This Had Better Not Be The Case

Last night I was driving home from work, listening to some of the dumbassery on fox sports radio. They were fawning over Derek Jeter's latest accomplishment, as well as congratulating him for curing three sick yankee fans of swine flu by winking at them. I was about to change the channel, as I always do with any Yankee news, when they said the dumbest thing I have ever heard out of the mouth of anyone about baseball. They said that this is Derek Jeter's year to win MVP because he will have broken Lou Gherig's yankee hit record. I actually had to swerve out of the oncoming lane because I was rendered momentarily retarded by the stupidity of that idea.

Now, Jeter has had a good season, but there are at least five other people who legitimately deserve to win the award more than him. Yet, aside from all semblence of rational thought, the people on the radio thought he should win as more of a lifetime acheivement award, and for breaking a TEAM record that has no bearing outside of the pinstripes.

Even more scary of a thought, I could actually see people jumping on with this idea. In fact, after Buster Olney's ridiculous fluff piece on what Jeter is all about, it could become gospel. No matter that someone like Joe Mauer has put together the best season that baseball has seen from someone not named A-Rod or Pujols in a long, long time.

Take a look for yourself. Its black and white to me that when you destroy every stat category in the league, as Mauer has, he should be MVP. Bottom line. For the American League, Mauer is at the top of every relevant stat, all while playing the most physically demanding position. When was the last time a Catcher did what he is doing this year? Oh, right, last year for the same fucking guy.

Sadly, because he plays in Minnesota, and because the MVP award has become more about which team makes the playoffs, Joe could be on the outside looking in AGAIN. Thats how stupid some of these voters really are. Its not about your individual production anymore, its about every other player on that 40 man roster too. I wonder what would have been the case if Mauer was playing with Texiera, Rodriguez, and company. What if Mauer's TEAM actually had a pitching staff without injuries that won 9 more games this year? Is he MVP then? See, thats the craziness of this whole thing, even with a pitching staff that is in shambles, Mauer has kept them afloat.

If it is truly about wins, as of today, Joe has factored into more wins for his team than any other player per his Win Share stats on Baseball Prospectus. Funny enough, if not for Mauer, the Twins may very well be in the cellar of the division. He leads the American League by a ton in VORP, EqA, AVG, OBP, OPS, SLG%, everything. Unlike Jeter, he actually deserves this award for this monster season. Then you can add in that he has done all he has this year while missing the first month due to a painful injury, and you have a great case.

I would even go so far as to say that Jeter wouldnt want the MVP just for being there. Then again, I have ZERO confidence anymore in anyone who has a pick in this crap. As long as people like Woody Paige and his idiot bretheren have a say, true MVPs like Mauer may have to deal with the disappointment.