Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Joe Mauer: AL MVP

When Joe Mauer's first swing of the 2009 season sent a ball sailing over the left field wall in the Metrodome, one got the sense that this was going to be a special year. Mauer missed the entire month of April due to a back injury, but in a way that might have been a blessing because his absence made local fans all the more appreciative of what he brought to the table once he finally was able to take the field. Even with a month's worth of missed games, there is no taking for granted what Mauer was able to accomplish this season, and fortunately the BBWAA voters saw it the same way as they awarded the Twins catcher with his first American League MVP award yesterday.

It had been widely assumed that Mauer would capture this honor ever since he batted .354 in September/October to put the finishing touches on a dazzling season and help launch his team to an improbable postseason berth, but yesterday it became official. Mauer becomes the fifth Twins player to win an MVP award, and the second in the past four years.

By now you're probably familiar with the numbers, but let's break them down again quickly. Mauer hit .365/.444/.587, leading the league in all three categories to capture the so-called "Sabermetric Triple Crown." He overcame a historical lack of power by bashing 28 home runs -- more than double his previous career high -- and drove in 96 runs while scoring 94 times. He walked more than he struck out (76/63). He hit .377 against right-handed pitchers and .345 against lefties. He posted a 1.067 OPS with runners in scoring position. It was a remarkable offensive season from just about any angle, and he did it all while putting in over 900 innings at the most demanding defensive position on the field. And while one can use the missed time early in the season as a mark against him, it's worth noting that Mauer was essentially an iron man after coming off the DL, resting less frequently than he ever has in the past and even catching both games of a crucial double-header late in the year. Even though he missed the entire month of April, Mauer played in 138 games and made 606 plate appearances; over the four seasons prior, he had averaged 131 games and 566 plate appearances.

Anyone with a working brain would have recognized Mauer as the AL's best player this year regardless of how the MVP voting results played out, but nevertheless it was quite encouraging to see Mauer place first on 27 of the 28 ballots while Mark Teixeira and his league-leading RBI total did not get one first-place vote. The ability of the BBWAA voters in this instance to look past traditional stats that tell you less about the performance of an individual player and more about the performances of his teammates, as they did with the Cy Young voting, represents refreshing progress.

Of course, the one downside to Mauer's capturing this award is that it will do nothing but strengthen his case at the negotiating table. And that is where our attention must now turn, because the Twins No. 1 priority at this point should be making sure they get their MVP locked up long-term.

11 comments:

Ian said...

Hey Nick, the BBWAA have looked past "traditional stats" for quite some time now. Only two of the last 20 winners led the league in RBI, 7 of them weren't even in the top 10. Take out the roider group - ARod, Bonds, Giambia and Tejeda - and the voters have voted for a strong group of complete players (Mauer, Pedroia, Rollins, Kent, Ichiro) over the power guy group (Vlad, Pujols, Morneau, Howard). The voter have also recognized all around excellence by giving strong consideration to guys like Jeter, Utley, Granderson and Sizemore over the years.

Louie said...

Couldn't agree more, the twins must resign him

Anonymous said...

I don't want to sound stupid, but what does the .365/.444/.587 batting line mean? Batting Average/On Base Percentage/Slugging Percentage? I'm still new to seriously following baseball stats. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

yes Anon...it goes AVG/OBP/SLG. I not so long ago finally figured that out so no reason to feel bad.

Steven Ellingson said...

Ian,

that may be true, but we've seen some bad choices, even lately. Utley, for one, hasn't gotten near the recognition he deserves. It's moving in the right direction, but it's not there yet.

Peter said...

Trade our and AL's MVP to the Yankees for Chamberlain, Hughes and Jackson. He is a Yankee, if he really would have wanted to remain a Twin, a deal would already have been worked out.

Nick N. said...

Trade our and AL's MVP to the Yankees for Chamberlain, Hughes and Jackson. He is a Yankee, if he really would have wanted to remain a Twin, a deal would already have been worked out.

That seems rather pessimistic. He has 12 months left before he becomes a free agent.

Nick N. said...

that may be true, but we've seen some bad choices, even lately. Utley, for one, hasn't gotten near the recognition he deserves. It's moving in the right direction, but it's not there yet.

And of course we're only four years removed from... B-B-Bartolo... I can't even say it.

Mitch said...

Love Joe and he definitely deserved to be the AL MVP. Thanks for your insights. By the way, these free goodies will surely make your day great!

csd said...

Great blog. Keep up the good work.

Dave said...

I'm so glad that he is ours :)