Write On Sports LLC - "Jeter May Be Outstanding, But Santana Is More Valuable" by Troy Somero

Jeter May Be Outstanding, But Santana Is More Valuable

2006-09-29 20:04:40 | By: Troy Somero

Ah yes, it's that time of year again. Now that most of baseball's playoff races (at least in the American League) have concluded, the media has begun to throw names around as to who is most deserving of the AL MVP Award. The overall consensus that has been emerging over the last week seems to favor Derek Jeter - a popular player amongst his peers, the fans, and the media, a perennial .300 hitter, and a player who is entering the second half of his career with four World Series rings but without having won an MVP Award. Jeter is certainly the stabilizing force in a constantly-changing Yankees clubhouse, a player that everyone (except A-Rod) respects, and someone who displays extraordinary leadership qualities.

However, it is ludicrous to state that Jeter is the most valuable player in the American League, especially on a team as loaded as the Yankees. Bob Ryan (one of my favorite sportswriters) of the Boston Globe wrote an article on September 14 in favor of Jeter as the AL MVP. However, in his article Ryan falls into the trap that many other sportswriters do when broaching the subject. Instead of viewing the award for what it is at face value, he interprets it so that he can make a point as to why his choice (Jeter) deserves the award:

"I must tell you I have a real problem when people harp on this word ‘valuable,’ as opposed to, for example, ‘outstanding.’ I'd like to introduce another word: worthy. Most Worthy Player. How does that sound?"

Ryan then goes through the rest of the article arguing that Jeter is indeed the most "worthy" player. Personally, I would vote for "outstanding" if the award was open to grammatical interpretation. If the award was based on outstanding achievement, Jeter would be a deserving top-candidate because of his offensive rankings and the fact that he plays on the best team in the AL. However, while the voting for the award is completely subjective, voters should view the award itself objectively. The Most Valuable Player Award is what it says it is: an award given to the most valuable player in each league. No one can make the claim that the award should go to the most deserving or most exciting or most outstanding player, simply because that is not the intention of the award.

The best way to determine value is to tie a player's seasonal performance to that of his team. That is why it was ridiculous that A-Rod won the 2003 AL MVP Award even though the Rangers finished in last place in the division. That is also why writers have made the argument that David Ortiz would be a more viable candidate for the award if the Red Sox were in the playoff hunt; if the Red Sox were in the playoff hunt, Ortiz's gaudy numbers would be much more valuable than they are now for a third place team (as of today). However, because the Yankees are in first place, the media has been quick to tie the Yankees' late-season success to Jeter more than any one of the several other factors at play: the Abreu/Lidle trade, Chien-Ming Wang emerging as the staff ace with a 19-6 record, and (most importantly) the fact that the Yankees are so deep that they have a .343-hitting Robinson Cano batting ninth and are having the clubhouse "problem" of deciding to start Jason Giambi or Gary Sheffield at first base in October.

Can anyone honestly and objectively determine how valuable Jeter is to the Yankees without using words like "captain", "leadership", and "heart"? The answer is no. Therefore, how can anyone determine if he is the most valuable player in the league? The answer is that it's impossible. In fact, it's safe to say that in terms of value to their given teams, Ortiz has been more valuable this season to the Red Sox than Jeter has been to the Yankees. Jeter could pretty easily be replaced if he was ever to leave the Yankees – remember, Alex Rodriguez was the best shortstop in baseball bar-none before he switched to third – but the Red Sox would have a difficult time replacing Ortiz with anyone on this planet.

"Well," you say, "if Jeter does not deserve the MVP Award, then who does? Dye? Morneau?" My short answers to those questions are, "No" and "No, Because..." Actually, if you look at the major offensive statistics of these three contenders, it is a wash as to who has been the most outstanding, let alone valuable:

Jeter: 610AB, 14HR, 96RBI, 115R, 68BB, .339BA, .414OBP, .480SLG, .894OPS.

Dye: 535AB, 43HR, 119RBI, 102R, 59BB, .316BA, .386OBP, .619SLG, 1.005OPS.

Morneau: 576AB, 34HR, 129RBI, 95R, 53BB, .323BA, .378OBP, .566SLG, .944OPS.

In addition, Dye's team is out of the playoff hunt, thus making his numbers much less valuable to his team than Jeter's and Morneau's numbers are to their respective teams. Morneau, like Jeter, seems like a more solid candidate because of the Twin's late-season climb to the top of the standings, making his performance more valuable. In addition, Morneau has a leg-up on Jeter because he does not have the All-Star caliber cast surrounding him in the lineup. Other than Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter, the Twins lineup is filled with a group of also-rans who lack the firepower of the likes of Giambi, A-Rod, and Abreu. At this point it might sound like I am making the case for Morneau as MVP. I would be, if it was not for the fact that a better candidate and a player who truly embodies the concept of "most valuable player" was not sitting in the dugout with him. That player, and the most-deserving candidate for the 2006 AL MVP Award, is Johan Santana.

Now, before you scold me for choosing a pitcher ("They have the Cy Young Award!!!"), let's go back to the inspiration for this article: Bob Ryan. While he excludes pitchers to simplify his debate ("I'll stick with the position players, if that's all right with you"), Ryan himself states that voters have to consider pitchers:

"The current system carries with it no guidelines, other than the stipulation that, Cy Young Award or no Cy Young Award, pitchers are eligible. Anyone who cannot honestly factor pitchers into the mix is supposed to inform the Baseball Writers Association of America of his or her position, and is supposed to be replaced. That's a fact."

Thus, all the nay-sayers who say that pitchers should not be eligible are inherently incorrect because the rule states that voters have to consider pitchers. In fact, if a voter does not consider pitchers then he/she is not allowed to vote. In addition, the Cy Young is not given to the most valuable pitcher, but rather the most outstanding pitcher. There is no MVP award for pitchers because pitchers, just like a DH or an SS, are to be considered for the league MVP award. Pitchers have won both awards before – Roger Clemens in 1986 – and have gotten snubbed for the MVP award even though they were the most deserving candidates – Pedro Martinez in 1999.

Santana's numbers make him the consensus favorite to win the Cy Young. In fact, he has been so dominant this season that one could easily make the claim this is a season on par with the ones Pedro had in 1999 and Clemens had in 1986. The numbers, with league ranking in parentheses, are displayed below:

245K (1), 19W (T-1, Chien-Meng Wang), 2.77ERA (1, only pitcher under 3.00ERA in the league), 34GS (1), 233.2IP (1), 1.00WHIP (1), .216BAA (1), 5.21K/BB (2, Schilling), 9.44K/9IN (1), .760WPCT (2, Halladay)

Those numbers are incredible. If the season ended today (September 28), Santana would win the pitching Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, ERA and K. Not only that, but he also leads the AL in every important pitching statistic with the exception of K/BB and WPCT, where he ranks second in both. If this is not a vintage Pedro or vintage Clemens season, it might be a vintage Koufax season. In fact, only three major leaguers have performed this highly during a single season in the Cy Young era – by "highly" I mean ranking either first or second in all of these categories for a given season. Sandy Koufax achieved this realm three times: 1963, when he won the NL MVP Award, 1965 (second in MVP voting), and 1966 (second in MVP voting). The other two were mentioned earlier: Pedro in 1999 (second in MVP voting) and Clemens in 1986 (MVP).

Relating to the topic at hand - the MVP Award - the most important statistic when viewing a pitcher's value is the team's win-loss record when that player is on the field. It's great that Santana has pitched so well, but if the team performed like, for example, Randy Johnson's Diamondbacks did during his spectacular 2004 year, then these numbers would be much less valuable. However, the Twins' record with and without Santana pitching demonstrates better than any other statistic why he is the most valuable player in the league. Santana's record is a respectable 19-6, nothing to revel in for too long. However, when Santana pitches the Twins have a record of 26-8. The Twins are 18 games over .500 when Santana pitches – without him they are 68-57, nine games over .500. To put that in perspective, the White Sox are seventeen games over .500 (88-71), the Angels are fourteen games over .500 (86-72), the Blue Jays are ten games over .500 (84-74) and the Red Sox are nine games over .500 (84-75). All of the aforementioned teams are also out of playoff contention. Theoretically, if the Twins played in the AL East without Johan Santana they would be in fourth place…in the division! By comparison, the Yankees are 0-1 in games that Jeter does not play, and that was the game that the Yankees clinched the AL East crown.

Now while it might seem like comparing pitchers to everyday players is like comparing apples to oranges, the MVP Award enables writers to do just that when it states that pitchers are to be equally considered for the award. As has been stressed throughout this article, the award is supposed to go to the most valuable player – the one player who contributes the most to the overall success of his team, regardless of his position, number of game appearances, or number of World Series rings. Remember, Dennis Eckersley won the 1992 AL MVP Award while only pitching 80 innings, 153.2 less innings than Santana has pitched so far this season. Is Jeter a deserving MVP candidate? Absolutely. Has Jeter earned the AL MVP Award this season? Not with the year Johan Santana is having. Santana has even batted twice, while Jeter has not even thrown one pitch this year...

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