Yes, those are interesting points, but let me say this in response: #### your mother. There you go.

That’s a huge difference made even bigger considering that Mauer plays a non-offensive position (catcher) while Teixeira plays a position (first base) occupied by plenty of other mashers.

Tex has 114 more PA's, 23% of Mauer's PA's are as a DH.

Mauer is the MVP as of today (by a lot), but the playing time/DH adjustment offsets any additional positional advantage Mauer should be given.

The MVP vote each year is a combo of stats and story. It is possible to try to 'stat-ify" the story; this works only some times.

One often-used story is the "new guy leads a club to the playoffs". One way to put this into numbers is to give extra credit to a player who
a) is new to a team
b) is on a playoff team
c) ..that did NOT make the playoffs last year

New guy comes in, team succeeds, ergo New Guy must be great! Lonnie Smith almost won and MVP ths way. Vince Coleman got a silly amount of ballot respect his rookie year.

So, even if Jeter may be a logical choice for MVP, Tex will likely out-ballot his teammate the Captain.

Tex has 114 more PA's, 23% of Mauer's PA's are as a DH.

This is where WAR comes into play, and also adjusts for position and for defense (not for catchers):

Mauer 5.7
Tex 4.0

Zobrist and Longoria are actually hot on Mauer's heels with 5.4 and 5.3 WAR. Tex is 8th.

New guy comes in, team succeeds, ergo New Guy must be great! Lonnie Smith almost won and MVP ths way.

Terry Pendleton did.

Kirk Gibson 1988 may be the classic example of above mentioned "new player on new team makes the difference" theory. Remember ballots are cast prior to post season.

Especially when all Kirk did was replace Pedro's production out there in left from the year before. If anybody from the Dodgers should have gotten that MVP it was Orel.

Kirk Gibson 1988 may be the classic example of above mentioned "new player on new team makes the difference" theory. Remember ballots are cast prior to post season.

Well, Gibson was arguably the MVP in 1988 in his own right, no special bonus required. But Terry Pendleton in 1991 wasn't within the same zip code as Bonds, who's own team also won their division.

But Terry Pendleton in 1991 wasn't within the same zip code as Bonds, who's own team also won their division.

He wasn't, but he was still pretty damn good, and the writers weren't going to give Bonds his second MVP for a season which was worse than his first MVP (fewer runs, HR, 2B, steals, and lower average) when there was another compelling story out there.

Which is not to say that they did the right things, but that it's not hard to see why they made the decision that they did.

He wasn't, but he was still pretty damn good, and the writers weren't going to give Bonds his second MVP for a season which was worse than his first MVP (fewer runs, HR, 2B, steals, and lower average) when there was another compelling story out there.

Well, that's precisely my point. If Terry Pendleton had not moved and had that exact same season for the second place, 14 game back Cardinals, would he have won the MVP?

If Terry Pendleton had not moved and had that exact same season for the second place, 14 game back Cardinals, would he have won the MVP?

Probably not, but he did have the batting title and the league lead in total bases, while playing 3B. At worst, he would have been a contender since, looking at the MVP voting for that season, there wasn't an obvious "blow the competition away" candidate.

Joe Mauer is having a historically good season. One of the best ever.

yeah, i feel that if the Twins make the playoff Mauer should win.

Of course, they're going to give it to Morneau again .

As for Teixeira. he does fit the Yanks pretty well BECAUSE he's a boring guy. the reporters simply can't dig out any thing against him.

How does Youkilis compare to Teixeira on things like WAR? I assume Tex beats Youk due to almost 100 more PA.

Joe Mauer is having a historically good season. One of the best ever.

Indeed. It could well end up even better than Piazza's best season.

If he finishes strong and doesn't win the award, I guess we might never see a catcher win it again.

AL WAR Leaders

Youkilis ranked just above Tex. UZR likes his defense more and his time at 3B helps too.

I'm perfectly happy with Kendry Morales and the extra $22MM.

WAR is only as reliable as the defensive numbers. If you want real numbers all of the defensive numbers need to be heavily regressed.

I'm perfectly happy with Kendry Morales and the extra $22MM.

What if that money goes to Gary Matthews, though?

That’s a huge difference made even bigger considering that Mauer plays a non-offensive position (catcher) while Teixeira plays a position (first base) occupied by plenty of other mashers.

Tex has 114 more PA's, 23% of Mauer's PA's are as a DH.

Mauer has only 600 innings at catcher. That may not be enough to give him the positional advantage suggested in the article. Teixeira leads in total bases and it seems to me value encompasses how much you do as much as the rate at which you do it. The trophy is still up for grabs.

Mauer has only 600 innings at catcher. That may not be enough to give him the positional advantage suggested in the article. Teixeira leads in total bases and it seems to me value encompasses how much you do as much as the rate at which you do it. The trophy is still up for grabs.

WAR takes all of this into account and has Mauer waaaaay ahead of Tex. The trophy's probably going to Tex, but he won't deserve it.

I don't want Teix to win it. It's just going to be another straw man in BS "Pro-NY" argument. Teix is going to win because he is on a playoff bound team and hits a lot of HRs and has a lot of RBIs, the same reason every slugging first baseman who doesn't deserve it wins the award.

The trophy's probably going to Tex

I'd actually be surprised if this happens. For all the talk about New York players having an advantage in voting, history suggests the opposite is the case. There are only going to be 2 voters from New York and probably a dozen voters from other cities whose gut reaction is to hate the Yankees. Both of A-Rod's MVP awards were pretty close to no-brainers. Derek Jeter, on the other hand, has a perfectly respectable case for having won 2 MVP awards and he took neither of them (he finished 6th in 1999 with 1 first-place vote).

How many New Yorkers have won undeserved MVP awards? You have to go back to Mattingly in 1985 and the NL MVP award was stolen from a Met that very year (and hell, Mattingly arguably stole his MVP from another Yankee).

The "story" of the Yankee's postseason berth this year is going to be that they went out and bought a playoff spot because they think it's their birthright. To the extent, then, that their big-money free agent was the guy who led them back to the playoffs that will be viewed as a negative by a lot of voters.

Well, Gibson was arguably the MVP in 1988 in his own right, no special bonus required.

Gibson was the 1988 WAR leader. Considering the league only scored 3.9 runs per game and Dodger stadium, that was a truly great season. Even before you consider The Homer. (Which had nothing to do with the award, since they have to vote before the playoffs start).

If the Yankees win their division by 8 games or so, Tex will be demerited for being on too good of a team. The voters like players who are on good teams, but not great teams. Unless there is no other choice. Other choices:

Miguel Cabrera, 67 RBI
Kendry Morales, 76 RBI
Justin Morneau, 93 RBI(!)

Although I think this year sanity will prevail and if they give it to a Twin it will be Mauer, who is the one making the headlines this year. Anyway, Tex may very well be the "default" option if the Twins don't make it and nobody else can get into the 120 RBI range.

Geez, none of you are factoring in Josh Hamilton's 45 RBIs in September as the Rangers charge back to win the West by nine games.

Geez, none of you are factoring in Josh Hamilton's 45 RBIs in September as the Rangers charge back to win the West by nine games.

Or Rajai Davis!!

If you:

Look at the player with the most RBI's who:

1) Is on a playoff team.
2) Is not a DH.
3) Is not Manny Ramirez.

You get 6 of the last 9 AL MVP's.