MVP talk

As of late, our little Dirt Dog, Dustin Pedroia, has been getting the old M-V-P chant at the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park. Unfortunately, I do not see it happening this year. As it stands, this is Carlos Quentin's award to lose, even though DirtDog McMunchkin has thrown up some impressive numbers. Let's take a look at some stats as they stand on 9/6/08:

Pedroia: .332/.378/.505 192 Hits 17HR 76RBI 110 Runs 17SB
Quentin: .288/.394/.571 138 Hits 36HR 100RBI 96 Runs 7SB

Well, Pedroia seems to have himself a pretty good case on beating Quentin as well as the other frontrunners in the AL (Morneau, Mauer, Youkilis, K-Rod, Hamilton, Dye). However, the voting process for MVP is flawed and always has been. Just look at our loveable bear, Big Papi, who has put together no fewer than 4 MVP caliber seasons and has yet to win. There was his notable snub in 2005 when A-Rod beat him out because "Ortiz does not play the field." True, and I see their point. I actually believe that fielding should count for something in the grand scheme of the MVP voting. However, the MVP award has gone to Frank Thomas in 1993 (15 errors at first base), A-Rod in '05 and '07 (12 and 13 erros at 3B), Jose Canceco in '88 (7 errors in RF), and Miguel Tejada in '02 (19 errors at SS). So the baseball writers association has never had a problem voting an MVP with poor to mediocre fielding, and the precedent has been set. The MVP is voted based solely on batting and opinions of the writers. But hey, that is a better way to do it than fan voting, but I'll save that rant for another day.

Now, Carlos Quentin heaved the White Sox offense on his back for a large part of this season, and along with Jermaine Dye has them in a position to go to the playoffs again. This in a year where Jim Thome's numbers are down, Paul Konerko can't hit a ball off a tee, Nick Swisher is proving he's only good for drawing walks, and Joe Crede is showing he was a flash in the pan. Quentin almost single-handedly kept his team afloat during a time when the rest of the offense was non-existent. So Quentin has an exellent argument for winning the MVP.

Now an argument like this seems to be a novel idea for some of the baseball writers association, so I want to help out by laying out some groundrules for choosing an MVP. There are two cases I can see: statistical MVP, and best asset MVP.

CASE 1: Statistical
1) If a player has a monster statistical year, he is the MVP. This is Barry Bonds during those steriod induced monster seasons, or Ted Williams when he won his two triple-crowns. Monster season = MVP, period. Now when I say "Monster Season" I mean triple crown, homerun record, batting .400, 200 RBI, or something along those lines. This year, no one is having that type of year so we start to whittle the list down.

CASE 2: Best Asset
1) In the absence of a monster season, the league MVP must be going to the playoffs. Sorry, but if you don't make the playoffs, and aren't blowing others away statistically you are no MVP. The MVP during these seasons makes their team better and takes them to the playoffs, sometimes singlehandedly.

2)The MVP must play at least 140 games. Hey, you want to be the MVP you go out there and play every damn day. You play hurt, you play sick, you play when your family is sick.

3) The MVP is not a douchebag. This to me is why A-Rod should never win the MVP. He is a grade-A douche and you better be damn sure he messes up that locker room. Being a douche effects everyone around you, and in baseball you spend a lot of time with your teammates, and an MVP makes that time enjoyable.

4) The MVP causes no off-the-field incidents. Sorry Manny.

5) Get the statistical upper bracket of players then throw out stats. Statistics are improtant in separating non-MVP candidates from MVP candidates, but after that, in this case, the MVP is the guy who means the most to his team. The "We'd be fucked without him" guy is the MVP of the season for their league.

6) If a guy is not the MVP for his team, he's not the league MVP. This one is obvious.

With these guidelines in mind, this is why Quentin has the upper hand over Pedey. The White Sox would be fucked without Quentin, and maybe fucked without Dye, but you could throw out any one player on that team not named Quentin or Dye and you'd be OK. The Red Sox would be fucked with out Pedroia, but they'd also be fucked without Youkilis, and they'd be really fucked without Lester. Take any of these three guys out of the lineup/rotation and the Sox would have had a real shitty year. So right now, I give Quentin the nod, but we'll have to see how the September crunch hits him.

And as an aside, I would throw it in Bristol Palin without a rubber too, but unlike her loser boyfriend I'd have the decency to pull out and aim at her face.


Post written by women's gymnastics enthusiast: Kyle Baxter.