Mauer wins AL MVP in a landslide

[HoustonGM]

http://bbwaa.com/

27 of 28 first place votes....Miguel Cabrera got the lone other first place vote...very surprising. I was expecting Jeter and/or Teixeira to pick up some 1st place votes...but ... Cabrera? Weird. My money's on it being the same writer that voted Justin Verlander first in the Cy Young balloting.

Ben Zobrist placed 8th, nice to see him get some level of recognition. Zack Greinke was only listed on 4 ballots, all in the bottom half, but was the highest-ranking starting pitcher (Mariano Rivera placed higher). I think Evan Longoria got left off too many ballots, only being on 3.

But, really, can't complain. The right guy won and it wasn't close. Glad to see the BBWAA go 4 for 4 this year in the MVP/Cy Young awards (I'm assuming Pujols wins the NL tomorrow, but I think that's a given.).

[HoustonGM]

Comment on Baseball Think Factory:

Cue the "they make the right choice and you're bіtching about one dumb vote" complaints, but I really have to say it. A guy -- who, by the way, doesn't even have the best offensive stats in the league, plus he's slow and an indifferent fielder at the easiest position on the field -- shows up drunk off his ass for the most crucial series of the year... and he is supposed to be the Most Valuable Player???

Do I get three guesses as to what city the writer was from?

[Chris68]

Mauer definetly the right choice here!

[actionjackson]

Can't wait to hear the Justin Verlander voting douchebag's justification for Miguel Cabrera, assuming of course that it's him. What possible justification could there be for voting for a guy who left his team holding the bag, when they needed him most? Wow! Just wow.

[HoustonGM]

Ken Davidoff on Twitter" "Keizo Konishi of Kyodo News, based in Seattle, voted Miguel Cabrera first."

Oooook...

[Alloutwar]

I'll focus on the positive - the right guy won, overwhelmingly.

And the Yankees didn't get any misplaced favorite votes. Woohoo, go media!

[HoustonGM]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...miguel-cabrera

eriously, there is no argument for a first place vote for Miguel Cabrera. Mauer's team made the playoffs, beating out Cabrera's team for the last spot. Mauer hit better. Mauer fielded better. Mauer played a more important position.

None of those facts are disputable. A vote for Cabrera being more valuable in 2009 is like a vote for the sum of two and two being five. It's not an opinion - it's a lack of understanding.

So, writers who criticized Law for his vote and pointed to it as evidence that he's screwing up the process, you are hereby required to do the same thing to the Cabrera voter. At least Keith had a reasonable explanation for his vote. There is no reasonable explanation for a Miguel Cabrera first place MVP vote. It's just stupidity on display.

To the other 27 voters - congratulations on continuing the trend of this awards season and giving the player the award he deserves. The BBWAA has done itself proud this year.

Why do I get the feeling that Jon Heyman and the like won't bash this Konishi guy like they hammered Law?

[free2131]

Trying to find an article by him to explain his stupidity, I found one he wrote in 2005.

The title?

Reporter aims to get it right

By Keizo Konishi

[metsguy234]

What did they hammer Law for?

[free2131]

Leaving Carpenter off his ballot for NL Cy Young.

[metsguy234]

Leaving Carpenter off his ballot for NL Cy Young.

What the hell?

Why did he leave the best pitcher in the NL off of his NL Cy Young ballot? Epic fail.

[OregonDuck1989]

Not enough innings probably.

[HoustonGM]

What the hell?

Why did he leave the best pitcher in the NL off of his NL Cy Young ballot? Epic fail.

Because he didn't believe that Carpenter was the best pitcher in the NL. He had Tim Lincecum as the clear front-runner and then Carpenter, Wainwright and Javier Vazquez as an incredibly close 2-3-4. He ordered them Vazquez-Wainwright-Carpenter. 7 writers had Carpenter 3rd. Why is it so insane and ridiculous that someone had him an incredibly close 4th?

[free2131]

He thought that Carpenter's numbers relied too much on the Cardinals's defense if I remember correctly, and because his IP was significantly lower than the others.

His ballot was:

Lincecum, Vazquez, Wainwright

[HoustonGM]

Law's explanation:

My NL Cy Young ballot was

1. Tim Lincecum

2. Javier Vazquez

3. Adam Wainwright

...I understand that many voters are uncomfortable with these advanced stats, but Lincecum also finished second in the NL in (unadjusted) ERA, but threw 36 more innings than the guy in front of him, Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter’s innings total was the main reason he ended up off my ballot. He pitched extremely well when on the mound, but not well enough to close the value gap between him and the three pitchers I listed, each of whom threw at least 27 innings more than Carpenter. Both Carpenter and Wainwright received significant help from their defense, while neither Lincecum nor Vazquez could say the same.

As for Vazquez, he ranked ahead of Wainwright in the advanced metrics anyway, but I also gave him extra credit for pitching in the most difficult division in the NL, one in which he had to face two great offenses and only one patsy.

As for the win total of each pitcher: I ignored that, because, as I’ve said for years, it tells us nothing useful about how well the pitcher performed.