Quote:

Rob Kamphausen said:
ortiz didn't deserve it this year or last year, though he had a stronger argument then.



A-Rod's season last year was significantly better than Jeter's season this year. Ortiz provided pretty much the same value both years.

You wouldn't think so by looking at the MVP voting(and this is something I think I overlooked in my initial MVP selection post), but Manny Ramirez has actually been better than Ortiz every season, even the last two. Offensively they were about the same, but what separated them was, obviously, that Manny played the field. Even if you play a position poorly, that's still defensive value. Ortiz provided none the last two years. Ortiz may have whatever intangible qualities you want to attribute to him, but on the field Manny Ramirez was the more valuable player. He just doesn't get the credit because he's...well, he's Manny.

Really, I don't think there was a whole lot separating the top four guys this year, though I do think the award should have gone either to Jeter or Mauer(depending on how you evaluate Jeter's defense). I'm assuming that the voters looked at two things and decided to give Morneau the edge: RBI total, and the win/loss record. Hilariously, these are the two stats the individual player has the least control over. They might as well have given Morneau the Cy Young, too.

This whole thing reminds me a bit of the '96 AL MVP voting(the '06 vote might be the worst since '96). Juan Gonzalez was a first basemen who had a lot of RBI on a first place team, like Morneau. Alex Rodriguez was a young player who won the batting title at a key defensive position, like Mauer. Seattle finished in second, and so did A-Rod in the MVP voting, even though Rodriguez was much better than Gonzalez.

MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.