A-Rod Win AL MVP

[See Red]

Right, but who's better off without their player?

Ortiz is gone you put manny in at DH and a serviceable fielder in left. Sure some runs are gone, but you're whole lineup isn't screwed.

When A-rod is gone you have a guy (more than likely) that's not even on the 40 man roster playing 3rd.

Why am I defending him? I hate him. I'm done. You win. Sportswriters are dumb.

Baseball games are won by hitting with runners in scoring position, particularly with 2 outs.

David Ortiz

Scoring position: .352 avg, 7 HR, 92 RBI's

Scoring Position 2 out: .368, 5 HR, 34 RBI's

Alex Rodriguez

Scoring position:290 avg, 9 HR, 77 RBI's

Scoring Position 2 out: .302, 5 HR, 38 RBI's

A-Rod deserved the MVP, but not more than David Ortiz. Eh, oh well. He can get all the MVP's... he'll never get a World Series ring.

Without A-Rod, you have about $25 million to find a replacement. Without Ortiz, you have about $5 million to find one. Basically, you can get Ortiz AND Manny for the price of A-Rod. And let us not forget -- one of the definitions of 'value' has to do with currency.

[slapshot]

Ortiz is gone you put manny in at DH and a serviceable fielder in left. Sure some runs are gone, but you're whole lineup isn't screwed.

You take Ortiz out of the lineup and the only thing that increases is Manny's OBP, because he'll get walked more often. Ortiz protected Manny. You can't walk Ortiz, because you don't want to have baserunners on when Manny comes up. And if you walk them both, now you have two baserunners.

Take Ortiz out, and you pitch around Manny to get to Varitek, Nixon, or whoever's up fifth.

[Cyclopsis Joe]

Meanwhile, how my Chicago fans are arguing stats between Ortiz and Rodriguez?

It doesn't matter where you live, but if you're a baseball fan.

I said "besides the baseball freaks" indicating the big fans who analyze every detail.

Oh, and great job proving my point MR. NORTHERN CONNECTICUT.

[Jigga]

Eric Chavez won the Gold Glove at 3B, not A-Rod.

Just to add my $.02, A-Rod was a deserving MVP, but I wouldn't have had a problem with Big Papi winning either. What sucks is that Vlad Guerrero got a first place vote...how the hell? Anyhow, I find it laughable that A-Rod gets the brunt of the blame for the playoff losses the last two years, but none of the credit for their division wins or anything good that happens with the Yankees.

The hate for this man is ridiculous, be friggin' fair. He's got the best numbers overall and he's the best player in the AL. Are any of you going to bash the NL MVP voters for picking Pujols for the same reason when Andruw was more deserving of the NL award than Big Papi was of the AL MVP.

G's us.

[ProvidenceRI]

Proof is in the pudding. Arod's stats are fluff in games already long been decided... how can he be the best player in the league, when he is a slightly above average player when the game is close? From ESPN.com:

On the admittedly partisan, Red Sox-oriented Sons of Sam Horn site, frequent contributor Eric Van has laid out some truly startling evidence. He found that A-Rod was vastly more productive in the Yankees' blowout wins than he was in games where a hit either way was the difference between winning and losing.

In the 20 games each of their teams won by six or more runs, A-Rod hit .549, had an OPS of 1.793 and racked up 46 of his 130 RBI (35 percent). Ortiz, on the other hand, batted .277, had an OPS almost 800 points lower than A-Rod's (.999) and drove in only 33 runs (22 percent of his overall total).

But in close games (games that either went to extra innings or were decided by one or two runs in regulation), the numbers look a whole lot different.

In those games -- and each team played exactly 65 of them -- A-Rod batted only .243, had an OPS of .805 and drove in just 38 runs (29 percent). Ortiz, meanwhile, clearly tapped some mysterious force that made him even better in moments like that -- batting .321, running up an OPS of 1.116 and knocking in nearly a run a game (62 -- or 42 percent of his overall total).

Roll that info around your brain for a second. Think about what you make of it. All we know is that, when it came time to make our MVP pick at season's end, we had a tough time ignoring figures that staggering.

Not everyone agrees, apparently. And that's fine. They're allowed. That's what makes sports -- and sports fandom -- the compelling force it is in our lives.

It sure seemed at the time as if Ortiz was stomping up there and driving in the winning run about four nights a week. But these were stats that clearly proved it wasn't a figment of some highlight editor's imagination. David Ortiz really was the best clutch hitter in the sport -- lugging his team into the playoffs like a human tow truck.