I don't like the Yankees one bit. I don't like the sports media's facination with all things New York and New York fans' bluster about how great they think they are. Derek Jeter? Often overrated, regularly overhyped, and he's not the highlight-reel-film version of Captain American.

However, I firmly believe that he was the best player in the American League last season. His fielding's been decent, he hit, he hit for average, he anchored his aging team as his team went through a rash of injuries to its stars, and (to give him his due) he continues to handle the NYC pressures unrealistic and silly and real. His sabermetric numbers and raw "counting" numbers also seem to reflect the greatness of his 2006 season.

Jeter was in good company this year, but he should have won it in my opinion. And, even not winning it, he certainly wasn't SIXTH!

I wonder if the relatively known, but often hidden distaste for A-Rod and some sort of simmering anti-NYC backlash struck him. Too bad, because as someone who doesn't like his team and who doesn't think that he always deserves all of the credit that he gets...I can say that I honestly believe that Derek Jeter was the best player in the American League in 2006 and that he was hosed.

Take away his vote. Simple as that.

You cannot start out by defining your criterion as "take the guy away and what does the team do?" and vote two players from the same team first and third. It renders completely null either his explanation or his ability to form logical thought. And either way, someone who either lies about his reasoning or cannot reason is not someone who should be voting.

Of course, that would disqualify most of the BBWAA, which somehow seems to create better and better reasons for such a fate with each passing year.

no way jeter is 6th, but at one point the loud guy is yelling so much he can't even talk. they should have gone down each player and just let the guy say why they were better than jeter. the yelling was stupid.

Newsday has some ballots up, per the Griddle.

Joe Cowley also had Pierzynski on his ballot. That may be more indefensible than putting Jeter 6th.

This Al MVP stuff is so illogical Berkman over Beltran pales in comparison. And I'm a Mets fan.

Pierzynski 10th is bad. Pierzynski 10th and Mauer not on your ballot is just insane.

Cowley is penalizing Jeter because he's on the best team in the league? He should have realized one of the reasons the Yankees were so good was because Jeter had a MVP season.

this guy is just indicitive of how goofy the people are who vote for these awards

Wow. Wikipedia already has recorded this idiotic moment in baseball history -- and it's C-o-w-l-e-y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cowley

Emotion is as much a part as statistics. That's what baseball is about. The computer will ruin baseball. The computer will save baseball.

You cannot separate subjective from objective, the moment from the season as a whole.
The season is so long, and the talent of major leaguers at the top levels so close, that it's the moments that make one player stand out from another, the special times when the heart takes over, not Bill James.

Howard and Jeter and Morneau and Mo Vaughn and Dawson and Pendelton and G. Bell and Dale Murphy prove that to be true.

Anti NY bias? Hell yeah. How much value can one individual have when there's a line-up worth all that value around him?

Congrats Howard and Morneau. Now let's move on.

Forget taking away his vote. Let's remember that this guy gets paid to watch and know about baseball. Considering his MVP ballot, it's clear he's terrible at job. So I say, take away his job. Jeter sixth and Pierzynski anywhere on an MVP ballot shows a disregard for the sport, plain and simple.

Morneau made less than $400,000. Jeter made $20.6 million. I'll take Morneau and the extra $20.2 million ANY DAY.

Crowley is a complete fool. He had Dye, Santana, Thomas and Ortiz over Jeter. I can understand voting Morneau first, I disagree, but I understand it. But Jeter 6th and Pierzynski 10th with NO Mauer is the most ridiculous thing ever.

Jim, the MVP race has ZERO to do with money. That is just plain stupid. If you want to have a discussion about building a team then we can have a discusion, but this is not the time or the place.

Also, the reason that "the loud guy" was yelling - his name is not "Mad Dog" for nothing - is because Crowley's kept contradicting himself.

Today's apples and oranges comparison has been brought to you courtesy of Jim Evans!

The reason for the salary differential is Jeter's 10 years of 1st ballot HOF type production vs. Morneau's 1.

"Also, the reason that "the loud guy" was yelling - his name is not "Mad Dog" for nothing - is because Crowley's kept contradicting himself."
True. but Russo calling ANYONE out re contradiction of general lack of knowledge is amusing. Fat Frannie, aka Parcells lil girl, is 99% of the sports brain on the show. Mad Dog is a poor man's Sideshow Bob. So what does that make Crowley?

contradiction or

Cowley trying to explain his vote [link]:

"I look at two things unless the numbers are just so freaky," said Cowley. "One, the player has to play on a contending team, and two, is this the guy who single-handedly carried his team?

"I look at all the numbers and what I see first hand. Morneau is the heart of that team and had a lot of clutch hits. Take him out of the lineup and that team is in the middle of the pack.

"Derek Jeter had nice numbers, but you could plug another guy in that lineup and that guy would have close to his numbers."

That's fucking insane. I guess, yeah, you could plug Mannny Ramirez in at short and get those numbers...what an idiot. you could make the argument that with another shortstop, the Yankees still win the division, but to argue that Jeter is merely a product of his environment and Alex Gonzales would hit .343 is absurd.

Cowley's already had his vote yanked in the past. time to make that permanent.

Given the tone of the responses, I want to offer two words in defense of Jim Evan's thought that the monetary cost of a player has something to do with his overall value to the team: why not?

I personally would not use that criterium, but it certainly isn't stupid. What I don't understand is the idea that because there is a reason for the salary differential, that it isn't important. There may be a reason a 28 year-old player has better production than a 38 year-old player, but that doesn't make the younger player's contribution any less the better.

If you take salary into consideration for MVP, then no FA-eligible player is going to win.

The reason salary doesn't matter is that it is hypothetical to say what else would have been done with it. If you're going to hypothesize what could have happened in sports then why not make liriano cy young, he was the best pitcher in the league while he was healthy, if he had been healthy he could've won the cy young...if jeter cost the same as morneau, you may have got value with the extra money but you may not have, so you can't count that in morneau's favor