Pick my MVP

[Matt Arnold]

Because I can, and it's usually a fun debate, please pick who should be the MVP in my league. The top contenders that I see would be:

SP Dylan Mills: 20-2, 2.56 ERA, 221 IP, 257K, 7.1 WAR (2 K away from triple crown)
C Juan Gonzalez: .291/.369/.607, 36 HR, 81 RBI/73 R, 6.8 WAR
1B Tony Angel: .323/.395/.722, 54 HR, 122/114, 8.6 WAR
2B Masamune Ishii: .330/.405/.653, 46 HR, 130/122, 9 WAR
SS Kyung-Suk Tokko: .254/.354/.557, 47 HR, 122/101, 6.4 WAR (-10 ZR in 135G)
3B Yong-u Park: .295/.401/.509, 22 HR, 63/110, 5.8 WAR (21-5 SB)
RF Juan Gonzalez: .324/.360/.723, 69 HR, 150/130, 7.4 WAR (-15 ZR)

So, which guy deserves it most?

Bonus facts: they're all on my team (Tokko was a deadline pickup) Not included:
2B/SS Dusty Bowles: .309/.350/.642, 22 HR, 3.1 WAR in 264 PA
CF Oliver Martinez: 2.9 WAR in 359 PA (+15 ZR, hurt other half of year)
SS Juan Martinez: 2.8 WAR in 366 PA (+14 ZR)
LF Eric Perry: 2.4 WAR
DH Eric Evans: 39 HR, 2 WAR

So yeah, my team did pretty well offensively 1027 runs, 358 HR. Although I did knock the HR modifier down halfway through the year because it was getting ridiculous. Although even with all that, still just 107 wins - surprisingly, I lost 3 times by a 1-0 score, which feels like a bug with the above lineup.

[Airdrop01]

The second baseman. By a mile IMHO. Second place to the catcher. Because, well, catchers do it better.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by Airdrop01

The second baseman. By a mile IMHO. Second place to the catcher. Because, well, catchers do it better.

Angel (the 1B) missed the last month of the season with back spasms, and played through some shoulder pain for 7 weeks earlier in the season. Were he healthy the whole season may have posed more of a challenge for Ishii.

[dannibalcorpse]

Originally Posted by Airdrop01

The second baseman. By a mile IMHO. Second place to the catcher. Because, well, catchers do it better.

Gotta second (pun intended) this choice. Ishii put up insane numbers at a position you don't normally see them at. I'd give second place to the RF Gonzalez for his nice HR production.

[hqbaseball]

Ishii or Angel. Your team is ridiculous.

[r0nster]

RF Juan Gonzalez: .324/.360/.723, 69 HR, 150/130, 7.4 WAR (-15 ZR)


is my pick for MVP

[xw668]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

Because I can, and it's usually a fun debate, please pick who should be the MVP in my league. The top contenders that I see would be:

SP Dylan Mills: 20-2, 2.56 ERA, 221 IP, 257K, 7.1 WAR (2 K away from triple crown)
C Juan Gonzalez: .291/.369/.607, 36 HR, 81 RBI/73 R, 6.8 WAR
1B Tony Angel: .323/.395/.722, 54 HR, 122/114, 8.6 WAR
2B Masamune Ishii: .330/.405/.653, 46 HR, 130/122, 9 WAR
SS Kyung-Suk Tokko: .254/.354/.557, 47 HR, 122/101, 6.4 WAR (-10 ZR in 135G)
3B Yong-u Park: .295/.401/.509, 22 HR, 63/110, 5.8 WAR (21-5 SB)
RF Juan Gonzalez: .324/.360/.723, 69 HR, 150/130, 7.4 WAR (-15 ZR)

So, which guy deserves it most?

Bonus facts: they're all on my team (Tokko was a deadline pickup) Not included:
2B/SS Dusty Bowles: .309/.350/.642, 22 HR, 3.1 WAR in 264 PA
CF Oliver Martinez: 2.9 WAR in 359 PA (+15 ZR, hurt other half of year)
SS Juan Martinez: 2.8 WAR in 366 PA (+14 ZR)
LF Eric Perry: 2.4 WAR
DH Eric Evans: 39 HR, 2 WAR

So yeah, my team did pretty well offensively 1027 runs, 358 HR. Although I did knock the HR modifier down halfway through the year because it was getting ridiculous. Although even with all that, still just 107 wins - surprisingly, I lost 3 times by a 1-0 score, which feels like a bug with the above lineup.

I GM Rockies and also did pretty well offensively Lol. 360 HR better than you but you know this is COORS FIELD.

[ThePretender]

I'd take the 1B especially knowing he missed more time, but not enough to discount him from winning it. He was clearly the best player.

[The Game]

Mills because the hitters all offset each other. Followed by Ishii.

[IanIachimoe]

Originally Posted by r0nster

RF Juan Gonzalez: .324/.360/.723, 69 HR, 150/130, 7.4 WAR (-15 ZR)


is my pick for MVP

same

[bjohn13]

Without further information, I pretty much go for straight WAR in MVP considerations. However, there may be extenuating circumstances. If a guy completely takes over a team and leads them on a winning march towards clinching a pennant, he gets extra consideration.

[IanIachimoe]

do most of you guys manually pick the award winners?

I let the CPU do it, do they make bad picks?

[NoOne]

Second Baseman, Ishii.

did everything very well, it seems, plus an important defensive position up-the-middle. but, a baseline of some sort would be helpful. their #'s look great, but maybe ~.360 BA isn't the bee's knees in that league, as 1 example.

that pitcher is quite dominant for such an offensively loaded league. those are some hefty power #'s all around. i'd need to see more but i could be convinced to change my vote.

@lan:

it's 6 in one half dozen the other... e.g. i typically click for the AI to fill it out, then i look it over. occasionally, i change things, but i wouldn't say it's ever a poor choice, just a different valid opinion.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by IanIachimoe

do most of you guys manually pick the award winners?

I let the CPU do it, do they make bad picks?

I let the CPU pick. That way I can have little debates in my head about how east coast bias cost me another MVP award. I do, however, name team MVPs every year.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Ishii. Because the name reminds me of O-Ren Ishii. My favorite character in Kill Bill. And pretty pretty, too.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by NoOne

Second Baseman, Ishii.

did everything very well, it seems, plus an important defensive position up-the-middle. but, a baseline of some sort would be helpful. their #'s look great, but maybe ~.360 BA isn't the bee's knees in that league, as 1 example.

that pitcher is quite dominant for such an offensively loaded league. those are some hefty power #'s all around. i'd need to see more but i could be convinced to change my vote.

@lan:

it's 6 in one half dozen the other... e.g. i typically click for the AI to fill it out, then i look it over. occasionally, i change things, but i wouldn't say it's ever a poor choice, just a different valid opinion.

I can update once I finish the season to see who the AI chooses I don't like to interfere, although I would like to get a vote sometime

For reference, the league batting champion his .343. One other batter in the AL hit 55 HR, 2 guys in the NL hit 50+. Best WAR from a guy not on my team was 7.7, next best pitcher was 6.3. Next best ERA was 2.89. AL batting average was .260. League-wide HR would be relatively close to last year's numbers (as I said, when I hit July 1 and both Angel and Gonzalez had 40 HR each, I checked the modifier and cut it down a lot). I should have adjusted it before the season, after having seen Gonzalez hit 88 (!) HR last year, narrowly defeating Ishii who had 59 HR in his "rookie" (age 33) season (although as a LF last year).

[NoOne]

if it's a 4.50ish ERA league, i might change my pick to the SP... sub-3.00 can't be too common in that league, i'd guess. at least less frequently than you see mid-.300s BA / ~.600 slugging.

lucy liu in her heyday... "so hot.. want to touch the heinie" (adam sandler, just in case). i must confess, i once started dvr'ing a charley's angels movie for ~5mins just for that one lil scene i bet you can figure out on your own .. and, city of industry is a must watch (plus, harvey keitel's in it too)

oh, and she has freckles... i dated an asian girl with freckles before, luckily i was old enough to know never to bring up the parallel to her.

[Sam_15]

Originally Posted by NoOne

if it's a 4.50ish ERA league, i might change my pick to the SP... sub-3.00 can't be too common in that league, i'd guess. at least less frequently than you see mid-.300s BA / ~.600 slugging.

I was thinking the same thing. If the pick isn't easily Gonzalez (69 HRs and a .324 BA seem more than enough to be a shoo-in), then the league probably has a lot of guys mashing dingers. What Matt said pretty much confirms this.

I'd bet, based on the information available, the SP, Mills, was much more dominant than any other SP in the league. Kinda like Pedro in 2000. He'd get my vote.

[IanIachimoe]

FWIW, the CPU selected Noah Syndergaard for MVP & CY Young in my game last season.

there were some pretty awesome offensive performances, but Noah's season was just too dominant compared to other pitchers. I had no problems with it, but considering not allowing pitchers to win MVP next year.

[Matt Arnold]

Apparently I'm just turning this into my dynasty report. Something about this team makes it impossible to quit playing with them.

After an easy first round win, I end up falling behind 3-0 to Atlanta! Then my offense wakes up with 12-0, 8-5, and 9-2 wins, going to crucial game 7. Go out ahead 2-0 in the first, then they tie it up. Then score 2 more to take a 4-2 lead, which quickly moves to a 5-3 lead that holds up to the 9th. They proceed to get 2 hits, and then Angel drops the ball at 1B, to load the bases. Next batter flies out, so now we have bases loaded 2 outs. Next batter hits it - line drive, to the left-center corner to score 2 runs and tie it up! And then the batter after hits it even deeper, but stays in the park, although another 2 runs come in.

Then in the bottom of the 9th, a walk and a couple outs has me down to the wire. Up next would be 69-HR Gonzalez, but he was taken out earlier for defense, so in steps my backup OF. He gets a single, to keep the rally alive. Then Angel, who dropped the ball in the top of the inning. Short fly to left, drops in! Runner scores, so we're now down 1, with 2 on and 2 outs. Due up next would be Tokko, although he was also taken out for defense. Thankfully it's Bowles up, who's no slouch in his own right. But he grounds weakly to SS, and thus ends my season.

Closer has been one of my nemesises for this team for a long time. Some years my guy does awesome, but others he just can't seem to hold onto a lead. 241 saves, but 51 blown saves in his career. Maybe I need to stop looking for 50-HR guys and start looking for a 50-save guy...

*edit: Oh, cool. So the team I lose to, Atlanta, ends up winning 3 game 7s in their playoff run, en route to their 4th World Series victory. Some clutch wins for them!

*edit2: And when I ask the AI for the end of season awards, they have them as Gonzalez, Angel, and then Ishii. Really is a hard call between the 3 of them! If we counted post-season, then Ishii probably would win, as he had a 1.465 OPS. Gonzalez had a .407 OPS until the last game, where he hit 2 HR. Hard to ask more from a guy in a game 7!