Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

[SportsTop]

I said in an earlier post that I could start a thread on why Barry Bonds was the NL MVP. Well, here it is.

	        Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS	RP	RC
Adrian Beltre	LA	156	598	104	200	32	0	48	121	376	53	87	0.388	0.629	0.334	1.017	2.658	134.6
Albert Pujlos	STL	154	592	133	196	51	2	46	123	389	84	52	0.415	0.657	0.331	1.072	2.312	147.1
Barry Bonds	SF	147	373	129	135	27	3	45	101	303	232	41	0.609	0.812	0.362	1.422	1.622	184.9
Jim Edmonds	STL	153	498	102	150	38	3	42	111	320	101	150	0.418	0.643	0.301	1.061	2.338	131.7
Scott Rolen	STL	142	500	109	157	32	4	34	124	299	72	92	0.409	0.598	0.314	1.007	2.146	118.5

First and foremost, let's start with the obvious:

Intentional Walks:

Bonds - 120
Edmonds - 12
Pujols - 12
Beltre - 9
Rolen - 5

The plain and simple truth about this statistic is that opposing managers felt so intimitaded by Bonds that they chose to walk him and take their chances with someone - anyone - other than him. Think of the pitches the players hitting in front of and behind Bonds received just because no one would allow Bonds to beat them. Is there any other way to measure value to one's team other than whether or not he made the players around him better. None of the other "Big 5" in the MVP voting (in fact no one in all of baseball) can make this claim. Bonds should win the MVP based on this statistic alone in my opinion.

I wish I had the resources Peter Gammons has at ESPN so I could request a certain statistic and *poof* there it is. Unfortunately, I'm just some poor schmuck who has to come up with his own material to prove a point. Hence my quasi-stat "Runs Produced/AB" (RP) which is simply AB's/RBI's + Runs. I'm sure this stat is some spin-off of another stat out there so I don't want to lay claim to it. I wanted to represent how many runs per at-bat a hitter was responsible for without having to be punished by the base on balls. Runs Created is another statistic along the same lines, but that is inclusive of nearly every offensive statistic divided by itself [/sarcasm].

In this case:

Beltre - 2.658
Pujols - 2.312
Bonds - 1.622
Edmonds - 2.338
Rolen - 2.146

This tells us that Barry Bonds produced a run every 1.6 at-bats. Nearly one full at bat less than it took Adrian Beltre to produce a run. For good measure, here is Runs Created as well [(H + BB + HBP - CS - GIDP) times (Total bases + .26[BB - IBB + HBP] + .52[SH + SF + SB])] divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH+ SF):

Beltre - 134.6
Pujols - 147.1
Bonds - 184.9
Edmonds - 131.7
Rolen - 118.5

40 runs. That is how many runs Barry Bonds created more than his next closest competitor. That in itself is astonishing. Do I have to bring up that it is 50 more runs than Adrian Beltre?

Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen all had the benefit of hitting around each other. Beltre had Shawn Green (.266/28 HR/86 RBI) and Steve Finley (.271/36 HR/94 RBI) hitting around him. Barry Bonds you ask? Edgardo Alfonzo and J.T. Snow aren't exactly All-Stars. In fact, Snow's production only sky-rocketed after he was moved to the fifth spot behind Bonds in July after a horrid first half.

Again, I wish I had the magic stat-generator at my fingertips, but there was a certain statistic displayed about three weeks ago. It said that the Giants scored 75% of their runs when Bonds had plate appearance in the inning in which they scored. Think about that. Three of every four runs came when Bonds had a plate appearance. Can you say MVP?

For good measure.....he become the first player in half a century (and fourth in history) to hit 45 homers or more -- yet still have more homers than strikeouts (41). (The others: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Kluszewski.)

It's always been tough for the BBWAA (and the fans) to decide what MVP actually meant? did it mean who was most valuable to their team as was the case when Kirk Gibson won over Darryl Strawberry in 1988 (although Strawberry had a better offensive season and each team won their division)? Or is it the player with the best offensive statistics no matter what place their team was in as with Alex Rodriguez with the Rangers last season or Andre Dawson with the Cubs in 1987?

I could get into other stats that Bonds led the league in such as OPS, OBP, SLG%, BB, etc....but why bother? In this case, it doesn't matter....Barry Bonds was both the MVP and Most Outstanding Player in all of baseball this season.

[Blzer]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

I posted in the "End of the Year Awards" section about Bonds being MVP, too. I'll post here exactly what I posted there:

No, Beltre should not be MVP. There is not one stat that Beltre has a clear edge over Bonds that makes him be MVP... 3 home runs more says nothing, especially when the one with 3 less home runs has 179 more walks than the other on the year.

Also, it's not just Bonds' stats per AB, it's also the two intangibles... 1) The way he makes them pitch to him, and 2) the way he makes them pitch to the other guys on the lineup.

Let me explain... Bonds' walks aren't just the only times he gets pitched around, many of his at bats are produced from 3 ball counts. Not to mention, pitchers will CONTINUOUSLY pitch to the outside until an umpire calls a strike at that zone. Bonds also has his own lefty specialists come in against him, you know, the submarine lefties and such, and also, there's no such thing as a fastball count when Bonds is up. Whether it's the first pitch or 3-2, there's a chance the pitcher will risk walking him with his strikeout pitch... whether it's a sinker or slider, or change up, Bonds is the only guy that MUST decide on what pitch he should look for, or he's gonna pay, because he can't look fastball, because he probably won't get a fastball.

Now, about the other thing... when the game starts, and Durham is leading off, I can assure you that the manager is seeing that Bonds is batting 4th. So, they will do anything they can to try and get a 1-2-3 inning. Meaning, they are going to make sure that they are throwing strikes... you don't get that often. Pitchers surely don't like to walk guys, but it's never to the extent where it's either walking somebody, or getting to a high ball count, it's that they gotta throw strikes in that at bat. They want him to ground out or fly out, etc. Also, when the #3 batter is up, do you think that the pitcher, the manager, and the second baseman cares about him? No! They are all looking at that on-deck circle, and that will give the #3 batter the best pitches of his life, because they don't want a free runner on when Bonds comes up. Even moreso, if Bonds comes up with a runner on first, at times, there will be a wild pitch, or should I say a "wild pitch", so that the runner can move over, and they have an excuse for intentionally walking him. They also do it because they feel they can get the #5 hitter out, so they try very hard to give him fat strikes.

The Giants were 2nd in the NL in runs scored, and Bonds wasn't the only person driving them in... HOWEVER, that doesn't mean he wasn't the cause for it, either. Because he's in that lineup, it changes the way that they pitch to him and the rest of the lineup, and they score many runs that way. With Bonds not in the lineup, a walk fearing the big man may be on deck is just not there, and those walks aren't as costly.



Also, I don't know if you've seen this stat, but it's called RC/27, and Bonds is first with 20.21, and second is Todd Helton with 11.04.

Basically, that stat estimates how many runs per game a team made up of nine of the same player would score. So, for Bonds, about 20 runs per game, and for the second place person, about 11 runs per game. That, is a HUGE difference.

Oh, and guess what? Beltre is 9th on that list. That's not so high up.

And finally, Bonds has more home runs this year than strikeouts. Beltre could not say that, because he had about 35 more strikeouts than home runs, when Bonds had about 5 more home runs than strikeouts.


Oh, and Stoud, Beltre can't be a comeback player if he never had a year like this before anyways... this is his improving year, or his breakout year, not his comeback year.


Basically, I'm doing what the thread starter said, and I can say even more, I'm just tired an gotta sleep.

[Blzer]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

I posted in the "End of the Year Awards" section about Bonds being MVP, too. I'll post here exactly what I posted there:

No, Beltre should not be MVP. There is not one stat that Beltre has a clear edge over Bonds that makes him be MVP... 3 home runs more says nothing, especially when the one with 3 less home runs has 179 more walks than the other on the year.

Also, it's not just Bonds' stats per AB, it's also the two intangibles... 1) The way he makes them pitch to him, and 2) the way he makes them pitch to the other guys on the lineup.

Let me explain... Bonds' walks aren't just the only times he gets pitched around, many of his at bats are produced from 3 ball counts. Not to mention, pitchers will CONTINUOUSLY pitch to the outside until an umpire calls a strike at that zone. Bonds also has his own lefty specialists come in against him, you know, the submarine lefties and such, and also, there's no such thing as a fastball count when Bonds is up. Whether it's the first pitch or 3-2, there's a chance the pitcher will risk walking him with his strikeout pitch... whether it's a sinker or slider, or change up, Bonds is the only guy that MUST decide on what pitch he should look for, or he's gonna pay, because he can't look fastball, because he probably won't get a fastball.

Now, about the other thing... when the game starts, and Durham is leading off, I can assure you that the manager is seeing that Bonds is batting 4th. So, they will do anything they can to try and get a 1-2-3 inning. Meaning, they are going to make sure that they are throwing strikes... you don't get that often. Pitchers surely don't like to walk guys, but it's never to the extent where it's either walking somebody, or getting to a high ball count, it's that they gotta throw strikes in that at bat. They want him to ground out or fly out, etc. Also, when the #3 batter is up, do you think that the pitcher, the manager, and the second baseman cares about him? No! They are all looking at that on-deck circle, and that will give the #3 batter the best pitches of his life, because they don't want a free runner on when Bonds comes up. Even moreso, if Bonds comes up with a runner on first, at times, there will be a wild pitch, or should I say a "wild pitch", so that the runner can move over, and they have an excuse for intentionally walking him. They also do it because they feel they can get the #5 hitter out, so they try very hard to give him fat strikes.

The Giants were 2nd in the NL in runs scored, and Bonds wasn't the only person driving them in... HOWEVER, that doesn't mean he wasn't the cause for it, either. Because he's in that lineup, it changes the way that they pitch to him and the rest of the lineup, and they score many runs that way. With Bonds not in the lineup, a walk fearing the big man may be on deck is just not there, and those walks aren't as costly.



Also, I don't know if you've seen this stat, but it's called RC/27, and Bonds is first with 20.21, and second is Todd Helton with 11.04.

Basically, that stat estimates how many runs per game a team made up of nine of the same player would score. So, for Bonds, about 20 runs per game, and for the second place person, about 11 runs per game. That, is a HUGE difference.

Oh, and guess what? Beltre is 9th on that list. That's not so high up.

And finally, Bonds has more home runs this year than strikeouts. Beltre could not say that, because he had about 35 more strikeouts than home runs, when Bonds had about 5 more home runs than strikeouts.


Oh, and Stoud, Beltre can't be a comeback player if he never had a year like this before anyways... this is his improving year, or his breakout year, not his comeback year.


Basically, I'm doing what the thread starter said, and I can say even more, I'm just tired an gotta sleep.

[Karlos05]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

I'm sorry Beltre, Edmonds, Pujols and Rolen all put up great numbers but Bonds is in a league of his own. He almost singly-handedly got the Giants into the playoffs. He is the one guy in the league that teams completely shange their game so he can't beat them. Bonds is that good, and he deserves the MVP with no question. They should just make another MVP award because as long as Bonds keeps playing like this no one else is going to get one.

[Karlos05]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

I'm sorry Beltre, Edmonds, Pujols and Rolen all put up great numbers but Bonds is in a league of his own. He almost singly-handedly got the Giants into the playoffs. He is the one guy in the league that teams completely shange their game so he can't beat them. Bonds is that good, and he deserves the MVP with no question. They should just make another MVP award because as long as Bonds keeps playing like this no one else is going to get one.

[Stu]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

He almost singly-handedly got the Giants into the playoffs.

This is the key issue for me. I strongly believe that the MVP's team should be a playoff team. I don't watch the NL enough to argue who else deserves it more though..

[Stu]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

He almost singly-handedly got the Giants into the playoffs.

This is the key issue for me. I strongly believe that the MVP's team should be a playoff team. I don't watch the NL enough to argue who else deserves it more though..

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

Exactly. Bonds is BAR NONE, the BEST and MOST VALUABLE player in the game today.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

Exactly. Bonds is BAR NONE, the BEST and MOST VALUABLE player in the game today.

[GeePee20]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

This is the key issue for me. I strongly believe that the MVP's team should be a playoff team. I don't watch the NL enough to argue who else deserves it more though..

But he almost single handedly got his team to the playoffs. Take Bonds out of the lineup and you have the worst team in baseball. Seriously who else do they have offensively? The only All-Star on the team is Schmidt and he's a pitcher.

IMO the Giants would be in the playoffs if the bullpen did not blow that 3-0 lead to the Dodgers. That's how ridiculously close they were and Bonds was the only reason they got that far. Add another good hitter(like all the other MVP candidates have) and this team wins the West no problem.

[GeePee20]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

This is the key issue for me. I strongly believe that the MVP's team should be a playoff team. I don't watch the NL enough to argue who else deserves it more though..

But he almost single handedly got his team to the playoffs. Take Bonds out of the lineup and you have the worst team in baseball. Seriously who else do they have offensively? The only All-Star on the team is Schmidt and he's a pitcher.

IMO the Giants would be in the playoffs if the bullpen did not blow that 3-0 lead to the Dodgers. That's how ridiculously close they were and Bonds was the only reason they got that far. Add another good hitter(like all the other MVP candidates have) and this team wins the West no problem.

[nkhera1]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

no need to explain it to us Squint. Most baseball fans will agree with you.

[nkhera1]

Re: Why Barry Bonds is the NL MVP

no need to explain it to us Squint. Most baseball fans will agree with you.