MVP

So Chopper asked me to "crunch some numbers" to determine why Jimmy Rollins was voted NL MVP. Unfortunately, I have a very rudimentary understanding of the Maths, so I will use what the fine folks at MLB.com have to say. Before I begin, lets first say that the voting by the MLB Writers Association happens at the end of the season, just before the playoffs start. So although helping the team into the playoffs is a plus, playoff performance does not matter.

The winner, Rollins, shortstop for Philadelphia. His team was right in the playoff hunt at the end of the season, and probably would not have made it had the Mets not choked on their own hubris. Have you ever actually met a Mets fan? Anyway, apparently Rollins for the first time in his career had 200 hits. Alone, not deserving of the award, but interesting nonetheless. As a result of that, and the fact that he hit 30(?....juice) homers gives him some decent offensive numbers from the leadoff hole in the line up. From that leadoff spot, Rollins scored 139 runs which was good enough for 1st in the league. All of this is pretty impressive, if you ask me. OBP: .344, SLG: .344, OPS(on base plus slugging): .875. Toss in a 87% stolen base mark, and that is a solid hitter.

Second place, Holliday, outfielder for Colorado. The Cinderella story of ought 7. Swept the Phillies out and that was the last anyone heard of Jimmy Rollins. Holliday is your prototypical corner outfielder in my opinion. The guy who everyone wants in left. 4th in the league in homers(36), 1st in RBI(137), and 3rd in SLG(.607). Hands down the best hitter on the Rockies, and throw in the old OPS over 1 and you have near perfection. I dont really like batting average, but he easily won that one as well, hitting .340. If anyone should have won, it was this guy. Arguably the NL's best pure hitter in 07.

Third place, Fielder, 1st base for the hometown team. I dont need to regale you with any of his gorilla like numbers.....Suffice to say that he raked all season. If it was not for Ned Yost choking on his own bucket of Hubris, Prince probably would have won in a landslide.

In my humble opinion, it comes down to a couple of things. When was the last time a non-playoff player was the MVP? How much did the player help his team get to the post season? And what did the players do over the course of the 162 game grind? Unfortunately, I am not a baseball writer. All three of those questions dont mean shit. I think that it is East Coast, ESPN-talking head bias. Even taking Fielder out of the equation, why would you vote for Rollins? Because he looks all child-like and innocent in his over sized cap? Because he helped his team take advantage of a colossal melt down of the real class of the NL East? Or maybe it was because you didnt think that the Rockies deserved to be there in the first place. All in all, Im not angry...Fielder will get his, and probably more than one. Rollins will come back next year with that killer of baseball players, Hubris. And Holliday will probably be traded.

UPDATE: FJM as always, does a much better job than I.