MVP debate is fun and the essence of sport

And so the debate will rage again in some circles this afternoon when major league baseball gets around to making its announcement of the American League’s most valuable player.

Can it go to a pitcher?

Should it go solely to a player on a winning team?

Is it the best player on the best team?

Is it someone who has had seasons of excellence?

I guess it’s all relative (Griff makes a good case on the whole thing right here) and like so much in the world of sports, nothing is ever simply black and white.

I do think winning counts but so does overall excellence and true value to a team. Yes, it’s true that if you went solely by “if you took this guy away from his team they’d really be bad” but that would leave you with a candidate from pretty much every team, wouldn’t it?

I do think best player on best team has to count for something but how much of that guy’s great year is due primarily to the people he’s surrounded with? Has to be a factor, doesn’t it? Sure, you could take Curtis Granderson away from the Yankees and Miguel Cabrera away from the Tigers and I’d still like New York’s chances over Detroit’s.

I have no compunction voting for a pitcher, the ‘once-every-five-days’ argument doesn’t hold water with me; there are some weeks when the other possibilities don’t do very much, either.

This really seems one of those debates that makes sports so great. You can sit on a stool or around a table with five guys and gals and get five different opinions, all legit, all quite heartfelt and none wrong. It can be a perfect way to while away a night or an afternoon and is the essence of the games that give us a chance to escape the realities of life for a little while. It’s fun and we should do it more often.

I guess the good thing, if you’re from the centre of the universe, is that there’s a legit question about the worthiness of one of the Local Nine and that hasn’t happened in a while, has it.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of hue and cry there is when Jose Bautista finishes fourth, maybe fifth, when the results are announced this afternoon.

Now, I don’t have a vote, have never had one, don’t follow the game overall as closely as I should to have a truly informed opinion on these matters but if I had to go with five, it’d be, in order:

Verlander, Bautista, Cano, Cabrera, Granderson.

You?

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Speaking of …

Went to the big fashion show down at the dome on Friday to see the new Blue Jays uniform and I tell you, no one does dog and pony like them. It was a blast, blue champagne (or so I’m told, didn’t sample any), all kinds of food places and displays, joint looked like some kind of ball room all done up and it was a heckuva day.

And came away utterly impressed with the new look. Like the “Blue” being back in Blue Jays, am quite glad they dumped anything to do with black and silver (that was a bad decision from the get-go) and the old split-font numbers are a great throwback idea.

Best look?

The one here, by far. Really looks good.

Now, if only Alex Anthopoulos will go out and get a new closer, second baseman, left-fielder and front-of-the-rotation starter things will be much better.

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Hands up everyone who stayed up to watch the MLS Cup last night?

Now, you know me and the MLS; really don’t care a lot about it (although I continue to have people who tell me it’s a hoot to go watch the TFCs in a home game) but if that silly league ever wants to attract even a handful of casual fans, playing the championship game at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night in late November is not the way to do it.

Oh, yeah.

It was the Galaxy 1, Dynamo 0.

(That’s Los Angeles and Houston for those unfamiliar).

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Dear You Know Who You Are

The only people who enjoy whistling are the people doing the whistling. Please stop.

Signed, The Rest of Humankind.

Oh, wait, I take that back in one – and only one – exception.

Who didn’t like this? And isn’t humming it or whistling it right now?

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You guys and gals in football pools? You know, the ones where you have to pick the games every week, they tally up the numbers at the end of the season and someone celebrates?

Well, I’ve heard all kinds of wacky ways to make picks each week.

Which team has a better colour scheme on its uniforms.

Which team has better cheerleaders.

Which team’s coach spends less time talking into that laminated piece of cardboard they all have that contains the same plays as the next guy, or else the launch codes, I’m not sure.

Well. I’m in the saloon one day on the weekend (hello, Mick and Angelo’s) and the conversation with the benevolent owner gets around to the pool.

And someone the week earlier had a near perfect card – only one game wrong, the Monday nighter in Green Bay – by picking solely on the basis of which team was based further away from New York City.

Makes entire sense to me.

Any other silly ones out there?

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Remember this guy?

I hear something about him playing again tonight, first time in almost a calendar year or something because he got knocked senseless a couple of times.

Now, I’m not sure it’ll make me sit and watch a full pucks game – little ever does – but I’m sure I’ll be like a zillion of you and check in just to see what the scene looks like.

What I’m not looking forward to is the incessant looks-back and how we got to this point and the endless commentary on what happened all those months ago.

I know this is something of a special case because of who he is and what he means to his game and what he’s accomplished so far in his nascent career.

But the truth is, no one has to be “careful” about what might or might not happened now that he’s back. I don’t think there needs to be any debate on whether he should get special treatment or be watched more closely. I believe we can all agree that if he’s out there, he’s healthy and that they’ve been more than careful to make sure he’s ready to go.

Yes, there is an inherent danger and threat that something else could happen; it’s the same inherent danger and threat that exists for every athlete who puts a uniform on every game.

It’s part of the game.

 

Comments

[Lorie]

Good Morning, Doug:
I believe this image of the happy whistler to be a fantasy fuelled by Walt Disney, Ayn Rand and the fine people who brought us the Industrial Revolution (see below:)
http://youtu.be/gOL0rMBdNKw
and would be thrilled if I never heard another headache-inducing trill. And this isn't because I can't. I just wouldn't. Whistling's one of those Inflicting Yourself Onto An Undeserving Public things - like LOUD conversations on your cellphone, or constant tweeting - that I never, ever would do...well, two out of three... :)
But, when you talk about wonderful, classic, movie references to whistling, does anything match this?
http://youtu.be/i9Ay727EYzw

[Steph]

The Harlem Globetrotters theme song is always a pleasure to listen to. Have another listen.
..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyeKAkMwCpw

[sam]

The homer in me places my MVP vote for Jose.
His value to the Jays as a whole is far more impressive than than his stats and homerun totals.

[leefan]

As good as Verlander was this year, he's already been rewarded with the Cy Young award. Playing only one day out of five should be reason enough. Even though there is the Vezina trophy in hockey, I have less of a problem with an NHL goalie getting the MVP, the top goalies play roughly 3/4 of the games. If you take the pitchers out of the mix, Jose would be my choice, he truly leads his team and led the league again in homers even though he was intentionally walked so many times. And a lot of the walks that weren't intentional might as well have been because the opposing pitcher wouldn't throw him anything in the strike zone.

[JT]

First off, I'm a big Jays fan and Bautista fan but no way should he win or the MVP. From a pure hitter perspective, Miggy is a much better hitter. I constitute an MVP as being clutch as well and unfortunately, clutch hitting is not Bautista's forte. Look up the stats and you'll see Cabrera with runners in scoring position, 2 outs, etc, nears .400 avg while Bautista is near .240. Every single MVP candidate hits much better than Jose with RISP and RISP with 2 outs. I think thats very key. As an RF, he had a very low assist to error ratio and that doesn't bode as well either. That said, I think Verlander had such a dominant year that he deserves the MVP, despite the fact that he's not an everyday player.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
You're right about the MVP thingy being a great conversation piece. Familiar as you are with the process and many of the the voters, how much 'homerism' would you say is involved? How many games in a season do the voters actually get to see all of the candidates in action? As much as we like to say that sports and sports performances shouldn't be assessed by "the numbers" only, don't those pure stats end up being 98% of the basis for most MVP voters?
Oh, and adding to yesterday's international roll call, how about Japan, Hong Kong, Panama and Italy? Cheers, Marc and Paolo!

Blogger's note: I think there's less "homerism" than some people imagine; I have a fair bit more confidence in voters being able to dispassionately examine the facts

[john]

Can’t agree more on the whistling, but I always remember this guy who has to be the all-time great…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY5RRsoUrcY

[511]

When I think whistling scenes in movies, this is the one I think of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Cu73Ie7sA

And AL MVP? My vote would be for Joey Bats.

[Mike kovacs]

Try NOT whistling along to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRE6iw-ws4&ob=av2e

[joeu]

For me, any MVP has to have a little Reggie Jackson in his game, meaning "The straw that stirs the drink".

In Bautista's case, since the Jays weren't contending for something ( first place in the league / division, pushing for the wild card ) it's tough to give him full credit for his season. ( And, if you take that approach to it's logical conclusion, Jacoby Ellsbury would get negative credit based on the BoSox end-of-season face-plant ).

Nonetheless Bautista meets the criterion - he is a play maker, he had a very good year on a very (statistically) average team. I'd vote for him.

[Alan C.]

Here's a really good example of why the 'runs' some NBA players are getting (including Derozan here) are nowhere near game competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYjZaldQnw&feature=player_embedded

[TJ]

Good Doug.
I just want to say thanks for the shout about the blue jays shin-dig. I was the guy who organized the lighting and look. thanks for acknowledging my hard work on the logo launch launch, not too often do you bread about my part of events.
Cheers

Blogger's note: You did a great job

[Chris]

Some people at the company I worked for over a decade ago ran an NFL pool. Most people would look at the standings and the spreads, but there was one lady in the pool who picked based on "whichever of the two cities I'd rather visit -- be it for shopping, relaxing or whatever". She usually finished in the middle of the pack overall but did win the occasional week.

[The J]

MVP: I dont usually go for pitchers, but what Verlander did this year would get my vote. I think there is room for a pitcher MVP in one of those rare incredible pithcing seasons, and I think this was one of them. Plus the whole argument of playing every 5 days is a little off. If a batter plays all 5 games, he probably has 20 at-bats (20 opportunities to impact the games on offense), If the pitcher pithces one game they would likely face far more than 20 batters in that one game (more than 20 opportunites to impact the game in their role). So that argument does not hold for me. After Verlander I would take Cabrera, but would love to see Joey bring it to T.O. George Bell has been so long, and I still feel Delgado deserved it a couple of times but got the shaft.

New uniform: Actually I liked the black and silver, but appear to be very much alone. This is first time I've seen a new uniform, and symbol being unveiled to near unanimous approval. That's a good thing, now let's get to the playoffs and show them off.

The best part about Sid's return? The end of the daily updates about his status, in which they conclude they know nothing. Thanks for update, can't wait to here you say the same thing tomorrow, but in a slightly different way. And while I agree nobody should treat him differently, that means not over-protecting him, but it also means not targeting him either.

[ditch]

Just a reality check, people. Sportsnet has sent everyone but the guy who fills the sandwich machine to see Crosby play. I can't imagine the over kill that is about to ensue. Zzzzzzz.

What did he have for breakfast? Does he hop or sit to put on his pant? Does he own a yoyo? Does he know how many pecks in a

Once again, I'll retire to bedlam.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Thanks @Allan C. for the clip. Hey Doug, whaddya think... maybe the Star could host an NBA vs. Irregulars charity game... The NBAers could takes their talents to the ACC, and the Irregulars could take the floor in these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1O1YaD-Gpw&feature=fvwrel
And we could whistle Sweet Georgia Brown the entire game. Cheers!

[Tim H.]

Regarding the whistler of the Andy Griffith Show: his name is Earle H. Hagen, and he also happens to be the whistler of the six-note Old Spice jingle!

http://www.tvadsongs.com/Old_Spice_-_Whistle_Signature.html

(Great site, by the way, especially for those of us of a certain vintage!)

[RK]

Realgm reports that our friend T.J. Ford signed with KK Zagreb (the capital of Croatia). I've seen him play in Toronto, now I get the chance to see him in my backyard (Zagreb is only a 100km away from Maribor).
Oh, and Doug, how could you forget about the contributions from an Irregular from Slovenia?! Rasho wouldn't be pleased!:)
Keep up the good work.

[Nick M]

I guess I am in the minority with the whistling thing...
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I agree, that in a quiet, static setting i.e. the elevator, train, restaurant etc..., whistling is annoying. But I always get a kick out someone faintly whistling while they pass by on the street.
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As for the NFL picks. From a computer programming stand point, there is always some situation or check within an algorithm to exit the program if things just don't add up. Minnesota over Green Bay... The computer would have exploded!!!

[m]

A very good analysis of the NBA situation.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7250994/business-vs-personal

[doug]

to me there is no way a starting pitcher should win the MVP, they have their CY Young, to me everyday players and pitchers are 2 totally separate entities...and as far as Bautista goes, it is not a hitting award, as I have read or have heard people saying about his hitting etc, as others have better clutch stats etc....well not to often and for me in my lifetime have I ever a seen a player in one year, play a all-star caliber 3rd base, then go to the outfield and do the same, plus he has best arm in the game....I hope a pitcher doesn't win for another 25 years or ever, it's just not their award to win...I enjoy a good whistler a bad whistler needs to realize it, me I break out in whistle for one song, Yellow Submarine ...a guy in our pool one year was so frustrated by his picks he had his 4 year old daughter do it one week, needless to say he won or rather she did, some may like parity as the NFL likes to advertise itself as having, but for me give me dynasties any day of the week, parity to me equals mediocrity...

[Lorie]

Well, Doug,
What do you make of this? MVP's, MLS, Jays' new uniform and Sid The Kid's long-awaited return after nearly a year away. And yet what topic do many of your Irregulars grab onto? Whistling. What a wonderfully odd little group we are. :)

[Cluck Kent]

I try to do it mainly when I'm alone but I do enjoy whistling and I'm not very good at it. Sorry. And I tap too.

[Peter]

I just watched an entire NHL game. I fully expected the media to over hype it, and they did... but at the end of the game, I had to admit. That kid is good. 10 plus months away from the game, media pressure on, and he played an excellent game. Take away the 4 points, forget the fact that it was against a poor team, and it was still a good game for him. Sometimes the stories are what makes a sport great to watch, and that was a pretty cool story to watch unfold. Boy, I miss good NBA stories.

[J]

Not really sure why the Cy Young award is used as a reason that pitchers should be ineligible for MVP; how is it different from saying that non-pitchers should never win the MVP because they have their own Hank Aaron award?

Furthermore, non-pitchers get two chances at winning an award based on offensive production. The Hank Aaron award is one (given to the best hitter in each league), and the Silver Slugger is the other (given to the best hitter at each position). Yes, the NL muddies this a bit by picking a Silver Slugger pitcher, but don't forget that AL pitchers are ineligible, and as far as pitching performance goes, AFAIK there's only one award for starting pitchers.

I'm with The J regarding calculated impact. The constant comparison between "everyday players" and pitchers who pitch every five days is misleading. Just to reiterate: over a five day span, non-pitchers provide an impact of ~20 at-bats and any applicable defensive contributions; pitchers provide an impact of ~20 at-bats against and any applicable defensive contributions. One might argue even more in favor of NL pitchers since they also throw in a few at-bats as well.