brief comment.
perhaps the most frightening thing about sports journalism is what goes unnoticed.
here is one relatively disturbing thing that i uncovered this week: the al mvp voting.
lost among a-rod's majority of the first place votes was a breakdown that seriously makes me question the competency of our best and brightest baseball minds. i reproduce the results here for convenience (total number of votes are in parentheses).
1st: alex rodriguez (382) 2nd: magglio ordonez (258) 3rd: vladimir guerrero (203) 4th: david ortiz (177) 5th: mike lowell (126) 6th: jorge posada (112) 7th: victor martinez (103) 8th: ichiro (89) 9th: carlos pena (64) 10th: curtis granderson (51) 11th: derek jeter (17) 12th: grady sizemore (15) 13th: jj putz (12) 14th: cc sabathia (11) 15th: torii hunter, orlando cabrera (5) 17th: bobby abreu, john lackey, placido polanco (4) 20th: justin morneau, chone figgins (3) 22nd: josh beckett (2) 23rd: fausto carmona, frank thomas (1)
for some reason, carlos pena got more votes than curtis granderson, despite granderson having one of the all-time great seasons. now, this is because pena hit 46 home runs, and i appreciate that. i also appreciate the fact that tampa finished last. pena was valuable, to be sure, but surely he wasn't as valuable as granderson.
chone figgins, frank thomas, and bobby abreu got votes for no good reason. and somehow jj putz received more votes than cc sabathia, which is inexplicable on many levels. for one, it's hard to describe how a relief pitcher could ever be more valuable than a true ace, although if the reliever was gagne-dominant it might be possible. but if this sort of reasoning is true, then why didn't jonathan papelbon get a single vote? isn't he, give or take, at the apex of closing? why didn't manny ramirez get a single vote? why hasn't ramirez won an mvp?
if we're trying to recognize overall value to the team, then why did eric byrnes receive way fewer votes than ryan howard? why did jose valverde receive more votes than brandon webb?
the whole process stinks, and it's probably because voters don't care to think past the first five votes. there's one way to settle this: reduce the number of players on the ballot ranked from 14 to 10, or even 5. cy young voting is much more plausible simply because it doesn't allow us to see how ignorant voters really are. and i think that's better for everyone.
here is one relatively disturbing thing that i uncovered this week: the al mvp voting.
lost among a-rod's majority of the first place votes was a breakdown that seriously makes me question the competency of our best and brightest baseball minds. i reproduce the results here for convenience (total number of votes are in parentheses).
1st: alex rodriguez (382) 2nd: magglio ordonez (258) 3rd: vladimir guerrero (203) 4th: david ortiz (177) 5th: mike lowell (126) 6th: jorge posada (112) 7th: victor martinez (103) 8th: ichiro (89) 9th: carlos pena (64) 10th: curtis granderson (51) 11th: derek jeter (17) 12th: grady sizemore (15) 13th: jj putz (12) 14th: cc sabathia (11) 15th: torii hunter, orlando cabrera (5) 17th: bobby abreu, john lackey, placido polanco (4) 20th: justin morneau, chone figgins (3) 22nd: josh beckett (2) 23rd: fausto carmona, frank thomas (1)
for some reason, carlos pena got more votes than curtis granderson, despite granderson having one of the all-time great seasons. now, this is because pena hit 46 home runs, and i appreciate that. i also appreciate the fact that tampa finished last. pena was valuable, to be sure, but surely he wasn't as valuable as granderson.
chone figgins, frank thomas, and bobby abreu got votes for no good reason. and somehow jj putz received more votes than cc sabathia, which is inexplicable on many levels. for one, it's hard to describe how a relief pitcher could ever be more valuable than a true ace, although if the reliever was gagne-dominant it might be possible. but if this sort of reasoning is true, then why didn't jonathan papelbon get a single vote? isn't he, give or take, at the apex of closing? why didn't manny ramirez get a single vote? why hasn't ramirez won an mvp?
if we're trying to recognize overall value to the team, then why did eric byrnes receive way fewer votes than ryan howard? why did jose valverde receive more votes than brandon webb?
the whole process stinks, and it's probably because voters don't care to think past the first five votes. there's one way to settle this: reduce the number of players on the ballot ranked from 14 to 10, or even 5. cy young voting is much more plausible simply because it doesn't allow us to see how ignorant voters really are. and i think that's better for everyone.
posted by mike at 9:02 PM
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