2011 Season Thread

[Manocad]

I tend to agree that that's how it will play out but I think you could make a VERY strong case for Verlander for MVP. It looks like he's on his way to a triple crown Cy Young win, and he'll wind up being responsible for over 25% of the team's wins. That's pretty damn impressive in this age. Granderson has put up some very solid numbers but they're really only eye-popping for him. 40HR/120RBI (probably about where he'll end up) generally isn't quite super strong MVP material, especially when coupled with a pretty average .268 batting average, pretty high strikeout total, and 24 stolen bases while being caught 10 times. Don't get me wrong, that's a fine season based on run production alone. But when you consider which player is more dominant in the league and therefore having higher value in a league sense, i.e. most valuable to any given team, I don't see how Verlander doesn't easily win that argument.

[TSE]

I think baseball voters will want to vote for Verlander more than those top 3 hitters. And those 3 hitters have such good cases that it's an unusual year with 3 legit offensive choices, so that should dillute the competition for the non-pitchers, and if there was ever a year for a pitcher to win it, this looks like a perfect set of conditions. As long as Verlander improves his numbers or they don't drop a relevant amount from one bad outing, I think he's going to win. I wouldn't vote for him though, I think all 3 of the top offensive players were "more valuable" than JV this year. Bautista clearly is the top "performer" of the year, so he has a case for that. AGon is the only of the 4 guys that plays on a relatively cheap contract, so to be arguably the most valuable player while also saving his team a ton of money to get another player for the same investment as those other guys is what makes a case for him.

Granderson has stats inbetween them, but he also is a good CF which is a valuable plus, so for me it's a REALLY tiny separation between the "best performer" - JB, the technically "most valuable" - AG, and the guy that is a perfect marriage of the dynamics in between - CG. I would personally vote for Verlander to be 4th despite the fact that I predict him to actually win it, although If I was starting a new baseball team and could have one guy for free I would choose Verlander for long-term value and strategy and worth, but this award is not a timeless award, it only considers the interval of time that is this one year, and who is most valuable to a franchise is different than who was most valuable this year. i.e. I wouldn't be surprised to see Verlander pitch 10 more good years right now, but I would be surprised to see Jose Bautista slug .600+ 10 more years right now.

Here's my % breakdown to show how I would rank them and position them:

1) AGon 27% - too much production for too little money and on a playoff team

2) JB 26% - way too much production to not be #1, but since his team is not in the playoffs and he makes double the $ as AG I'm going to use those 2 factors to edge AG over him, JB thus deserves to lose by the smallest amount imaginable.

3) CG 24% - I think the stud hitter and CF should be one tiny iota ahead of JV

4) JV 23% - leftover

So you can see just how tight the race should be inbetween the voting placements, and to have 4 guys that should fit so tightly close makes it really exciting.

My predictions of what actually will happen will be the same tight range, but the order of:
1 - JV
2 - CG (you think baseball powers are going to pick a non-sexy Red Sox player over the lovable and popular Grandy the Yankee, yeah no flippin' way)
3 - JB (people won't want to be embarrassed making him 4th)
4 - AG (who cares about this guy, we already snubbed him, and he will go away the quietest in 4th place as compared to any of those other 3 hotshots, so he's the victim and scapegoat)

[ajaX82]

AL Central Champs!!!

[Manocad]

Now to catch the Yankees and get home field throughout the AL playoffs.

[ElectricMayhem]

Any way we could still sign Casey Fien and Brent Dlugach for the playoffs? They're currently not in the MLB, but from what I've read, they have mad potential.

[Manocad]

[ajaX82]

on to the playoff threads boys