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Verlander for MVP?

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FairWarning
Tully - Boston managers' job on the line here?
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If they dont make the playoffs some one will be the fall guy. I dont think its all Francona's fault but he does share some responsibility. He makes to many excuses for his players, the players need to be accountable. Theo put together a poorly constructed team, I dont think Theo wanted Crawford, and that came from higher up, but he made no moves at the deadline other than to bring in injury prone Bedard.

I think the training staff and medical staff for the Red Sox need to be examined, why are pitchers always getting hurt? Is it that they dont throw enough, not sure but they are always hurt, it cant just be bad luck.

They need more Bill Mueller types.
 
Keith Law:


AL MVP
1. Jose Bautista, 3B/RF, Toronto
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF, Boston
3. Curtis Granderson, CF, NY Yankees
4. Justin Verlander, RHP, Detroit
5. CC Sabathia, LHP, NY Yankees
6. Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston
7. Ian Kinsler, 2B, Texas
8. Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit
9. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Boston
10. Alex Avila, C, Detroit

You could call the first two 1 and 1A, and if either wins, it's perfectly defensible. If you believe Ellsbury has become one of the elite defensive center fielders in the game -- a reasonable assertion -- then he's your guy. If not, and you believe Bautista should get some credit back on defense for a midyear position switch, as I do, then Bautista and his league-best offensive line would be the call. The Ellsbury narrative has been hilarious to watch, from a game-winning three-run homer (off a 4A pitcher) on Sunday to a game-losing fumble in center field on Monday. I just don't see Toronto's status as a noncontender, or as a Canadian city, any reason not to acknowledge Bautista's amazing season.

As for Verlander, I have never had any objection to a pitcher winning an MVP award. They are absolutely eligible for it under the rules. And it is possible for a pitcher to be the Most Valuable Player in the league -- Pedro Martinez was at least once, for example. But in this case, Verlander isn't the right choice at the top. He's more than a win behind Ellsbury and Bautista in FanGraphs' WAR, which adjusts for Verlander's low BABIP this year -- I'll get into that in the next section -- and doesn't even take into account the soft competition in the Comedy Central division. (Baseball-Reference has Verlander even with Bautista in WAR but doesn't make either of those adjustments.)
 
Cabby is batting .344 or so, over 100 RBI's and 30+ homers. He should be higher on that list. That being said, Most Valuable Player goes to the MVP in all of baseball. Fukk being a position player, pitchers should be eligible.
 
If you go by WAR, and you generally should be rather than other measures, then Verlander isn't the best player in the league which takes him out of the running for MVP especially when he is disadvantaged by being a pitcher. It should be either Ellsbury or Bautista and there is nobody else close but Granderson is putting up some very good "numbers" so he shouldn't be discounted as a possibility.
 
Pitchers should be allowed to win the MVP, but that being said, if Verlander beats out Bautista this year for the award, every single writer should just hand in their voting cards. They already consistently make a mockery of the Hall of Fame ballot as it is.
 
Indeed, being a pitcher (or even a DH) shouldn't exclude a player from the MVP award but since you could make the case that Verlander isn't the most valuable player on his own team (see Cabrera, Miguel) then him potentially winning the thing is pretty dumb.
 
tullamore
No one on the Red Sox deserve any kind of award, but I would take Ellsbury over Gonzalez.

Verlander would get my vote if I hade one. But for some reason some writers wont vote for a pitcher. I thought Pedro was the MVP in 99 and some people didn't even have him on their ballot if I remember correctly.
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With Pedro not winning the award in '99, I don't think a pitcher will ever win the MVP award.

That being said, I do not think a pitcher should win it. Hitters are out there nearly every game so it is really hard to justify a pitcher being more valuable playing every 5th game.
 
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