2009 SB Nation Baseball Awards: Most Valuable Player

by Eric Simon on Nov 12, 2009 2:00 PM EST Comment 38 comments

(Note: the following preamble is 99% unchanged from the previously announced awards, so feel free to skip it if you've already read it.)

One of the nice things about having a whole network of baseball sites is that occasionally we get to pretend we're real writers and collaborate on projects with one another. Now that the baseball season is over, and before everyone's focus turns to the free agent and trade markets, we look to award the heroes of the this past year. And by "heroes" I mean "multi-millionaire baseball players". The BBWAA awards won't be announced until next week -- and at this point most of their opinions brush dangerously close to utter irrelevancy -- so SB Nation gets the jump on them by announcing the winners of our awards voting this week. As much as anything, it's an effort to see if our cadre of basement-dwellers can do a better job than the professionals at getting the awards correct.

We have already revealed the Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Cy Young awards. Today we present the results for Most Valuable Player, an award which no Met has ever won.

National League SBN bloggers could only vote for the NL awards; American League bloggers were similarly restricted to voting for their own league's awards. Here are the results of the National League Most Valuable Player voting. American League results can be found after the jump.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

American League voting results.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

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Comments

No love for Omir Santos?

"[The Giants] beat us down. We were beat by a grown-man team, a team we want to be like one day. They came in here and took it to us. Out-manned us, out-gunned us. ... It wasn't even close." - Raheem Morris, 9/27/09

by cjmulrain on Nov 12, 2009 2:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

They're not up to the grission awards yet.

If there's ever a riot at Citi Field and Oliver Perez was the starter, I started the riot.

by meigs1414 on Nov 12, 2009 2:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No Jeff Francouer? I’m outraged!

by WebBard on Nov 12, 2009 2:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

9 Different Red Sox got votes

That’s crazy.

If there's ever a riot at Citi Field and Oliver Perez was the starter, I started the riot.

by meigs1414 on Nov 12, 2009 2:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yes

including Alex Gonzalez! Ha.

by deadspy3 on Nov 12, 2009 2:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

SB Nation bloggers:

Infinitely more qualified to do sportswriters’ jobs than actual sportswriters since (whichever year SB Nation first started)

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 12, 2009 2:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

If we're counting the early days when it was just Athletics Nation

SB Nation just celebrated its sixth birthday. AA will be five at the end of February.

by Eric Simon on Nov 12, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Alex Gonzalez got a vote

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Nov 12, 2009 6:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

but Pujols and Mauer both won, by a lot. I’m not so sure that will happen with the BBWAA.

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 12, 2009 10:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love how Pujols was unanimous

That’s just awesome. And Mauer was a clear winner, but…

Who voted for Derek Jeter for MVP?! Who?! I demand to know!

by Jsz on Nov 12, 2009 3:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jeter is better than Teixeira

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 12, 2009 3:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes. But either one getting 1st place votes is ridiculous.

More importantly, who were the 7 (I think) that didn’t vote for Zobrist?

by boom_roasted on Nov 12, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That's not really what I asked...

But according to fangraphd Jeter had a WAR of 7. This surprised me. Still Mauer is more valuable at 8.4

by Jsz on Nov 12, 2009 4:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

And if I'm reading this right

someone didn’t put Mauer in the top 10, because there are 5 non-Mauer first place votes and only 4 non-first place Mauer votes.

by Mount17 on Nov 12, 2009 4:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah that's pretty bad

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 12, 2009 4:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There really weren't any challengers to Pujols

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Nov 12, 2009 4:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jeter had a great year

but I have to agree. Mauer was so so so so so very good this year that it’s absurd to vote for anyone else.

by JoshNY on Nov 12, 2009 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You could make arguments for Grienke or Zobrist.

Although, catcher defense isn’t included in WAR. If he is as actually as good as reputed, he is pretty much an obvious choice. According to this, he probably is.

by boom_roasted on Nov 12, 2009 5:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

Mauer was about 9 WAR when you include defense. His clutch score was -.97, so he was really only worth 8 WAR (if you consider clutch hitting to have value). Zobrist was 8.6 without clutch, and 9.1 with, so not even considering Grienke, he has a better case than Mauer.

by vivaelpujols on Nov 12, 2009 6:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And he also has a sweet nickname.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Nov 12, 2009 6:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jeter has a very legitamite case

When you consider clutch hitting. Texeira on the other hand.

by vivaelpujols on Nov 12, 2009 6:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But i don't give a damn about clutch hitting

too small a sample size to place too much importance on it.

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 12, 2009 10:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

For projection talent, you're right

For value… I don’t see why the guy who bats .500 wRISP isn’t more valuable than the guy who bats .200, given equal wOBA’s.

by vivaelpujols on Nov 12, 2009 11:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

this

by cjmulrain on Nov 13, 2009 3:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Be realistic, is the disparity ever that great?

It’s the difference of 8 hits over 130 at bats for a .300 avg and a .240 avg. .500 to .200 is huge, both in terms of value and difference in number. .300 to .240 however is fairly insignificant over 130 at bats. And either way, Jeter’s line w/ RISP was .259/.380/.356, not very clutch in my eyes. FanGraphs has his clutch number at -.85 and his WPA/LI at 2.32 which isn’t overly impressive (41st in baseball).

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 13, 2009 5:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I hadn't checked the numbers a while

I thought Jeter was better than average actually. So you’re right, in this case it doesn’t make a difference. However, in other cases, like with Zobrist who was +.50 to Mauer’s -.97. It should.

by vivaelpujols on Nov 13, 2009 9:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs