Al MVP is Vladdy

[Guest Anglesault]

You can't tell me there were 13 better players in the league this year.

Three of those were from his own team

Sheffield, Matsui and ?

 

Please don't say Jeter.

Rivera.

 

A-Rod was, all season long, referred to as the best player in baseball and fourth best on the Yankees. Part of the animosity towards him.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Ok, I thought you meant that there were three better players, not three that placed better in the balloting.

[Guest OSIcon]

I don't see how Sheffield is a good choice for coming in second, none the less that he shoudl have gotten more first place votes.

 

Based on statistics, he really isn't *that* close.

 

- 30th in the AL in Batting Avg. (behind Vlad, Ortiz, Manny, and Tejada)

- 5th in RBI (behind Vlad, Ortiz, Manny, and Tejada)

- 8th in OBP (behind Manny and slightly ahead of Vlad)

- 11th in Slugging (behind Manny, Vlad, and Ortiz. Tied with Tejada)

- 25th in Hits (behind Manny, Vlad, Ortiz, and Tejada)

- 10th in total bases (behind Manny, Vlad, Ortiz, and Tejada)

- Despite not meaning much, he is also 6th in HR (behind Vlad, Manny, and Ortiz)

 

Clearly, going by statistics, he is not a "clear" runner up.

 

As for his importance to his team, that is also really debatable. He didn't even lead his team in several of those categories and was behind several teammates in a couple. Yes, Ortiz and Manny had each other and also had a World Series-winning lineup around them, but let's not act like the Yankees had nobody else (far from it).

 

I'm glad Vlad one because he was the obvious and right choice. Even as an O's fan, I know Tejada really didn't deserve to win (and didn't deserve to finish ahead of Santana), mainly because the O's played realtively poorly. However, Manny and Ortiz were ahead of Sheffield in virtually every statistical cateogry and Sheffiled played on a team with as many (if not more) "good" palyers then those two. I really don't see how he was a clear cut second choice.

 

On a side note, I wish they would give pitchers more consideration. Santana should have been top 5 without question.

[Guest Anglesault]

Sheffield played injured all year.

[The Ghost of bps21]

It had to be Vlad.

[Precious Roy]

I think the logic behind Figgins is that he was a utility man who played every position but pitcher and catcher, giving the Halos flexibility to deal with all of their injuries. Sound enough logic, I can forgive it if it's from an Anaheim writer, MVP voting is hardly an exact science.