Keith Law MVP Debate--Plus, our first f*ckup

Keith Law posted his MVP ballot (top 10) last week here. Naturally, he has Derek Jeter at the top since every ESPN commentator has chosen Jeter as the MVP (except Buster Olney who hedged between Jeter and Morneau). So the argument against Jeter you can read in another thread. But there are some other things to comment on.

1) Joe Mauer 7 spots ahead of Justin Morneau: Look, Joe Mauer won a batting title as a catcher, which is an amazing accomplishment. But he isn't the reason the Twins won the AL Central after being 10 games back in June. All of Mauer's singles are useless without Morneau or Cuddyer (i.e. Morneau) hitting home runs or doubles to drive Mauer in. I just don't see how defense can make up that big of a difference between players. Also, Mauer is not the best defensive catcher in the game. When he throws out over 50% of attempted steals, then you call him that.

2) Grady Sizemore at #5 ahead of Travis Hafner and Morneau: Like I said above, I don't think defense can make up that much of a difference when you have 1 hitter that beats another in every category (HR, OBP, SLG, RBI, etc.) Apparently, the VORP calculators don't think so either because Travis Hafner stills beats Sizemore despite playing 80% of the season. And he does a comparison between Sizemore and Morneau " Would you rather have, say, .292/.377/.536 with average defense in center (Sizemore) or .321/.376/.560 with fringe-average defense at first (Morneau)? " Seeing as how they have identical OBP (even though Sizemore bats #1 and Morneau #5), I think I'd take the guy that is slugging 25 pts higher even though he doesn't play center field. Morneau is by no means a defensive liability (i.e. Manny Ramirez or Mike Piazza).

3) "if David Ortiz doesn't make my ballot, " Can you explain why David Ortiz is not on your ballot Keith? I know that you're going to go back to the same argument about not playing defense and would rather have a great centerfielder who OPS's .900 or a DH. Well, that's what they made up VORP for, which takes into account defensive position. And Ortiz still beats Sizemore. I just don't see how a guy who is 8-9 (with 4 BB's) and 13 RBI in "game-winning situations" over the last 3 years isn't "valuable". But maybe that's just me. Oh yeah, I know why he isn't valuable. Because every Red Sox starter got injured or sucked (Beckett) and the Red Sox folded away in August/September. Which brings us to:

My first REAL BBB f-up: So in Keith Law's chat today (10/6) I asked him the following:

Josh (XXXX, FL): Keith, You talk about Grady Sizmore as an MVP candidate, yet Travis Hafner (who does everything better than Sizemore except defense) is nowhere to be found? Why??? Hafner has better OBP, SLG, more HR, more RBI, and higher VORP despite only playing 80% of the season. Yet you'd rather have Sizemore?? Keith Law: My MVP ballot had Sizemore #5 and Hafner #8. And I'd much prefer to have a capable centerfielder than a DH. Centerfielders who can hit like Sizemore are so difficult to find, and they put you well ahead of the game compared to other clubs who have to settle for less in center on either offense or defense.



Keith Law: My MVP ballot had Sizemore #5 and Hafner #8. And I'd much prefer to have a capable centerfielder than a DH. Centerfielders who can hit like Sizemore are so difficult to find, and they put you well ahead of the game compared to other clubs who have to settle for less in center on either offense or defense.

While it may be true that "CF's who can hit like Sizemore are so difficult to find..", it is any more difficult than other outfield positions, such as say Right Field. Looking at the Top 10 OPS numbers for CF and RF for all of MLB

CF: range: 795-982; avg: 866;
RF: range: 799-1066; avg 877;