Re: Alex Rodriguez wins AL MVP
You can't just look at overall production when the numbers are that close for a 162 game season.
Jayson Stark wrote an excellent article on why he thinks Ortiz should have been the league MVP (espn.com):
Thats the argument for me, and I'm kind of irritated with the inconsistent writers myself. Did Ortiz get robbed? No, I won't go that far. Arod wasn't an unjust choice but, in my opinion, was not the best choice. If the MVP award is going to be for overall offensive player of the year, then let's just call it that (though I'm not sure, but didn't Ortiz win the AL offensive player of the year award?), or if a player needs to play a certain amount of games in the field then let's throw that into the criteria. The baseball writers have once again proven that they are walking contradictions since they have been so eager to give the award in the past to offensive players who stumble around in the field (I honestly cannot think of a first baseman I have seen play who was worse in the field than Jason Giambi, and even he won an MVP). If it isn't going to be about the player that is most VALUABLE(which it seems clear, Ortiz was more valuable to the Red Sox than Arod was to the Yankees) then just change the name of the award already.
Originally posted by jpup
You can't just look at overall production when the numbers are that close for a 162 game season.
Jayson Stark wrote an excellent article on why he thinks Ortiz should have been the league MVP (espn.com):
Alex Rodriguez had 24 more at-bats with runners in scoring position than David Ortiz this season -- and still drove in 18 fewer runs. That ought to tell you something. But if it doesn't, we'll spell it out for you.
Ortiz hit 62 points higher than A-Rod did with runners in scoring position (.352 to .290) overall. And that's an awfully large gap in a race this close. But that's in all games, in all RBI situations. If you keep looking, you find that as the games got tighter, that gap just kept getting bigger.
In the late innings of close games, A-Rod hit .176 with men in scoring position; Ortiz batted .313. That's a humongous, 137-point difference. But why stop there?
David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez
Ortiz (right) came close to being the first full-time DH to win the MVP, but A-Rod prevailed thanks to his defense.
Ortiz's OPS (on-base plus slugging) in those situations was 1.224 -- to A-Rod's .813. That's a 411-point chasm.
But hold on. We're still not done. If you keep breaking down their numbers in tight games, the case for Rodriguez only gets worse.
In the 20 games each of their teams won by six or more runs, A-Rod hit .549, had an OPS of 1.793 and racked up 46 of his 130 RBI (35 percent). Ortiz, on the other hand, batted .277, had an OPS almost 800 points lower than A-Rod's (.999) and drove in only 33 runs (22 percent of his overall total).
But in close games (games that either went to extra innings or were decided by one or two runs in regulation), the numbers look a whole lot different.
In those games -- and each team played exactly 65 of them -- A-Rod batted only .243, had an OPS of .805 and drove in just 38 runs (29 percent). Ortiz, meanwhile, clearly tapped some mysterious force that made him even better in moments like that -- batting .321, running up an OPS of 1.116 and knocking in nearly a run a game (62 -- or 42 percent of his overall total).
Ortiz hit 62 points higher than A-Rod did with runners in scoring position (.352 to .290) overall. And that's an awfully large gap in a race this close. But that's in all games, in all RBI situations. If you keep looking, you find that as the games got tighter, that gap just kept getting bigger.
In the late innings of close games, A-Rod hit .176 with men in scoring position; Ortiz batted .313. That's a humongous, 137-point difference. But why stop there?
David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez
Ortiz (right) came close to being the first full-time DH to win the MVP, but A-Rod prevailed thanks to his defense.
Ortiz's OPS (on-base plus slugging) in those situations was 1.224 -- to A-Rod's .813. That's a 411-point chasm.
But hold on. We're still not done. If you keep breaking down their numbers in tight games, the case for Rodriguez only gets worse.
In the 20 games each of their teams won by six or more runs, A-Rod hit .549, had an OPS of 1.793 and racked up 46 of his 130 RBI (35 percent). Ortiz, on the other hand, batted .277, had an OPS almost 800 points lower than A-Rod's (.999) and drove in only 33 runs (22 percent of his overall total).
But in close games (games that either went to extra innings or were decided by one or two runs in regulation), the numbers look a whole lot different.
In those games -- and each team played exactly 65 of them -- A-Rod batted only .243, had an OPS of .805 and drove in just 38 runs (29 percent). Ortiz, meanwhile, clearly tapped some mysterious force that made him even better in moments like that -- batting .321, running up an OPS of 1.116 and knocking in nearly a run a game (62 -- or 42 percent of his overall total).
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