Ichiro has talked to the Japanese media all season about Mauer being a rival, in tones that insinuated that Ichiro is the better player of the two. Ichiro was unhappy about getting beat by Mauer for the batting title. He was also livid after New York fans jeered him in July when he made a rare error in the field. (Hideki Matsui homered in the game.)

It’s entirely plausible that Konishi — whose livelihood depends on staying in Ichiro’s good graces — voted for “not Mauer” and “not Yankees” to please Ichiro, who’s known to be an egomaniac with a long memory for grudges.

It’s a mystery to me how a guy who’s known to have made a career covering one player got the right to vote for postseason awards.

Jeter gets gold gloves constantly, has arugably(if you huff far too much paint) deserved one. At least the voters got everything right… Lincecum, Grienke, Pujols and Mauer. Only Carpenter deserves an argument, but he’s not as dominant.

Throw down your top 5, if interested.

So, I started looking at the value stats on this site and …

* Cab is 3rd in batting value (behind Mauer and Teix), and ranks ahead of Teix in fielding value. 2nd among AL 1B’s.

* 9th in WAR in between Youk and Teix for 1B.

* 6th in wOBA (1 of the 6 .400 or above).

* 5th in OPS.

* 14th in +WPA, 2nd among AL 1B’s.

*3rd in WAP/LI, behind Mauer and Teix.

In most of these metrics there isn’t another Tiger on the “1st page” (i.e., top 35) … wheras there are multiple Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, etc.

DET as a team is 9th in the AL for wOBA, behind with NYY, BOS, and LAA in the top 3 of MLB, and MIN at 4th in the AL.

So, I looked at their pitching, and DET is 25th in MLB for ERA, so it’s not like they’re a pitching & defense dominating type team. BOS is 2nd in the AL, NYY 4th, MIN 8th, LAA 10th, and DET is 12th in the AL.

So, DET appears to be in the bottom half of offense and pitching in the AL, and they were “one game” from the playoffs. I understand that some might not take into account the strength of the team in an MVP vote, but a lot of voters seemingly do (and ‘perhaps’ they should). If one does, then MC is a serious top 5 candidate. If one doesn’t he’s likely 6th-8th.

He certainly seemed to “Miggy-back” the Tigers quite a bit throughout the season, possibly moreso than any of the other individual contenders have done with their team.

I’m not trying to be contrary (seriously), or to keep this thing going, but I am trying to figure out the thinking that says Cabrera is NOT a serious MVP contender (or top 5 material, for this year).

The case could easily be made that Youkilis and Zobrist deserve more credit, but I don;t think that means Cabrera deserves less than to be around the top of the voting.

Just sayin’.

BUT IT WILL DAMAGE THE CREDIBILITY OF THE AWARD!

Like when Steve Bedrosian won in 1987, or Welsh over Clemens in 1990. I’m sure they gave those votes the respect that they deserved.

I agree with you about Vasquez but are you really claiming that Miggy should not have been placed in the top 6? not even close?

I hope not. Miggy carried Detroit all year. Well, one day short of all year, anyway.

Whoa there, Nelly! First of all, there are multiple definitions of value, but most people here tend to find the “value = best” one the most consistently applicable. Secondly, the majority of fans and writers out there agree with you, so don’t try and make yourself out to be some kind of minority martyr.

The HR/FB percentage in 2009 for the league (according to b-r’s batted ball classification) was 9.63% (2271 out of 23571). Haren records about 8.75 outs via the K per 27 outs, so 18.25 outs come from the field. His career BABIP is pretty normal, and adding in his walk rate, it takes him about 28.25 batters to get those other 18.25 outs, 26.75 of them putting the ball in play. That’s the # we care about.

Haren gives up about 36% fly balls on BIP. You can say that’s about 9.6 fly balls per 9 innings.

With a league average HR/FB rate, that’s about .925 HR/9. Add in the occasional liner HR, we’ll call it .95 HR/9

So since the league was at 1.11 HR/9, I can say I was wrong to call Haren a gopher baller. And his FB rate is about average, too.

HR rate is a weird number. It can sort of be controlled, but the # of HR’s a pitcher gives up is usually so low compared to, say, his strikeouts, that it can be badly volatile.