Maybe more so than any other person, I opined for Jimmy Rollins to be named the National League MVP. I set up my virtual campaign head quarters and made it my personal mission to sway the masses. There was reluctance, but alas I find myself victorious in my conquest. This should be a moral victory for me, but now that it has happened I’m not so sure I was backing the right guy.
Rollins had a great season; he scored a ton of runs, recorded the quadruple 20, won a Gold Glove, and was the catalyst behind the Phil’s late season run. That last criterion seems to be the kicker for everyone, but it’s a misconceived truth. September was arguably one of Rollins worst months of the season. He was relatively consistent with the numbers he put all along, and by doing more of the same he helped them qualify for the playoffs, but in no way did he put Ryan Howard and Chase Utley on his back and carry his teammates to the finish line. It just seemed that way.
When the pennant races were heating up I got swept up in all of like everyone else and my (vicarious) vote floated back and forth between Jimmy Rollins and Matt Holliday, and through it all, like everyone else, I lost sight of the most deserving player: David Wright.
As the Phillies continued to climb as the Mets imploded Wright’s candidacy went up in smoke along with his team, and all of the sudden Rollins emerged with his infectious smile. This should have never happened. There is this common misguided belief that Wright disappeared down the stretch when his team needed him the most. As Rob Neyer kindly pointed out on his ESPN blog, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Neyer writes: “What’s wrong with David Wright exactly? ‘When Wright’s team really needed him in September, he let them down.’ That is not a rhetorical device. That is something people believe. There are only two problems with it: It’s mostly irrelevant and it’s completely wrong.”
Since we have had time to let the dust settle from one of the most exciting pennant races in recent memory the facts have finally come to light. I’m right there in the trenches with Neyer now that I have finally had time to sit back and look at the facts. Don’t get me wrong, Rollins is deserving of this honor, but the reasons used to eliminate Wright are ridiculous.
I don’t know if it’s because the writers are lazy, or simply misguided, but a simple look at Wright’s split stats reveal that he didn’t let his team down. Sure they lost 12 of their last 17 to blow their division lead, that’s undeniable, although it wasn’t because of their third baseman. It was in spite of him. The guy was simply on fire down the stretch. From August 2 through the end of the season, he hit .377 and scored 48 runs in 54 games. Not to mention during those 17 infamous games Wright collected a hit in each one while batting .397.
It’s simply preposterous to hold the performance of his teammates against him. Yet the writers have. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if they hadn’t played the other side of this coin last year to crown Ryan Howard the league MVP. It wasn’t a big deal that the Phillies finished 12 games out of first because he kept them in the hunt for the Wild Card until the last week of the season. Isn’t this what Wright did? So if they were coming from behind and came up short it would have been alright?
All we’re really asking for is some consistency. If I was Albert Pujols I’d be up in arms right now. Not only did he lead his team to the playoffs last season, he hit outperformed Howard in virtually every category besides home runs and RBI. Obviously the voting process is subjective, but there has to be certain criteria to base your opinion off of. The same people that voted for Howard punished Wright under similar circumstances. That is not okay. If making the playoffs is part of the package than that should be an understood principal.
Otherwise, under last year’s criterion, Hanley Ramirez should have been in the top three this year. The reason he wasn’t invited to the party was because his team finished so far off the mark. If the playoffs don’t matter then they shouldn’t matter at all. The distance back should be irrelevant. Either it’s most outstanding or most valuable, there are times you can’t have both.
So what is value again?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Absolutely love the new look. It’s just so clean and less cluttered. It looks like there is less going on, but it’s more powerful and user friendly.
On topic. I agree that Wright finishing fourth was a crime, but I wouldn’t be too upset about Rollins being first. He deserved it.
Wow. Killing it! I love it, your so ahead of the competition Gawker Media hasn’t even met Will Leitch yet. Nah, I’m just playing. For real though, it looks nice.
On topic. I honestly thought the MVP was Wright’s to lose heading into August, the problem is he never lost it. If it wasn’t going to be him then I thought for sure that Holliday would win it. Then the Phils came alive, Rollins earned a cheesy honor for being merely good at a lot of things, and now here we are. It’s tough. Rollins deserves it, but I’m having trouble giving it to him. I don’t know if that last sentence makes perfect sense. It does in my mind though.
Off Topic: Thanks for the comments, but the day I am ahead of Will Leitch in the blog world is a long ways off. I think everyone will enjoy the new layout a lot better though. It’s a little easier to get around and has some new user friendly features. Adii did a great job and I recommend him to all. Ok enough of that.
David: That’s pretty much just the jist of it, Wright finishing fourth was wrong. It should have been a lot tighter. I’m not saying that Rollins should hand in his plaque. The distance between first and fourth was crazy. Wright should have been right in the thick of things.
Huh?: I agree it was Wright’s to lose, so when did he lose it? About Rollins earning a cheesy honor, the quad-20 is crazy, this guy is a complete player. I wouldn’t say that is cheesy at all. It took away from it a little because of what Curtis Granderson did, but not cheesy at all.
Yep, the real NL MVP is David Wright. People can and will invent their own intangibles, but the tangibles all point in Wright’s direction.
DEFENSE
Rollins: 9th out of 14 qualified NL SS in RZR (Revized Zone Rating), 3rd out of 14 in OOZ (Out Of Zone plays).
Wright: 5th out of 12 qualified NL 3B in RZR, 1st in OOZ.
SPEED
Rollins: 41-47 in stolen bases.
Wright: 34-39 in stolen bases.
HITTING
Rollins: .875 OPS (.344 OBP, .531 SLG)
Wright: .962 OPS (.416 OBP, .546 SLG)
I do like the new look — good stuff.
Bill good to hear for ya, haven’t had you around in a while. Thanks for breaking everything down for us. I’m still scratching my head over that gold glove. I just think everyone got caught up in the race and Rollins was at the forefront. It’s tough, real tough. Talent and value are two seperate things, yet they are so intertwined in a discussion like this. I guess you have to decide what you value more: Sheer talent or leadership. There are just some things that don’t show up on a stat sheet.
Yeah, I moved into a new apartment, so I’m trying to leave myself with enough time to visit all the blogs.
Tulowitzki should have had that NL SS Gold Glove, too. I hate to say it, being a Phillies fan, but it’s reality.
I’m of the notion that, if you can’t tangibly prove it, I don’t believe it. So, I don’t account for stuff like chemistry, attitude, leadership, grit, etc. That’s not to say that they don’t exist, or that they have no value, it’s just that I don’t account for them because you can’t prove them either way.
At least we didn’t have to watch Matt Holliday win it. I don’t know if I could have dealt with that con-artist winning the award. They would have had to make one out an additional plaque for his side-kick, the Colorado Mile High Altitude. The guy is a good player, but he is merely average away from the Rocky Mountains.
I agree with the sentiment that Holliday has been aided by the atmosphere. There is no denying that. People are about to show up here screaming humidor, but that doesn’t do anything to the air. All the humidor does is keeps the baseball’s from getting extremely hard from the atmosphere. That’s it, it doesn’t do anything to counteract against the thin air. I don’t agree with the notion that he should be disqualified because of this. He meant everything to that team, thin air or not.
Yeah, Holliday is such a Coors Field product.
2007: 1.157 OPS home, .860 OPS away
2006: 1.132 OPS home, .818 OPS away
2005: 1.002 OPS home, .729 OPS away
2004: 1.009 OPS home, .654 OPS away
Career: 1.087 OPS home, .781 OPS away
Yo is this guy being sarcastic or serious? Because the numbers he posted say he is a product of Coors field, but the ‘Yeah, Holliday is such a Coors product’ comes off kind of sarcastic. Damn internet
WB, He’s being 100% serious un-facetious.
Yeah, that cleared it up. Let me go grab my dictionary… why use a 15 dollar word when a nickel would have done… jerk
Hah, didn’t even notice that that would read sarcastically. Now that you mentioned it, I can’t not read it that way.
We covered this thing pretty extensively already if you want to check it out http://www.imwritingsports.com/baseball/sure-hollidays-the-mvp-but/
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