The NL Most Valuable Copy Creator Award

I went to write a post on Jimmy Rollins and the NL MVP, but noticed Joe Sheehan said all I was going to write. Whatever, call me a cut-and-paste blogger, but he nails it:

This vote reflects the storyline, not the performance. All of the measures of performance that we have, from Value Over Replacement Player to Wins Above Replacement Player to…well, pick your favorite stat…yield roughly the same conclusion: that Jimmy Rollins was somewhere between the fifth- and eighth-best player in the NL this year…

There is one point I can’t so easily take credit for, however:

The three best players in the league finished fourth (Wright), seventh (Peavy) and ninth (Pujols) in the MVP balloting, not because their performance was lacking, but because their teammates were.

The teammate performance aspect of MVP voting I can claim, but who knew our homie Jake Peavy tied for the second best WARP in the NL?

This is the reason I get all snarky when people cite MVPs and All-Star births in evaluations. I view this as fun fluff to talk (and post) about, but it tells you something if a debate participant brings it up in actual analytical discussion.

1. Player X is MVP for leading his team to the playoffs, something Player Y failed to do.

2. Player X is MVP because it stands for Most Valuable, and X’s team would be nowhere without him. Player Y’s team has has other good players, making X less valuable.

See a problem here? How is it that both of these are arguments are used as rationale for MVP voting? They’re complete opposites.

…more than anything, it was Rollins’ grinder persona that kept the team positive and focused…

So on and so forth. It’s so comical to me, we watch sportswriters make it up as they go along to push whichever player they’ve already decided should win.

Just pick the best guy. He isn’t a mascot. He can’t control others’ performance.

…this stat. But don’t worry, I got your back.

Gonzalez VORP: 38.4 (49th of MLB hitters)

Peavy VORP: 77 (1st of MLB pitchers)

Jake Peavy pitches every five days, but that doesn’t diminish his value when he’s the best guy in baseball every five days. When he does play, he dominates the opposition’s ability to score runs. That gets the Padres offense off the hook.

This year Jake was the best pitcher in the world. That makes him MVP of his team.

Adrian Gonzalez

There’s a lot of talk about Khalil or Peavy being the MVP of the team this season, but it’s very easily Adrian. Since it would take too long to list the categories that he led the team in, I’ll just list the categories that he didn’t lead in:

OBP: Giles .361 (Adrian .347)

3B: Cameron 6 (Adrian 3)

BB: Cameron 67 (Adrian 65)

SB: Cameron 18 (Adrian 0)

HBP: Kouzmanoff 10 (Adrian 3)

I got a feeling about next year and that HBP crown.

What really jumps out at me about Adrian is that he was 4th in the league in Win Shares for first basemen, behind only The Albert Pujols, the alien inhabiting Carlos Pena’s body, and Prince Fielder.

Not bad.

Choices for the Padres will come up shortly but I wanted to get this out before more things happen in the playoffs that I won’t be able to unknow.

AL MVP - Alex Rodriguez, NYY

I can’t imagine that this needs any explanation but here goes.

Rodriguez finished first in the AL in the following categories:

-SLG

-OPS

-OPS+

-Runs

-Total bases

-RBI

-Win shares

-RC

-Home runs

And he was even second in the league with HBP, with 21. That’s impressive.

Runner up: Ortiz, BOS

He quietly put up big numbers, finishing in the top two or three in most statistical categories.

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