I know it doesn't come as much of a shock to everyone here, but the BBWAA is still jealous over Scrappy White Player's bitter break up with them. He used to be unloved, neglected, and the BBWAA adopted him like a three-legged FAS puppy, nurturing him with love far beyond what he deserved.
Well, that retarded puppy is all grown up now, and cashing in on the 24-hour news cycle and regional biases and the BBWAA just cannot get over that it's no longer needed. And so, they keep trying to woo their former dunce child back into the fold. They tried candy, they tried praise, and now they're moving on to gifts.
Somebody voted for Raul Ibanez.
Somebody gave Jason Bartlett a 6th place vote.
16 people thought Dustin Pedroia was the MVP in the American League.
I'd like to get worked up into a furor over it, but it's just par for the course for these people. And that's sad. Your profession is to cover baseball, I would hope that you would have enough professional pride and integrity to try and get better at it.
0 recs | 66 comments
Don't forget the 7th place vote for Mussina.
And who do the stats say was the deserving winner? Cliff Lee?
Crystal for DH - November 18, 2008
Morneau over Mauer is pretty inexcusable.
So is a lot of this list.
Teej - November 18, 2008
Morneau and Youkilis being 2nd and 3rd
Ahead of people like Mauer and Sizemore is just sad.
nfreakct - November 18, 2008
I'm cool with Youk being up there.
He’s probably several wins better than Morneau when defense is factored in.
Teej - November 18, 2008
Feh, Pedroia winning it all isn't that inexcusable. He had a great year.
It’s Mauer getting jobbed once again, and Morneau finishing in SECOND PLACE that are really outrageous. I mean, what the hell people?
esoteric - November 18, 2008
Yeah but but
Clutch man. Like, the pressure in like Boston is like totally wicked. You just don’t understand! You never played baseball! GO BACK TO YOUR PARENTS BASEMENT!!!! Yeah… why even bother giving awards? It’s stupid… The voters are stupid… What I dont get is old metrics (BA, RBI’s HR’s) are generally accepted to be truth, but when someone tries to use new metrics we are told stats don’t matter, the game is played on the field. Oh well…
zeke5123 - November 18, 2008
This comment confuses me
seattlebruin - November 18, 2008
The switch from sarcasm to not halfway through threw me.
staplemaniac - November 18, 2008
So Joe Mauer isn't scrappy?
JI - November 18, 2008
Nah
He’s 6’5", 220. That’s way too big to be scrappy.
Pedroia’s all of 5’9", 180. It’s not Eckstein-level scrappy, but that’s pretty damned scrappy.
Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright - November 18, 2008
5'9" in heels
SkipT - November 18, 2008
I wonder who voted or Raul?
InSpokane - November 18, 2008
That should be public knowledge.
That’s why we know who thought Edinson Volquez was a rookie.
Llewdor - November 18, 2008
It had to a Seattle Reporter
InSpokane - November 18, 2008
I like that the guy that got 1 tenth place vote is the free agent that the whole media wants to throw billions of dollars at
Hypocrisy at its finest
Corco - November 18, 2008
He split leagues
It basically makes him ineligible. If he’d done that for a full season in Anaheim he’d probably win.
JI - November 18, 2008
Oh yeah
Forgot about that little detail
Corco - November 18, 2008
Pedroia lead AL Position Players in WARP
Although the Red Sox make me vomit, Pedroia lead AL hitters in WARP. Lee, Halladay and Rivera were all ahead of him, but there’s a bias against pitcher MVPs because they have their own friggin’ award.
In fact, I would say that A-Rod and Mauer were really the only hitters in the AL that you could say deserved the award more.
However, we can keep bitching becaues it’s criminal as shit soup that Chase Utley has two team mates with more MVPs than he has.
For the record, I would have had 22 RBIs last year if I hit behind Utley and Rollins and Chase Utley would have had 182 RBIs if he hit right behind himself. Which makes Ryan Howards 140 something look pretty weak.
philosofool - November 18, 2008
While I agree with much of the sentiment
WARP has passed it’s expiration date.
JI - November 18, 2008
WARP sucks
Matthew - November 18, 2008
WARP, or BB/K ratio, or GPA or wOBA
Look at any one of these stats and you’ll see Pedroia among the leaders. At a defensive premium position, which he plays well. Pedroia also put in 726 plate appearances (part of the reason his WARP is so high—it is not a rate stat.) But those plate appearance mean something.
Okay, I probably overstated earlier. There’s a good case to be made for several other players. I still think as much as he’s a minion of the devil, an objective character says that he’s not totally undeserving.
philosofool - November 18, 2008
There are worse choices, certainly, but he's still not a good one.
Aaron Campeau - November 18, 2008
People in front of Pedroia in park adjusted wOBA:
Bradley
Rodriguez
Quentin
Youkilis
Markakis
Ramirez
Drew
Huff
Mauer
Cabrera
Pena
Damon
Kinsler
Giambi
Morneau
Granderson
Ordonez
Hamilton
Cust
Abreu
Guerrero
Sizemore
Byrd
Roberts
Shoppach
People in front of Pedroia in batting runs above average (bRAA):
Rodriguez
Bradley
Markakis
Youkilis
Quentin
Cabrera
Huff
Mauer
Morneau
Sizemore
Hamilton
Abreu
Damon
Pena
Granderson
Ordonez
Graham MacAree - November 18, 2008
(AL only, of course)
Graham MacAree - November 18, 2008
Fenway is a righthanded singles hitter's paradise.
JI - November 18, 2008
Because they all turn into doubles
Graham MacAree - November 18, 2008
It'd bad for homerun hitters!
JI - November 18, 2008
Agree
I play all the Super Mario games all the way through like a true gamer
Gomez - November 18, 2008
FAS puppy?
Jeff Sullivan - November 18, 2008
I don't get the joke but it's funny anyways.
JI - November 18, 2008
It's a pretty funny concept
Dewey N - November 18, 2008
you forgot three-legged
InSpokane - November 18, 2008
BBWAA writers getting better at their jobs would require expending effort
and said effort is better expended at the press room buffet.
pdb - November 18, 2008
This year was their best job since 2003
JI - November 18, 2008
that's like saying attempted murder is an improvement over 1st degree murder though
pdb - November 18, 2008
It is because no one dies in attempted murder
seattlebruin - November 18, 2008
Except that Schmidt should have beat Gagne
JI - November 18, 2008
Or maybe Prior
either of them
JI - November 18, 2008
Gagne was a reliever, true
but he had a 0.64 tRA that year.
Mariano Rivera this year was 1.11.
I can’t imagine a relief pitcher being more dominant than Gagne in 2003.
Fett42 - November 18, 2008
I would imagine that either Schmidt or Prior still had more value
JI - November 18, 2008
WPA numbers, for what their worth
Gagne: 5.62 (2.99 WPA/LI)
Schmidt: 4.47 (4.93)
Prior: 4.13 (2.75)
So I think Prior’s out of the picture but I can definitely see the argument for Schmidt. I’d still go with the historical awesmeness of Gagne though.
Fett42 - November 18, 2008
I really dislike using WPA as a way to determine the MVP
I brought up Price because Wrigley is a tough place to pitch and Pac-Bell not so much.
JI - November 18, 2008
Well I'll agree we did get a lot of innings out of our starters that year...
Fett42 - November 18, 2008
WPA/LI though?
I don’t think it’s the #1 criteria, but I think it’s not a bad idea to factor it in.
And in this case, it makes your case (which I agree with) stronger.
Aaron Campeau - November 18, 2008
Those Journalism Mad Libs posing as AP features don't fill themselves out
Gomez - November 18, 2008
shoudn't Longoria have had a few higher votes than he did?
if we are talking value-to-team?
msb - November 18, 2008
He missed a lot of time.
JI - November 18, 2008
Wooo JJ!
kentroyals5 - November 18, 2008
And when he did miss time the team did just fine without him
staplemaniac - November 18, 2008
SSS
JI - November 18, 2008
but Buck and McCarver told me he was most important
msb - November 18, 2008
When the was healthy he was their best position player.
JI - November 18, 2008
It must have been the mystic properties of his necklace.
Jed MC - November 18, 2008
When I first heard that Dustin won the MVP
I thought I was being lied to.
Shouldn’t that count for something?
tingeyga - November 18, 2008
There is some gold to be found in here
http://www.letsgotribe.com/2008/11/18/664525/bbwaa-awards-al-mvp-to-tra
Jeff Sullivan - November 18, 2008
...
This is my new favorite thing.
Aaron Campeau - November 18, 2008
So very awesome.
Sec 108 - November 18, 2008
This is the best thing I've seen all day.
BrianL - November 18, 2008
oh that made the day.
msb - November 18, 2008
And now I have a rec for reccing.
My rec : comment ratio is 1:1
Aaron Campeau - November 18, 2008
You're green actually.
We’re very hospitable.
nickjs21 - November 18, 2008
I love you all.
Aaron Campeau - November 18, 2008
FWIW
When I came home and saw the news just now about Pedroia, I immediately thought of LL’s reaction.
Gomez - November 18, 2008
LATE, I know, but credit to Epic Carnival for catching this
Edinson Volquez finished 4th in NL Rookie of the Year voting… despite definitely not being a rookie.
Gomez - November 20, 2008
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