AL MVP announced Monday Nov 21 - Bautista?

MGD24 · Post #1 » by **MGD24** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 1:26 pm

The announcement comes at 2pm on Monday. It will be first tweeted by BBWAA - @officialBBWAA

They will also post a link on their webpage, http://bbwaa.com with the total votes.

Any chance Bautista gets it? I hope he does but I have a feeling Granderson might instead.

Randle McMurphy · Post #2 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:53 pm

I have little faith in the BBWAA to vote a player on a mediocre Canadian team MVP even if he does deserve it.

Michael Bradley · Post #3 » by **Michael Bradley** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:04 pm

Does Bautista deserve it? Yes.

Will he get it? Probably not.

mikero · Post #4 » by **mikero** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:31 pm

I really hope Bautista gets it. He deserves it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Granderson, Ellsbury, or even Verlander win it though.

Hendrix · Post #5 » by **Hendrix** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:54 pm

While I think he was the best player in the AL last year I think it was only by a slight margin so I kinda doubt he'll get it over players on better teams.

Cabrera had a pretty similar season to Jose, and did it on a playoff team. And while I do have reservations about a pitcher getting it I thing the voters will care about Verlanders raw ERA more so then FIP, xFIP, and I think they also care about the Tigers being <.500 w/o Verlander, and a playoff team when you factor in his record. Then you have the Yankee factor with Granderson.

Mattd97 · Post #6 » by **Mattd97** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:25 pm

just better not be a red sox player, or matt kemp in the NL if they refuse to give it to bautista

Post #7 » by **Schad** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:02 pm

Very much doubt that he wins it. September (when he hit just 4 HRs, in large part because they were walking him at every opportunity) likely killed that...not that he doesn't have the numbers to be deserving, but he simply wasn't a story at the time, which means that all of the flighty, moment-obsessed BBWAA members -- which is to say, pretty much all of them save Neyer, Carroll and Law -- turned their attention elsewhere.

At the same time, he definitely benefits from the collapse of the Red Sox, at least as far as the idiots are concerned. Even though Ellsbury was red hot in September, and very nearly dragged that team to the playoffs, there are a lot of writers who are going to have difficulty voting for a player on the team that produced such epic choking. Plus Verlander suffers from the whole "pitchers shouldn't be MVP" stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't think that pushes Bautista to the head of the pack...it just means that I'm expecting none of the three most deserving candidates to win. If it were up to me, it would be Bautista, Ellsbury, Verlander; in that order, but I wouldn't begrudge Ellsbury winning it, either.

In reality, the order will likely be something idiotic like Cabrera, Granderson, Verlander, Ellsbury, Bautista, because the BBWAA -- while making progress toward not being entirely terrible, as evidenced by Cy Young voting in recent years -- still hasn't quite gotten there yet.

Post #8 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:47 pm

I have a feeling it Verlander that is going to get the nod. Yes a pitcher getting it is rare but Verlander had a season for the ages was arguably the best pitcher in all the Baseball last year. I think it's a toss up between Jose Bautista, Verlander, Granderson or take your pick of Adrian Gonzalez or Jacoby Ellsbury are the front runners for the MVP

Post #9 » by **Schad** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:54 pm

Mr Swagtastic wrote:I have a feeling it Verlander that is going to get the nod. Yes a pitcher getting it is rare but Verlander had a season for the ages was arguably the best pitcher in all the Baseball last year. I think it's a toss up between Jose Bautista, Verlander, Granderson or take your pick of Adrian Gonzalez or Jacoby Ellsbury are the front runners for the MVP

Verlander had a great season, but I'd hesitate to call it one for the ages...there were at least three pitchers that in my opinion were definitively better than him this season (Kershaw, Lee and Halladay), though he had a few more innings than any of them, and none of them have really been front and center in the NL MVP debate, though they ought to be.

Sifu · Post #10 » by **Sifu** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:26 am

Mr Swagtastic wrote:I have a feeling it Verlander that is going to get the nod. Yes a pitcher getting it is rare but Verlander had a season for the ages was arguably the best pitcher in all the Baseball last year. I think it's a toss up between Jose Bautista, Verlander, Granderson or take your pick of Adrian Gonzalez or Jacoby Ellsbury are the front runners for the MVP

Verlander had a great season, but let's not go overboard and call it a season for the ages. Pedro Martinez had a bunch of seasons for the ages, and if any pitcher deserved the MVP it would have been him.

Post #11 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:40 pm

Maybe I was stretching for Verlander I just like the guy goes out there and just wins games and looks damn good doing it. To me you can put him up there with the best in the game today, I have said it before take him off the Tigers and they are a slightly above average team no where near the team they are now. Maybe the "season for the ages" was a bit much but he did have one hell of a year.

I guess it's going to be somebody from the AL East this year can't see why it wouldn't be Granderson, Jose Bautista, Ellsbury or Gonzalez. I mean who had a better year then them?

rarefind · Post #12 » by **rarefind** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:46 pm

Granderson a more complete player than Bautista? These guys are absolute idiots. I can see Ellsbury getting the award and maybe deservedly so... If Bautista has a legit hitter behind him his numbers would be ridiculously scary.

Post #13 » by **5DOM** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:02 pm

It's Verlander

Post #14 » by **Nolan** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:05 pm

5DOM wrote:It's Verlander

For some reason i'm not suprised.

Post #15 » by **5DOM** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:05 pm

13 first place votes for Verlander, 4 for Ellsbury, 5 for Bautista

youngLion · Post #16 » by **youngLion** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:06 pm

I don't believe in pitchers winning the MVP. Position players and pitchers have such different roles that they really should have different rewards. I'm not just Bautista biased either, I'd have no problem whatsoever with Cabrera winning. He had a monster season.

Also Verlander's 24 wins obviously had a big influence, and pitcher wins are one of the most deceptive stats in the game.

Also apparently a handful of writers didn't put Bautista in the top 5, and David Robertson got a vote somewhere too.

HangTime · Post #17 » by **HangTime** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:08 pm

If a pitcher wins the MVP, there should be no Cy Young award that year.

youngLion · Post #18 » by **youngLion** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:15 pm

Also the Rangers beat writer gave Michael Young his first place vote.

Post #19 » by **Schad** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:44 pm

They got the top three right, at least, even if I disagree with the order. Does go to show that there are still complete idiots in the BBWAA...Verlander wasn't even on one ballot and was eighth on another, while Ellsbury was ranked tenth by one moron, and four people had Bautista outside the top five.

So, by way of overall verdict: this is pretty reasonable by the BBWAA's standards...they seem to be getting better. Long road ahead, but progress made.

Dr Positivity · Post #20 » by **Dr Positivity** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:49 pm

Verlander is who I would've bet on. He had the narrative on his side and "look at his Ws!!!" on his side but was probably as deserving as Bau anyways.