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Originally Posted by avwjase
I always love discussions like this. It's inevitable that someone brings up the lineup around a player as if that makes his job of hitting the ball easier or something. I'm pretty sure they pitch every hitter to get them out. They don't say, here, take this base. No really, take it. Please. Take it... here, take another!
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Actually there is such a thing as "protection" in a lineup where a pitcher would be less willing to pitch around you based on who is hitting behind you and Jeter always has a more dangerous hitter behind him than any MVP candidate in the league pretty much.
Not to mention that if the lineup you're in gives you more opportunity to hit batters in because people get on base for you more often than in worse lineups. And the reverse, where you're able to score more runs because people behind you are able to hit you in more often than in worse lineups.
So as long as you don't bring up stats like runs scored and RBI, I'm fine with the Jeter for MVP discussion, because his value decreases at that point. And you must also compare that value with his lineup and then compare that to the other candidates and their respective lineups. Comparing stats at face value does nothing when trying to figure out how valuable a player is to his team.
If you want to do that, then why didn't guys like Andres Galarraga and Dante Bichette win MVP Awards? Larry Walker only won it because he put up video game numbers that one year. My point is that your lineup has to matter when talking about VALUE to your team. How could you not take the rest of the team into consideration when talking about the VALUE to a player's team? Sounds pretty contradictory not to.