PM EST up reply actions

Heh

I might adopt that as a slogan for the 2010 Dodgers: “Competent to the Core”!

by Eric Stephen on Nov 12, 2009 10:07 PM EST up reply actions

Or how about

“Non-suckage. It’s the Dodger way”?

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Nov 12, 2009 10:10 PM EST up reply actions

I'm not sure Todd Helton should be that high

As a Rockies fan I can tell you that Tulowitzki was more valuable to their team than Helton.

I wonder if Bud Selig will give the Yankees a receipt with their World Series purchase

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Nov 12, 2009 5:55 PM EST up reply actions

outlier

Please hit better, Randy Winn.

by oldjacket on Nov 12, 2009 6:34 PM EST up reply actions

And Todd Helton, too!

Not even Purple Row put him anywhere on their ballots? And yet they’ll vote Ubaldo Jimenez for CY? Hmmmmmm…. :P

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 12, 2009 12:36 PM EST reply actions

Hey, I put Ubaldo Jimenez on both my CY and MVP, ballots...

And I definitely think he was more integral to the Rockies getting to the playoffs than Helton, or I wouldn’t have. I’m probably conveniently ignoring that the season starts at the beginning of April and not the beginning of May, but really votes for Carpenter ignored a missed month and the vote for Cliff Lee ignored that he wasn’t even in the league until July, so I think I’m about as well justified.

by Rox Girl on Nov 12, 2009 7:14 PM EST up reply actions

Do tell me your cockamamey logic for putting Jiminez on your Cy ballot. Really… this should be interesting.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 12, 2009 7:36 PM EST up reply actions

probably not interesting at all... and I thought I just did....

I’m a Rockies fan, he was one of the best pitchers in the National League this past season. Certainly from the beginning of May on, he was arguably in the top three, so that’s where I put him. Like Jim said, as Rockies fans we don’t really have many chances that are remotely so close to vote for one of our guys, so I took it. Was it unfair to somebody else that I completely overlooked the month of April in doing so? Could be, but I don’t really care, frankly, and something tells me that Jimenez or Haren or whoever else was or wasn’t on the ballot of a certain Rockies blogger doesn’t really care either, and yet you do for some reason. Very curious.

by Rox Girl on Nov 12, 2009 8:45 PM EST up reply actions

Oh, snap!

Im with you, RG. Jimenez was great. Right now, pre-pre season, I see the Rockies as the team to beat in the West due to that excellent, deep rotation they will have back.
Thank God the D-Backs usually play them tough.

by Counsellmember on Nov 15, 2009 7:59 PM EST up reply actions

You can vote as you wish, but a vote for Jiminez is pure and blatant homerism. Just sayin’.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 16, 2009 10:38 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

By the way, if it is the case an AZ reporter votes Parra 3rd on the ROY ballot, I’d say the same thing. And that’s worse, b/c in that case the voter is legitimately messing with a worthy vote getter’s chances of winning the award.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 16, 2009 10:41 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

C'mon now

Jimenez had great numbers this year at Coor’s Field. 1.25 WHIP. 3.68 ERA. 198 strikeouts in 220 Inn.
Colorado made the playoffs.

Is that not legit enough for being in the top ten of MVP or CY?

by Counsellmember on Nov 17, 2009 5:24 AM EST up reply actions

Legit enough for top ten? Sure. Top three (which is what you had to vote him as to get on the ballot)? No way.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 17, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions

Ah, top 3

Gotcha.

But still, CO went to the playoffs. Some people, even experts (although thats not much of a disclaimer) give a lot of weight to that little detail.
Still seems close to justifiable, at least the CY.

In the end, I dont disagree with you. I just like playing devil’s advocate. :)

by Counsellmember on Nov 17, 2009 12:51 PM EST up reply actions

My beef wasn’t with the MVP voting (although I could make a case for that as well), but for the Cy Young voting for SB Nation which went like this:
Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
1 Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants 18 13 – 129
2 Chris Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals 9 4 7 64
3 Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals 4 4 10 42
4 Javier Vazquez Atlanta Braves – 5 7 22
5 Dan Haren Arizona Diamondbacks – 3 4 13
6 Ubaldo Jimenez Colorado Rockies – 1 1 4
7 Cliff Lee Philadelphia Phillies – - 1 1
8 Jair Jurrjens Atlanta Braves – - 1 1

The two Colorado SB Nation voters voted for Jiminez as #2 and #3 on their ballots. The Cy Young award should go to the best pitcher. Playoffs should have virtually nothing to do with that (I’m fine if you want to argue that wins, to a degree, should). Saying that Jiminez ranks above any of the top 3 Cy Young candidates is just crazy talk.

Do the Colorado voters have a right to vote for Jiminez because he had one of the best seasons of any pitcher in Colorado’s history? Sure. But do they slightly delegitimate the process when they do so? I would say so.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 17, 2009 4:52 PM EST up reply actions