Baseball Musings: Derrek Lee Number Three

November 15, 2005

Derrek Lee Number Three

The NL voting is up, and I just don't understand it. Pujols and Andruw Jones pretty much split the 1-2 vote, while Derrek Lee polled 30 third place tallies. How could one vote for Pujols 1st and Lee third? They're so close I can't make up my mind as to which one should get the award. Did the voters just shove Andruw in there because Atlanta won? Because it's important to recognize a 50 home run hitter? If you think Pujols is the MVP, how can you not think that Lee is second?

I'm somewhat surprised that Morgan Ensberg finished fourth. It's not that he didn't have a great season, it's that the Astros won when Berkman hit. The way voters go, I'd believe that the Berkman factor would have taken votes away from Morgan.

Giles and Bay were recognized by the voters. Giles finished 9th with Bay coming in 12th. I'd put them higher, but it's a good finish for both.

For the first time since 1989, Barry Bonds failed to poll a single vote.

And who voted Jose Reyes 10th? Please.

The voters picked a good winner. They did a better job on the MVP than the Cy Young. They got 2nd place wrong in the NL, but that's a lot better than getting 1st wrong.

Posted by David Pinto at 02:51 PM | Awards | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Pujols trivia: he's been in the league for 5 seasons, and all 5 seasons he's had between 590 and 592 (inclusive) at-bats. Pretty crazy.

Posted by: sabernar at November 15, 2005 03:19 PM

You wonder how much would have been different if A. Jones had hit only 49 home runs. Obviously, the writers voting Lee 2nd solely on that is silly, but it's probably the sad truth for some.

Posted by: James d. at November 15, 2005 03:30 PM

Someone doesn't watch ESPN it seems. They are the reason Jones did so well. All the talking heads there (and many other professional media sites) were really pushing Jones.

Posted by: JeremyR at November 15, 2005 03:41 PM

I'm stunned at how close Jones was to winning. That would have been the worst NL MVP vote since Andre Dawson in 1987 (the AL has had some more recent doozies, such as Juan Gonzalez' two awards).

Posted by: Dr. Manhattan at November 15, 2005 03:43 PM

What's weirder -- 13 writers thinking Andruw Jones was the best player in the National League, or 1 writer thinking Scott Eyre was among the top ten players in the National League?

Posted by: Brian Gunn at November 15, 2005 03:54 PM

I'll give Eyre and Reyes getting votes a 10 on the what-the-hell meter. They release names right?

Posted by: Marc Normandin at November 15, 2005 03:58 PM

This is like when the HOF voting comes out... it's one thing to ask what's up with the few guys who don't vote for George Brett, it's another to ask about the weirdo who votes for Ron Darling.

Posted by: Adam Villani at November 15, 2005 04:13 PM

Scott Eyre? Jose Reyes? What are these people thinking? How do those two get votes, but not Aramis Ramirez? Unbelievable.

And I still cannot figure out why Jones finished second...

Posted by: dave at November 15, 2005 04:35 PM

1 person you can't blame for so many votes for
Andruw is the Braves beat writer from the Atlanta Journ-
al Constitution. His newspaper doesn't allow its writers
to vote on baseball awards. According to Gabe Lacques
in USA Today and Gordon Wittenmyer of Knight-Ridder
newspapers, the AJC's vote was farmed out to a writer
in either the Philadelphia (possibly to a national writer), or Minneapolis area.

Posted by: susan mullen at November 15, 2005 05:28 PM

"I'll give Eyre and Reyes getting votes a 10 on the what-the-hell meter."

"Scott Eyre? Jose Reyes? What are these people thinking?"

File these under "I've Got Stats, and I'm Not Afraid to Use Them". It would appear that a couple of clueless writers who could only think of nine good NL players chose to scan the NL stats for category leaders. And spotting that Reyes was tops in SBs and Eyre was tops in holds, they had their 10th guy.

Posted by: BosoxBob at November 15, 2005 06:23 PM

morgan ensberg got the nod over lance berkman because morgan held the team together for the 2 1/2 months that berkman was gone or not hitting

Posted by: lisa gray at November 15, 2005 10:47 PM

That vote went to ESPN's Jayson Stark.

Posted by: Tom at November 15, 2005 11:09 PM

I think Bosox Bob is our winner in the "guess the voters' rationale" contest. That sounds very feasible. Can you believe it---- a guy got an MVP vote because he was tops in HOLDS?!?!?!

Posted by: Adam Villani at November 15, 2005 11:21 PM

Roger Clemens - 22nd most valuable player in the league. Right.

Jimmy Rollins - 2 voters thought he was 4th most valuable player. He was possibly the 4th most valuable Phillie!

Posted by: cone at November 16, 2005 10:51 AM

Morgan was MVP because the Astros wouldn't have won if Berkman were hitting and Morgan were out, as evidenced by the WS, in which Morgan replaced himself with Sean Bergman.

Posted by: Benton at November 16, 2005 11:41 AM

Does anyone know how the votes broke out by voter? After the NL Cy Young came out it was reported in Miami that the Eastern Division voters all voted for Willis (sans Atlanta, since they didn't have a vote) and all the Central voters picked Carpenter.

If that happened again (voting along divisional lines), I could see how Lee got the short end of things.

Posted by: Mike H at November 16, 2005 12:54 PM

I was extremely disappointed with the voting this year. Derrek Lee had better offensive numbers than either Pujols or Jones. Hell, Jones only hit .263 this year. Not only that, but Lee had the highest VORP in the major leagues, and also bested the other two candidates in a stat I created that measures VORP adjusted for percentage of the team's payroll (meaning Lee left more money on the table for the Cubs to acquire other valuable players - which they did not). If the writers aren't going to equate "value" with being the best player, maybe they can use the other meaning of the word and equate it with relative cost.

No matter which way you slice it, D. Lee had the best offensive year AND won the Gold Glove. That's my MVP.

Posted by: The good DJ at November 16, 2005 01:05 PM