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Highlander · 09-09-2002, 04:59 PM

I still have trouble with ARod because I don't see the MVP as a player of the year award. This is going back a bit, but apparently the people who do the real voting can't decide which way to go either. Look at the awards given back in 1987 and 1988. Andre Dawson wins in 1987 with a great year on a last place team. Then, in 1988, Kirk Gibson wins with an average year on a winning team. I think someone needs to make a decision as to how the MVP award is thought of....does it go to the best player of the most valuable?? ARod is the best, but the most valuable is a player who is most indispensible to their team's success. If your team is in last place, you have very little success. Whether Texas had ARod or Mario Mendoza at SS, they would still be in last place. I think probably Miguel Tejada is at the top of the list of most valuable to their team's success, with maybe Garrett Anderson up there as well. I think the Twins and Yankees are more of a team effort, with 3 or 4 guys in that indispensible role. In the NL, Bonds, Green, and Pujols are the top candidates to me.

Something no one has mentioned (or at least not much and I missed it), is the voting of pitchers as MVPs. I am still not sure how I feel about it, but this year it seems as logical as any year I can remember. Think of where Anaheim would be without Jarrod Washburn. Even though they are probably not a playoff team, how bad would Boston be without Pedro and Derek Lowe?? In the NL, I think the case is even better for a shared MVP between Schilling and Johnson. I don't know if there are 2 players who are more indispensible to their team's success than these two guys. They are responsible for almost half of their wins. Unlike most other pitchers, they also have an effect on days they don't pitch. Since they almost always go at least 8 innings, they keep the bullpen fresher, and take pressure off the other starters. As I said, I am not sure how I feel about pitchers as MVPs, but there have not been too many that have made as strong of a case as Schilling and Johnson have this year.

09-09-2002, 04:59 PM	#68
Highlander All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,017	I still have trouble with ARod because I don't see the MVP as a player of the year award. This is going back a bit, but apparently the people who do the real voting can't decide which way to go either. Look at the awards given back in 1987 and 1988. Andre Dawson wins in 1987 with a great year on a last place team. Then, in 1988, Kirk Gibson wins with an average year on a winning team. I think someone needs to make a decision as to how the MVP award is thought of....does it go to the best player of the most valuable?? ARod is the best, but the most valuable is a player who is most indispensible to their team's success. If your team is in last place, you have very little success. Whether Texas had ARod or Mario Mendoza at SS, they would still be in last place. I think probably Miguel Tejada is at the top of the list of most valuable to their team's success, with maybe Garrett Anderson up there as well. I think the Twins and Yankees are more of a team effort, with 3 or 4 guys in that indispensible role. In the NL, Bonds, Green, and Pujols are the top candidates to me. Something no one has mentioned (or at least not much and I missed it), is the voting of pitchers as MVPs. I am still not sure how I feel about it, but this year it seems as logical as any year I can remember. Think of where Anaheim would be without Jarrod Washburn. Even though they are probably not a playoff team, how bad would Boston be without Pedro and Derek Lowe?? In the NL, I think the case is even better for a shared MVP between Schilling and Johnson. I don't know if there are 2 players who are more indispensible to their team's success than these two guys. They are responsible for almost half of their wins. Unlike most other pitchers, they also have an effect on days they don't pitch. Since they almost always go at least 8 innings, they keep the bullpen fresher, and take pressure off the other starters. As I said, I am not sure how I feel about pitchers as MVPs, but there have not been too many that have made as strong of a case as Schilling and Johnson have this year. __________________ "The baseball mania has run its course. It has no future as a professional endeavor." — Cincinnati Gazette editorial, 1879