A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

[Freelance]

I would buy team performance if you had two MVP candidates with similar stats in a close race.

But I'm sorry. A-Rod by a COUNTRY MILE is the MVP this year.

Tejada should get it because he plays with Barry Zito? Soriano because he had Clemens, Mussina, Pettite, Rivera, etc.?

You can combine Tejada AND Soriano's stats, and they don't equal Rodriguez'. It ain't even close.

Just because his pitching staff sucks eggs doesn't mean he isn't the MVP. Oakland and New York would trade those guys in a nanosecond for A-Rod. Wouldn't even flinch.

This should be easy, but the eastern-biased media will likely not allow it.

[HatTrick]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

There's no way that the A's would ever trade Zito AND Tejada for A-Rod. I think there would be plenty of flinching involved. Not to start this debate again either, but this is the Most Valuable Player award, not the Best Player in the League award.

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Who said anything about trading Zito and Tejada for A-Rod?

Anyway....

Tejada won the award, which is completely bogus. His number are not even in the same stratosphere as A-Rod's.

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

And also, it IS intended to go to the best player in the league. That is why is is called the league's MVP. Semantics have bastardized this to the point of nauseum.

So since Tejada has a better GM, plus the benefit of a pitching staff that includes Zito, Mulder, Hudson, etc, then that should override the fact that he has far inferior numbers to A-Rod.

A-Rod: 57 HR, 142 RBI, .300 BA, .623 SLP, .392 OBP
Tejada: 34 HR, 131 RBI, .308 BA, .508 SLP, .354 OBP

Is there any question there?

[bkrich83]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

I gotta agree with EROD here. I think what is getting lost on everyone is that AROD is putting up numbers never seen before by a SS. And he's excellent in the field too. I am a big Tejada fan, but AROD was head and shoulders better than everyone else in the AL..

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Yes, please do not take this as a shot at Tejada, because that guy is a stud.

You take A-Rod, Nomar, Soriano, Jeter, and Tejada, and you might have five of the best middle infielders to ever play the game all in their primes right now.

But A-Rod is something this league has never seen. He's Cal Ripken times 10. Good gosh.

[jake]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

MAybe they should change the name of the award. There is no doubt that his stats are superior BUT, its hard not to get stuck on the word "valuable". I wish theyd change it to the Player of the Year just to bypass this issue. BUT when you look at the word valuable, there is no doubt ARod contributes value to the team in putting up those numbers. However, how much value does he take away because they cannot really justify going after missing pieces simply because Arod already absorbs so much payroll? Id like to say it shouldnt matter in terms of helping the team but it does. I remember when ARod was a free agent and would always maintain its not about the money. When you look at what has happened to the Rangers its hard not to say it was anything but the money. Of course, ARod may have been saying that until Texas threw 250 mil on the table. Does anyone blame him for taking the money? Who really can. But when he considered what that meant it should have occurred to someone it may handicap the organizations ability to win.

[Will]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

If you want to look at freaking semantics, and completely whore out the integrity of the award, look at it like this:

ARod is probably good for 15-20 wins on any team just for being on that team. No one else is good for that many wins. And that's why he's the most valuable.

It's a freaking shame that Tejada won the award. Tejada won the award because he had Hudson, Mulder, Zito, and Chavez. ARod had whom? The media completely turned this into a team award, when it was never designed to be one. Nothing is wrong with the wording, what's wrong is the media and the fans.

I'm pretty upset that Tejada won this award. Just when you think baseball couldn't f*ck anything else up...

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Yep, Will, the Oakland Athletics won the Most Valuable Player award. The Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees finished second and third.

Bogus, bogus, bogus.

Strike talk, an All-Star Game that ended in a tie, kids in the dugout in the World Series, and a shortstop with 23 fewer home runs and otherwise comparable stats winning the MVP over the runner-up.

Baseball gets sadder by the second.

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Without the huge contract, A-Rod would have won the award, too.

Again, more bogusness.

[BaseballGuru]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

You can't blame his contract numbers on Tejada getting the reward... that doesn't make any sense. I would bet that 99% of the people voting didn't take money into account while casting their votes. Unless, that is, if you are looking at it from the stance that his huge contract has kept Texas from getting the pitching it needs to win games... then, I s'pose I'd agree.

This was taken from Jim Caple:

"Rodriguez may have had one of the best seasons a shortstop ever had. Yet he hit none of his home runs under real pressure. He drove in no runs with his team in a pennant race. He helped his team win no games that altered their final position in the standings.

Besides, A-Rod's great numbers were also a product, in part, of his home park, the best hitting park in the AL. Consider that on the road, he hit .277 with 23 home runs while Tejada hit .336 with 17 home runs.

Was Rodriguez his league's best player? Yes. But the award doesn't go to the best player, it goes to the most valuable.

And the real shame is that given the Rangers' outlook for 2003, A-Rod won't be any more valuable next year either."

Great season, but would the Rangers have finished any lower in the standings without A-Rod? Hard to do worse than last place. Would the Athletics have finished lower without Tejada? Just look at his performance during their 20 game win streak... as Tejada went, so did the A's. He was a very valuable part of that streak, which put them in the position to move on 1st place and kept them ahead of the Angels in the race to the playoffs.

All that equals a Most Valuable Player in my book.

[HatTrick]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Nicely put Guru. I don't think I have anything to add to that, except for that in the original post, Erod did say that "Oakland and New York would trade those guys in a nanosecond for A-Rod. Wouldn't even flinch."

[Freelance]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Hat Trick, what I said was that Oakland would trade Tejada for A-Rod in a nanosecond, as New York would trade Soriano for A-Rod as well.

I did not lump Tejada and Zito for A-Rod. Hell, I'd give up A-Rod for that.

[HatTrick]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Ah, I see. I'm with you there then. That makes a lot more sense to me.

[jake]

Re: A-Rod is unquestionably the MVP

Thats the point. Oakland couldnt afford acquire ARod. When you look at how they have spent their money in the absence of an ARod you cant argue with the results the As have had. Sure these players were scouted and not acquired free agents but... I suppose this year the apporpriate title for the award was the Most Bang For Your Buck Award.