Read the debate intro and Bleacher Fan’s argument that the MVP shouldn’t come from a losing team.
As the 2009 MLB regular season winds down, the Sports Debates is taking a look at postseason awards. Hey, we have to with all of the playoff berths all but clinched! We are not declaring who we think should win various awards, though. Next week, stay tuned for a debate on whether or not a reliever should be eligible to win the Cy Young Award. For today, as Sports Geek stated in the intro, we are debating whether or not the Most Valuable Player can come from a losing team. I believe that an MVP can come from a losing team.
There have been examples other than the one Sports Geek used in the intro. In 2006, Ryan Howard, who played on a Philadelphia Phillies team that did not make it to the playoffs, won the MVP award over St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, who played on a team that made the playoffs and eventually won the World Series. It caused quite a stir at the time when Pujols said, “I see it this way… someone who doesn’t take his team to the playoffs doesn’t deserve to win the MVP.”
Pujols has since recanted that statement.
When voters are filling out their ballot, they are told on the ballot to consider the following:
- Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense
- Number of games played
- General character, disposition, loyalty, and effort
Nowhere does it say that the record of the team should come into play.
“Valuable” means, in the context of this situation, that player has “considerable use, service, or importance.” Voters obviously agreed that Andre Dawson was of “considerable use, service, or importance” in 1987, much the same way voters agreed that Howard met the same requirements in 2006. The record of the team had no relevance then, and it should not now.
Let me give an example from a different industry… the movie industry. When Academy Award voters are voting for Best Actor, they do not vote for the best actor of the top grossing movie of the year. They vote for whom they think had the best acting performance of the year. This is often why Oscar winners often come from smaller, independent movies rather than large, major studio films. It is obviously a different industry, but I use the example to portray that the thinking is along the same lines.
Using 2009 as an example, is Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer any less valuable to his team than someone like Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter just because the Twins are likely not going to make the playoffs and the Yankees are going to make it? I do not think so!
Playoffs? Playoffs? Are You kidding me? You wanna talk to me about playoffs? No, talk to me about individual performance. Talk about how valuable a player is to a team. Talk about that, and then decide who the Most Valuable Player in the league is every year!
