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Award Redo: 1986 A.L. MVP

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Bored

Entry posted by Bored ·

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I think every sports fan has certain athletes they dislike or even on some level hate. Sometimes there are some justifiable reason to dislike the athlete and other times it is just irrational hate. For me that athlete is Roger Clemens. I can't stand the fat fuck. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense as Clemens has many memorable failures against my Oakland A's over the years. Clemens was 0-7 head-to-head vs. Dave Stewart when Stewart pitched for the A's. Hell you'd think I'd like the guy but I don't. I've grown tired of his several near retirements which started with his so called farewell season of 2003. That season he was forced on to the All-Star team by Bud Selig after not being selected to the team and was given a long standing ovation in his "final" start in the 2003 World Series even though at no point before or during the season did he ever say that it would be his final year. Now he's on his way back yet again and in honor of his return I will attempt to take something away from him: the 1986 American League Most Valuable Player Award.

 

1986 was the last time a starting pitcher won an MVP award as Clemens had arguably the best season of his career going 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA while playing on the best team in the league. In the 1995 N.L. MVP redo I established that it is still possible for a starting pitcher to win an MVP award although it is very difficult. Certainly Clemens had the type of year a starting pitcher would need to warrant consideration for an MVP and he received 19 of the 28 possible first place votes. His main competition was the defending A.L. MVP Don Mattingly and he had an even better season than his MVP year but his RBI total was down from 145 to 113 so undoubtedly that hurt him in the view of the writers. Then other player to receive first place votes was Clemens' teammate and another former MVP in Jim Rice. Rice had a great year but the best position player on the Red Sox was clearly Wade Boggs who won the batting title with a .357 avg and also lead the league with a .453 obp. Boggs only finished 7th in the voting.

 

Actual Results

1) Roger Clemens 2) Don Mattingly 3) Jim Rice 4) George Bell 5) Jesse Barfield 6) Kirby Puckett 7) Wade Boggs 8) Wally Joyner 9) Joe Carter 10) Dave Righetti 11) Doug DeCinces 12) Mike Witt 13) Don Baylor 14) Tony Fernandez 15) Teddy Higuera 16) Gary Gaetti 17t) Marty Barrett 17t) Scott Fletcher 17t) Pete O'Brien 20) Jose Canseco 21) Jim Presley 22) Dick Schofield

 

#10

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.263/.358/.469, 102 RC, 125 OPS+, .307 EQA, 53.6 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

#9

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156 ERA+, 2.80 K/BB, 1.21 WHIP, 75.3 VORP, 25 Win Shares

 

#8

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.302/.335/.514, 114 RC, 130 OPS+, .300 EQA, 49.9 VORP, 28 Win Shares

 

#7

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.282/.355/.461, 102 RC, 122 OPS+, .296 EQA, 58.7 VORP, 28 Win Shares

 

#6

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.328/.366/.537, 131 RC, 140 OPS+, .307 EQA, 65.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

#5

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.324/.384/.490, 117 RC, 137 OPS+, .310 EQA, 52.4 VORP, 28 Win Shares

 

#4

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.289/.368/.559, 120 RC, 147 OPS+, .315 EQA, 51.8 VORP, 28 Win Shares

 

#3

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169 ERA+, 3.55 K/BB, 0.97 WHIP, 84.6 VORP, 29 Win Shares

 

#2

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.357/.453/.486, 128 RC, 157 OPS+, .337 EQA, 73.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares

 

#1

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.352/.394/.573, 155 RC, 161 OPS+, .338 EQA, 85.8 VORP, 34 Win Shares

 

OH IN YO FACE CLEMENS, IN YO FACE!!!

 

See the fact fuck wasn't even the best player on his own team. That's it he shouldn't be allowed in the Hall of Fame. Pretty much a toss up between Mattingly and Boggs, I wouldn't argue with anyone who feels Boggs should have won it. RICKEY~ didn't receive any votes and neither did Ripken who also didn't receive any votes in the 1984 A.L. MVP redo when I chose him as the winner.

 

In the near future I'll be posting an 80's round up of MVP redos for the years haven't done yet but aren't interesting enough for their own entry...and I'm not even sure if this one was either.

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EVIL~! alkeiper

I think Clemens has a better argument. I'm not sure how accurate win shares are when it comes to comparing the accomplishments of hitters vs. pitchers. I don't know if Clemens was the best player in the American League. But consider that the Red Sox were 66-60 (.531) without him on the mound, but 27-6 (.818)* with him. This certainly wasn't a bad vote by any stretch.

 

*His W/L record was 24-4, with five no decisions. The Red Sox finished 3-2 in those no decisions.

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Bored

I think Clemens has a better argument. I'm not sure how accurate win shares are when it comes to comparing the accomplishments of hitters vs. pitchers. I don't know if Clemens was the best player in the American League. But consider that the Red Sox were 66-60 (.531) without him on the mound, but 27-6 (.818)* with him. This certainly wasn't a bad vote by any stretch.

 

*His W/L record was 24-4, with five no decisions. The Red Sox finished 3-2 in those no decisions.

I wasn't trying to argue Clemens was a bad pick, was just look for an excuse to do another 80's redo before I post them all thus my very weak intro and excuse for doing the entry. I do think Win Shares does accurately compare hitters vs. pitchers but at the same time I think pitchers do deserve some bonus points if they have a high number of Win Shares. When I did the 1995 N.L. redo I picked Maddux as the winner over Bonds even though Bonds had six more Win Shares. Here I felt Mattingly and Boggs were a just a step above Clemens.

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