Jeter's having a nice year, no doubt. VORP is really the only stat that would support Jeter as a viable MVP candidate, and that doesn't factor in defense(although he does get the benefit of being compared to the other relatively weak hitting SS in the league).
Jeter also actually has a slight advantage in Runs Created over Hafner, but the thing about Jeter is that he's had an absurdly lucky .396 Batting Average on Balls in Play, seeing as how most of the AL's best hitters are in the .320-.340 range.
Yes, anyone with a BABIP of .400 over the course of an entire season has been very lucky, whether their name is Jeter or not. As far as RC goes, it's a raw stat and Jeter has almost 100 more PA's then Hafner. Hafner's got a sizable advantage over Jeter in RC/27.
hate to say it, but even Frank Thomas should get some consideration(not win it, but be considered)...He's got just about 100 RBI's to go along with 36 HR's on a team that really struggles to score runs. It should be Jeter or Dye who wins it, but if Santana gets to 20 wins give both the Cy Young and the MVP to him
Figures I'd have vote #13! I ask myself this, Where would a Team be without X player. With Shef & Matsui Out, Cano out for a while, A-Rod having a Disastorous Mid Season (That's over with) and some inconsistent pitching Jeter was the Constant on this team and Without him in there this team does not succeed in taking the AL East pennant. Almost the same can be said about Dye. So It's a close race.
I swear, there must be some gene in all Yankee fans that makes their brains shut down when talking about the team. First off, I didn't say he was "just lucky", I actually gave a few reasons why he's a top candidate and put him in my top 3. Secondly, a high BABIP is a sign of good luck. BABIP for the league is always right around the .300 mark. If a hitter gets some line drives to fall in the gap because the outfielder took a bad route, or some bloopers in between two players, he'll get more hits, more RBI, etc. It's the same when the shoe is on the other foot. If a guy smashes ten line drives, but they all go right to OFs instead of being in the gap, is he a bad player or just unlucky?
I would say that the MVP is a tossup between Jeter, Morneau and Dye right now. My homerism would cause me to vote for Jeter, but there's a good arguement to be made for all 3.
I'm honestly really starting to believe the Santana for MVP bandwagon. The Jeter supporters like to bring up the losses of Matsui/Sheffield, but look at that Twins rotation right now? Liriano's been on the shelf for two months, Radke's arm is hanging by a thread (and is now out), Carlos Silva has been Shawn Chacon like this year. Right now their #2 starter would be Boof Bonser.
The thing is that if Santana is the MVP this season then every #1 starter in a bad rotation deserves the MVP award. Why not give it to Roy Halladay or CC Sabathia? Why not give it to Papelbon?
Because he is the main reason why they are still alive in this thing, basically has become an automatic win at this time in the playoff race with all there problems, along the fact that the MVP is pretty weak this year in the AL
What a shock, all the jealous Yankee haters votd no. :rofl: yeah the Nl is much better, how can a league not be better when a team 6 games under .500 is still very much alive in the WC race. The WC leader in the AL is 8 games better than the 2nd best team in the NL. Lets' not forget 2 of our best hitters missed most of the season, another AS missed a good chunk of the season and multiple other players missed around double digit games. Jeter held the team together in a crisis, the Yanks didn't fold the minute they got some injuries unlike Boston. We have 1 CY winner and 1 MVP through all the winning we've done the last decade+. If anything an anti-Yankee bias has cost some guys MVPs and CYs. Possibly leading the league in hitting(he's 1 pt back now) and leading the league in hitting w/ RISP don't help him? also keeping a battered team together doesn't help him? people act like it's been smooth sailing for the Yanks all year long well we struggled early on then had significant injuries and guys like Jeter and Damon kept us afloat while last year's "MVP" disappeared. I think there are multiple deserving candidates including Morneau, Mauer and Santan from minny(that means they'll split votes) and Dye from Chi but in the end I think Jeter wins it and obviosuly he deserves it.
He is talking about the weak AL MVP crop this year Yes they lost so much that they are still leading MLB in runs scored, it isn't like your lineup had turned to garbage without them, you replace one with Abreu and called up a prospect in Cabrera, so it wasn't like your lineup was finished without those 2, I could saw without a reasonable doubt that Wang was more valuable this year than Jeter for the Yanks, to me the only reason why this is even a discussion is because his name is Jeter, and he is supposedly "due" for 1 to continue an HOF career, like 3rd said, he is Freddy Sanchez with a much better lineup
This nonsense has got to end, when will you guys give Jeter any credit? He's one of the best players of his gereation, one of the best players of all-time and you guys can never give him credit.
How exactly is the AL MVP crop weak? There are a bunch of players having great years that deserv it. You ant to see weak check out the NL CY race, that is pathetically weak. There is not 1 deserving candidate.
