Here’s the top 10 finishers for the AL MVP. The actual AL MVP was as big a no-brainer as you can get outside of the NL MVP this year, so we’re not looking at that (or the rogue Miguel Cabrera vote).
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Mauer | 27 | 1 | 387 | ||||||||
| Mark Teixeira | 15 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 225 | ||||
| Derek Jeter | 9 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 193 | ||
| Miguel Cabrera | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 171 | |
| Kendry Morales | 3 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 170 | |||||
| Kevin Youkilis | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 150 | ||
| Jason Bay | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 78 | |||
| Ben Zobrist | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 34 | |||||
| Ichiro Suzuki | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 33 | ||||||
| Alex Rodriguez | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 31 |
Here’s that list of 10, their slash stats and primary position (along with home runs).
| AVG | OBP | SLG | Pos | HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Mauer | .365 | .444 | .587 | C | 28 |
| Mark Teixeira | .292 | .383 | .559 | 1B | 39 |
| Derek Jeter | .344 | .406 | .465 | SS | 18 |
| Miguel Cabrera | .324 | .396 | .547 | 1B | 34 |
| Kendry Morales | .283 | .355 | .569 | 1B | 34 |
| Kevin Youkilis | .306 | .413 | .548 | 1B | 27 |
| Jason Bay | .267 | .384 | .537 | LF | 36 |
| Ben Zobrist | .297 | .405 | .543 | 2B | 27 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | .352 | .386 | .465 | RF | 11 |
| Alex Rodriguez | .286 | .402 | .532 | 3B | 30 |
If you didn’t already realize it: There is a huge stack of 1B in the top 10. Had Justin Morneau stayed healthy he would probably also be here (I would guess Zobrist would be the one bumped). You’ll also notice that the 1B have pretty similar stats.
There’s a reason for that: If you play 1B you are expected to produce offense that is much better than if you play anywhere else. You know that guy, who can hit, but can’t field? He’s playing first base where his defense can’t hurt the team as much. It’s true, there are some players like Kevin Youkilis who are athletic enough to play 3B or in the outfield but Youkilis is some kind of mutant designed for playing baseball which makes him an exception to the rule.
Players who can field a somewhat competent position up the middle (C/SS/CF/2B, traditionally) and hit like maniacs are really hard to find. It’s hard to find a bat exactly like Mark Teixeira’s at 1B but you’re far more likely to find a decent replacement there than if you try to find a shortstop who hits anything like Derek Jeter. The same goes for Zobrist at 2B, where he played most of his games this year.
I really don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about positional differences because it’s the kind of thing where if you think about it for two seconds it makes sense. Ask anyone: Why is Joe Mauer so great? Because he hits like he does and he’s a catcher. It’s there in the back of people’s minds, they know what it means something. Just like they know that it means something for Jeter to hit like he does at shortstop.
But then when the people with MVP ballots get their votes in, this all goes out the window and it seems to mostly become dingers! dingers!! dingers!!! Which means a lot of 1B (because you stick people who hit a lot of homeruns and can’t play elsewhere there, see?)
It’s insane that Ben Zobrist received so little attention and it’s pretty crazy that Teixeira got more second place votes than Derek Jeter. I’m not even going to discuss the NL ballot with Chase Utley finishing 8th. Just, please, stop with the dingers and the first basemen BBWAA. Please.
