Baseball writers. The fans’ main source of expert analysis. Paid for their unique insight and knowledge.
Yet, we are reminded with each season’s award voting, that we’d all be fired from our real-life jobs if we were as bad as many of them are.
Since we’re a Yankee-themed site, let’s look at this year’s AL MVP voting and examine how dumb it was that Mark Teixeira finished ahead of Derek Jeter, not to mention 2nd overall.
And let’s not make this a sabermetric argument either, because trying to explain replacement level to your typical baseball writer would be like trying to explain body grooming to a 1970s porn star.
Instead, let’s use some good ol’ common sense.
Fact: It is harder to play shortstop than it is first base.
Not only does Jeter play a much more demanding position than Teixeira, but he also played it quite well this season. Thus, when voting, you’d think writers would realize this.
Fact: It is harder to find offense from a shortstop than it is from a first baseman.
Derek’s OBP (.406) ranked 1st overall for AL SS, and his OPS of .871 was 2nd among AL SS. He also stole 30 bases in 35 attempts, good for a success rate of 86%.
After Derek, offensive contributions from AL shortstops drop like a lead balloon with the next highest OPS being .799 (Asdrubal Cabrera).
The offensive leaderboard for AL 1B looks like it came from the American Dreams of Baseball Stars’ fame. There are some big numbers on there.
Teixeira had a great season, but he had no business finishing where he did in the MVP voting.
P.S. Kendry Morales over Jeter? That’s insane, Ken Rosenthal.
13 Comments
MattNC November 23, 2009 22:17
Agree that Jeter should have been well ahead of Teix.
Fangraphs’ WAR ratings didn’t help Zobrist much.
Charlie November 24, 2009 04:22
Uh oh! You guy’s may want to rethink your analysis – a certain “interested” beat writer currently weighing down New England isn’t pleased:
“Any Yankees fan who thinks Jeter’s work at SS outweighs Texeira’s adv. at the plate doesn’t appreciate how good he was at 1B…Then again, only Yankees fans could bitch about MVP voting after winning the Series.”
I wonder who he had higher on his MVP ballot.
Kevin S. November 24, 2009 05:39
He went Mauer, Teix, Youk (!) then Jeter. Jeter was more than two wins better than Teix. Even though UZR probably underrates him (Keith Law has said it gets screwy at first, and that makes sense since its primary component is range), bumping Teix to even a +20 defensive first baseman leaves him behind Jeter.
Oh, and I seem to recall a bunch of Red Sox fans whining about Beckett not getting the Cy Young when they won the WS a couple years ago.
JoeThunder November 24, 2009 06:20
Sox fans will be bitching about things for the rest of their lives. It seems to me that everyone in the (uri)nation has their time of the month at all times. I say screw the bastards! Yankees 2009!!! Dynasty, baby!
Bill November 24, 2009 07:32
I agree completely … but I’m happier with the fact that someone else remembers playing Baseball Stars.
LeisureSuitLarry November 24, 2009 09:48
Major daps for the pubic hair and Baseball Stars references.
DavidRiccio November 24, 2009 10:07
I enjoy wearing a variety of hats and vests.
Bigguy November 24, 2009 10:48
I get that SS is tougher than 1st base but Jeter was a terrible defensive player for the last 5 years with Giambi at 1st. Tex comes on board and he regains his gold glove form. I don’t believe there are sabermetrics for that equation, but the eye test tells me Tex made Jeter a better defensive player this year.
Kevin S. November 24, 2009 11:26
Did the prospect of having Teixeira at first base in a year’s time motivate Jeter to begin doing work to improve his lateral mobility before the 2008 season? Did Teix being there at first help Jeter’s range increase this year? His issue was never throwing balls away, it was getting to them – the fact that Teix arrived this year is independent of Jeter’s improvement. Correlation/causation fail.
WRT November 24, 2009 19:49
Kevin S. > Bigguy
Matcohen November 24, 2009 20:53
Maybe the top 100 bloggers should vote on their own version of all of the awards, Allstars and Gold Gloves.
deadrody November 25, 2009 01:38
Yikes. The only thing worse than a game announced by Joe Buck and Tim McCarver is when they throw it down to the field for a moronic report from Ken Rosenthal. Why are you surprised that dope would make a monumental mistake on the MVP vote ???
deadrody November 25, 2009 01:41
So Bigguy, you’re telling me that having Texeira at 1B helped Jeter get to the ball up the middle this year ?
THAT is how Jeter was better in the field.