I think you have C.C. Sabathia rated to high, but I’m never kind to pitchers when it comes to the MVP.

In other news: Vernon Welles is being shut down for the season. If the Jays offense was weak as a newborn kitten beforehand, they’re now strong as a… well, a really small newborn kitten. Welles has had an off year.

There are some absolute jaw-droppers on this list.  Matt Guerrier and Joe Blanton…Betancourt ahead of Vlad (who I am confident will finish in the top 5).  Here are my expected results (deserving or otherwise):

A-Rod
Mags
Ortiz
Vlad
Posada

I forgot the biggest Jaw-Dropper: No Ichiro?!?!? How can you have Sizemore but not Ichiro? I don’t know their defensive numbers, but it’s hard to believe Sizemore is better than Ichiro in CF, and their offensive contribution is comparable, if delivered in very different ways. I know the Mariners dropped out of contention, but they only got near the Wild Card thanks to the Japanese import.

poor, poor amazins

Ichiro’s defense apparently fell off a cliff and i have no explanation how or why.

i don’t get the Buehrle. nice ERA but that is absolutely it. if it’s the no-hitter vibe, how could Justin Verlander not be on here? if buehrle’s up there you’d have to consider halladay and burnett too. unless there’s something i’m missing?

Guerrier but no Joe Nathan?

Here’s my opinion:

A-Rod, Mags, Posada, Vlad, V Martinez, Lowell, Ichiro, Putz, Sabathia, Granderson, Beckett, Ortiz, Figgins, Pena, Nathan, Haren, Crawford, Polanco, Hunter, Markakis, Cust, R Betancourt, 8 other dudes.

eelz212, look at the column to the far right. Notice a pattern?

SG’s MVP vote is based on stats. Defensive runs above averages plus position-adjusted runs created above average for position players, runs saved above average for pitchers. It has the virtue of being an entirely objective system (he may intervene to break ties, but that’s it).

sizemore in there someplace because tim kurkjian said he would be before the season started. and how about kurk himself, for growing his first pube.

If Upton wasn’t hurt for part of the season he would have made the list.
.307/.390/.527   with 24 HR.  He’ll be up there next year.

yeah i did notice that and i think it’s fairly accurate in many of those cases but it’s like it’s perceiving buehrle as a reliever who pitched 150+ innings. out of all those dudes in realit i just can’t see the guy getting a vote.

yeah i was thinking about upton. both uptons will be there soon.

i wonder what ichiro’s traa was

in 151 games this year Cano has 174 hits. in 122 last year he had 165. that’s crazy.

I can see quibbling with the pitchers, but this isn’t meant to be a perfect system.  Like eelz212 said, it’s meant to be an objective system.  I have no problem with people bringing other things into it like leverage, WPA, team record, intangibles, or whatever.

One thing to keep in mind with someone like Sabathia, he has faced 947 hitters.  Even if you say he only plays once every five days, he has had more impact on a plate appearance basis than any position player in the league.

As far as Nathan vs. Guerrier, 84.2 innings of 2.23 ERA is more valuable than 67.2 innings of 2.00 ERA.  Innings count for a lot.

I wouldn’t necessarily do my Cy Young vote in the order of the pitchers as they are ranked here, because I think you can be the most valuable pitcher without being the best pitcher (if that makes any sense).  A player who gets an inordinate amount of help from his defense or outperforms his peripherals can be very valuable to his team, but doesn’t necessarily deserver the Cy Young (IMO).

B.J. Upton suffers from his playing time but also from sub-par defense at two positions.  Ichiro’s ZR is pretty bad, which I don’t necessarily believe, but that’s why he fell off the list.  He’s +17 on offense, but -6 on defense.

i see your point about guerrier. i guess saves aren’t really a factor in this scheme, nor should they be.

batters faced would also explain blanton’s value.

eelz, remember that girl i was telling you about? She’s my lab partner in AP chem.

yeah, talk to her recently??

About Ichiro: could having some pretty bad OFers around him somehow gotten to effect his rating? I know that Ibanez is a rather bad LFer. Sorry if this is a stupid question, I never been able to wrap my ahead on Sabermetric defensive statistics.

It’s interesting to see Cano’s defense giving him such a boost.  Cano’s OPS+ last year was 132 and while this year it’s about 122, his superior defense this year is actually outweighing that difference significantly.

About Ichiro: could having some pretty bad OFers around him somehow gotten to effect his rating?

It certainly is possible.  The zones are fixed, so if they adjust Ichiro’s positioning to adjust for Ibanez (a brutal -25 this year in LF) it could cost him getting to balls he was getting to earlier in the year.

I’m not sure what happened to Ichiro’s defense.  On June 5 his Zone Rating was .936 and he was on pace to be +21.  He then plummetted to .866 and his current -7.  Odd.

SG, any chance you could show us what Reyes’ numbers look like right now? Thank you.

WTF is the deal with Mike Lowell, it doesn’t make any sense.

I think I know where you’re heading with that question CP, but it’s a good one to answer.

Reyes on offense: +8 pBRAA
Reyes on defense: +13 DRAA
Total: +21 TRAA

Which is less than 25.

Pedroia you asked?
Offense: +11 pBRAA
Defense: +3 DRAA
Total: 14 TRAA

Which is also less than 25.

WTF is the deal with Mike Lowell, it doesn’t make any sense.

Lowell’s a good player, who had one down year in 2005.  He’s rebounded to put up OPS+ of 106 and 129 at ages 32 and 33, which is what he did from 26-30.  The age 31 year looks like the outlier, not the other stuff to me.

I think it’s also possible he takes some extra advantage from Fenway due to his style of hitting, beyond the park factor adjustment.

SG, he also randomnly became a good fielder when he was 28/29 and has stayed their. He looked like he wore down last year, this year he bounces back to have a better year. I guess I should have expected resiliency from a guy who beat cancer, but from here on out, I’m just not gonna doubt him.

And thank you very much for the numbers.