Earlier this week, Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia was awarded with the AL Most Valuable Player Award. Once news of the selection was made, sports writers and radio personalities across the country, mostly from Boston and Minnesota, began chiming in.
There were those who staunchly defended the pick, those who couldn't believe a Dallas Morning News writer left Pedroia completely off his ballot, and those who felt Justin Morneau was robbed of his second American League MVP Award.
Pedroia, in his third year, was the backbone of the Boston Red Sox through their struggles, the Manny saga, and towards the end of the season. He was the table setter for the lineup and was a clutch performer throughout. But, looking at the statistics, the total games played, and the rosters on both teams, as much as Pedroia was "worthy" of this award—he surely didn't "deserve" it.
If you compare the statistics of Pedroia to those of his teammate, Kevin Youkilis, they aren't even comparable. Granted, Pedroia is a leadoff hitter and will never produce the type of numbers a third or fourth hitter like Youkilis will.
But they both played close to a full season and you wonder why Youkillis, who had to step up his game more than anyone considering Manny's absence, wasn't considered for the award more than Pedroia.
But the individual who was really overlooked in this whole process and should've been named MVP was Twins 1B, Justin Morneau.
Here are their statistics:
Morneau
Games: 163
Average: .300
HR: 23
RBI: 129
- B/R Ticket Guide
Pedroia
Games: 157
Average: .326
HR: 17
RBI: 83
If you're looking at it from a purely statistical standpoint, the voters got it wrong. If you're looking at it around playoff contention, Pedroia made it to the ALCS and Morneau came one game away from playing in the postseason. But the postseason holds no significance because votes are in before it begins.
But, contention does hold weight and this is why I believe Morneau deserves the award. If you replaced Dustin Pedroia with an average second basemen, the Red Sox would probably still make the playoffs. But if you replace Justin Morneau with an average first basemen, the Twins would've never played a 163rd game.
I can wager that they wouldn't have even been playing an important game into their 120th.
You also have to take into account that the Twins were projected to finished fourth in a division where the Tigers, White Sox, and Indians all looked markedly better. The AL Central was being called the best division in baseball before the season started.
We must also remember that the Twins lost their star pitcher (Santana), the backbone of their organization for so many years (Hunter), didn't really make any splash acquisitions, and still managed to battle within a game of the playoffs without their stud young pitcher, Francisco Liriano.
With this MVP vote, the Baseball Writers of America made a decision based on popularity and not on facts. They made the trendy pick—the pick they see the most on TV. Looking at a previous MVP vote including Morneau, everyone remembers how close the 2006 voting was between he and Jeter, when it really wasn't even a question that Morneau deserved the award outright that year.
East Coast Bias was a factor then and it also is now.
Major League Baseball has stripped any enthusiasm surrounding the award already by officially announcing it a month after the playoffs end. Now, you have sports-writers who seem to go into the voting booths and vote for who their fellow sports-writers are voting for, and not who they think deserves the award.
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about 1 month ago
Dustin Pedroia didn't deserve the MVP if Pedroia had been on lets say the Texas Rangers or the San Francisco Giants he wouldn't have won. He may have garnered some votes, but that's it. The Red Sox lineup was stacked even without Manny Ramirez in it. Sure, David Ortiz missed some time with a nagging injury, but still Pedroia was the wrong choice for MVP.
Put Dustin Pedroia on the Minnesota Twins and Justin Morneau on the Red Sox. Would the Twins even be in playoff considerations? Nope. The Red Sox still would be in fact they probably would have been better off with Morneau at first base and Youkilis at third now that Lowell is getting on with age.
Morneau had absolutely no protection in the Twins lineup which makes his year much more impressive. The Twins only had 2 other players in double digit home runs Jason Kubel with 20 and Delmon Young with 10.
The Red Sox on the other hand had 6 players in double digits in homeruns. Jason Varietk had 13, Kevin Youkilis with 29, Mike Lowell with 17, Manny Ramirez with 20, J.D. Drew with 19, and David Ortiz with 23.
With Pedroia winning the award it's as embarrassing as Ichiro Suzuki winning the award over Jason Giambi. Justin Morneau got robbed by the Sports Writers who would rather go with the popular pick then the player who actually deserved the award. In this case it should have been Morneau not Pedroia.
about 1 month ago
I agree that Pedroia shouldn't have been the MVP. I'm of the mindset that the best player should be the MVP each year, because if they are truly the best player than they are the most indispensable. But I'm not sure you can attribute it to East Coast bias. Pedroia was the only East Coast player to win either the Cy Young or MVP this year. If you look at the past five years in those two awards, only five East Coast players won.
I think the Pedroia was the trendy pick, not necessarily because he was from the East Coast though. This is just like in 2006, when Morneau was the trendy pick and beat out Jeter and Ortiz for the MVP. Was he the better player than Ortiz that year? No chance. But I won't complain about Midwest Bias. The fact is that once the media latches onto one guy as the front runner, they all follow the crowd.
about 1 month ago
Of course it aided him. I give you two examples about the East Coast Bias, most notably ESPN....
Tim Lincecum wins the Cy, they talk about the beanie he wore at his press conference more than what he did during the regular season.
Pedroia wins the MVP and he's praised for being the short guy defying all the odds to become one of the best players on one of the best teams.
It makes me sick.
from about 1 month ago
I loved that. Forget that he led the league in winning percentage while playing for a doormat. Forget that he led the league in Ks while weighing about as much as my little sister. Look at his clothes!
ESPN is the MTV of this generation - started off all about sports and now it's pop culture bullsh*t to generate max dollars. NFL coverage is its last sliver of cred. and it's getting a bit shaky.
from about 1 month ago
ESPN is becoming more TMZ than an actual news agency. Look at Brett Favre over the summer...complete tabloid journalism. And their bias is so evident a blind person could figure it out in minutes. Anything on the east coast and then throw in the Cowboys, Packers, Notre Dame, Ohio State and any other thing or team that will get them ratings.
about 1 month ago
And you can completely ignore Gold Glove defense and Pedroia's 3rd in AL VORP. Morneau was 12th, barely beat out Pedroia in OPS despite playing a position where offensive contribution is much more important, and wasn't even the best offensive first baseman in the AL, that title would go to Kevin Youkilis.
And if you want to start this argument, check out the 2006 AL MVP vote where Morneau (13th in AL VORP, behind guys like Vernon Davis) beat out Derek Jeter despite Jeter's .900 OPS from the most important defensive position in the field.
Or how about Miguel Tejada's landslide 2002 MVP award victory when Alex Rodriguez hit 57 home runs? Jim Thome also had a 1.122 OPS that season.
from about 1 month ago
Love the VORP argument. I personally felt Pedroia didn't deserve the award, but I think Morneau didn't deserve it either.
I felt Youkilis was more deserving than Pedroia.
from about 1 month ago
Who's Vernon Davis? Last time I checked he played football not baseball. Oh here's the reason why Tejada won the award over A-Rod let's see how about the fact that the A's that year had 33 more victories than the Texas Rangers? Even with the 57 homers A-Rod drove in 142 runs where as Tejada hit only homers he drove in only 11 runs less than A-Rod. Tejada had 30 doubles to A-Rod's 27 doubles. Tejada also struck out way less than A-Rod. Tejada had 17 more hits than A-Rod.
Jim Thome may have hit 52 homeruns but he only drove in 118 runs where as Tejada drove in 13 more runs than Thome. The A's had 29 more wins than the Indians did that year too. Tejada also struck out way less than Thome. Tejada also had 58 more hits than Thome.
So, Tejada definitely deserved to runaway with the award if Thome and A-Rod were his main competition.
about 1 month ago
Technically according to VORP, A-Rod deserved the award. But his WPA was mediocre, balancing that out.
Sizemore was also ahead of Pedroia on VORP, but that was a narrow margin.
I think the right choice was made, but I would've had Joe Mauer and Dustin Pedroia in the top 2. Youk's stats were better than Morneau; hell, Joey Votto had about the same OBP and SLG numbers as Morneau. If the Reds were any good, maybe we'd be hearing about what a "great leader" who "wills" his team like we do with Morneau.
about 1 month ago
Also people want to make this huge deal about Pedroia's height. It's not that big of a deal, Miguel Tejada is 5'9" but the media never made a huge deal about it.
about 1 month ago
call out a typo, nice.
And uhhhh, you want to go by hits and not striking out? Ok, you can have Juan Pierre, I'll take Adam Dunn. A-Rod walked 49 more times in 2002 than Tejada, and slugged .145 more than Tejada. Also grounded into 7 less double plays, which hurts a team much more than a strikeout. In fact, the only reason Tejada struck out less is because he's a less patient hitter. He's a hacker that's afraid of the strikeout, and it shows with his less-than-stellar career .341 OBP. Jim Thome also tore the cover off the ball and had an OPS+ of 197, an EqA of .357, and had an 11.9 RC/g.
And you realize RBI is a crappy relative stat, right? Thome played on a bad Indians roster that didn't get on base and provided him with limited opportunities to increase his RBI tally. The A's, on the other hand, had guys like Hatteberg, and Durham to hit in front of him. It's just like how every hitting statistic outside of HR, Pujols beat Howard, but Pujols had 15 less RBI's with RISP. Reason? He had 60 less AB's with RISP.
And the win argument pretty much states that if A-Rod was on the Angels in 2002 and put up those numbers, he'd've easily won the MVP award and you'd be discussing what a terrific leader he was.
Here, go to http://www.baseballprospectus.com, and http://www.firejoemorgan.com (RIP). Learn something new today.
about 1 month ago
and you realize batting average is a horrible metric for comparison, right?
I mean I know this actually hurts my point for Pedroia (or Mauer for that matter), but Neifi Perez has a higher career batting average than Harmon Killebrew.
And RBI is a relative statistic. A 3-4 hitter will naturally have more RBI's than a 2 hitter because the 3-4 hitter are usually following the 2-3 best on base batters in the lineup. The 2 hitter follows the 8-9-1, and find themselves batting much more without RISP.
Pedroia had 274 AB's with runners on. Morneau? 333.
You also fail to factor in positional value. Morneau was only 5th in MLB for VORP among 1st basemen, and 2 of the 4 ahead of him (Teixiera and Youkilis) are also very proficient with the glove as well. Morneau is an absolute nonsensical candidate.
about 1 month ago
and one more thing.
A good way to determine what kind of RBI opportunities a man will have is looking at the 3 guys who'd hit before him.
Pedroia had Varitek (.313 OBP), Lugo (.355 OBP), and Ellsbury (.336 OBP)
Morneau had Span (.389 OBP), Casilla (.333 OBP), and Mauer (.413 OBP).
Logically, who would be more likely to bat with men on base?
about 1 month ago
Yes. 'Nuff said.
about 1 month ago
Pedroia won the award not just for stats. To claim that he is not valuable to the Red Sox is also ridiculous. You're only looking at the basic stats when you make that claim (and, statistically, .026 in BA is much more valuable than 6 extra home runs..I'll grant you the RBI, but Pedroia has much less of a chance for RBI in a leadoff position)
A good stat to look at besides on base percentage (in which both Morneau and Pedroia are basically equal), and one of the favorites of GMs/Statisticians is runs scored. Pedroia kills Morneau in this category.
Yes, Pedroia is a leadoff hitter, but his amazing run production categorizes why the league voted him in-- Pedroia plays the game like the players of old. He hustles on every play, and never stops working hard.
Baseball fans see in Pedroia the type of player that makes HS Baseball and College baseball so enjoyable: a player that loves the game, and shows it. Pedroia was not only valuable for his on-field production, he is valuable both to the team and league as a prototypical player in how he approaches the game.
He is a positive influence on teammates, fans, and admirers alike. If that doesn't constitute true value, I don't know what does.
about 1 month ago
Mauer deserved it.....
Mauer
OPS+: 137
WARP2: 11.9
wOBA: .374
EqAp: 125
Pedroia
OPS+: 122
WARP2: 10.4
wOBA: .372
EqAp: 112
Mauer also played better defence at a more important position.
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