So, is Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista this year’s AL MVP?
Alex Anthopoulos is biased, obviously. But the Jays’ GM believes that if the season ended right now, it would be no contest. Bautista wins.
“I don’t even think it’s close,” Anthopoulos told QMI Agency, prior to Wednesday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
The way Anthopoulos sees it, Bautista brings much more to the table than just MVP stats — though his stats definitely are MVP-worthy.
“On and off the field you can’t find anybody more complete than him,” said the Jays’ second year GM. “His work ethic, community work, character in the clubhouse, helping out teammates, they’re all first-rate. And his performance on the field has been as good as it gets ... defensively, offensively, changing positions in the middle of the season. I mean, check off all the boxes.”
Stats-wise, there’s an argument to made that the numbers alone put Bautista, who hit a home run against the Royals Wednesday to tie the game 2-2 in the fourth inning, in driver’s seat. He leads the American League in five major offensive categories (prior to Wednesday’s game); home runs (36), walks (103), on-base percentage (.456), slugging percentage (.645) and on-base plus slugging (1.101). He’s also second in runs (91). The New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson (first in runs and RBI), Boston infielder Adrian Gonzalez (first in average) and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury are also gaining a lot of notice. (If Bautista should win, he would only be the second Blue Jay ever to win the award. George Bell won back 1987).
But here’s the kicker. While Anthopoulos and pretty well all of Bautista’s teammates believe their man is the ‘The Man’, there are some major obstacles for the Jays’ outfielder to overcome in his bid to win the AL MVP award, even if his numbers remain strong until the end of the season.
There’s the question of playing on a team that is not post-season bound. In the last 20 years, only two AL MVPs played on teams that did not qualify for the post-season, Alex Rodriquez of the Texas Rangers in 2003 and Cal Ripkin Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles in 1991.
That’s a pretty clear indication that the writers who vote on the award (the MVP Trophy is chosen by the Baseball Writers Association of America) tend to favour players on playoff-bound teams.
And there’s the question of playing in Canada.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/ ... 97226.html
