- The tone of the article is pretty funny. It essentially acknowledges that Joe Mauer has been better and should win, but says, "Hey, Derek's been great for a while and has been robbed a couple times. Let's give him this year's award anyway, as a kind of lifetime achievement award." I can't get behind that reasoning, but at least it's honest.
- Naturally, the article falls back on intangibles to make Derek's case. This leads to one of my new favorite baseball quotes:
"Some people will argue that intangibles don't exist, but in the ninth inning of close games everybody believes in them." - Marty Appel
It's not quite as pithy as "There are no atheists in foxholes," but the sentiment is the same, and likely equally true. - The article strangely does not note the strongest part of Derek's case: the fact that he plays shortstop and none of the other contenders do. You don't need intangibles to close the gap between Derek and a first baseman with better offensive numbers. You just have to understand the massive, massive value of playing a tougher position.
- Derek's longevity really is incredible. More than anything, this is what will get him in the Hall of Fame one day.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
More MVP talk
My mother (of all people) points me to this article by Allen Barra in the Wall Street Journal echoing my thoughts on Derek Jeter's MVP candidacy. A few thoughts:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
You're welcome! Your comment about your mother (of all people) brought to mind the following:
Once upon a time in Spain there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand... Sometimes his mother, who was a cow, would worry about him... His mother saw that he was not lonesome, and because she was an understanding mother, even though she was a cow, she let him just sit there and be happy.
Don't underestimate mothers! I can see that you are happy. I can almost see you laughing, even though I am not a cow. And I can see that Derek Jeter deserves MVP, for both your reasons and Allen Barba's. Good luck, Derek.
Let me reiterate: I think Joe Mauer should win the MVP as of this moment. However, some MVP voters want to vote for a player on a playoff team. If they want to do that, they should vote for Derek Jeter.
Whoops! You did say that you would vote for Joe Mauer. I missed that in all the enthusiasm of talking about Derek's good points. He's my man, though. I don't care about Joe.
Post a Comment