Comments on: Ryan Braun is your 2011 NL MVP

By: hushbrother

hushbrother — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:37:38 +0000

Correction, it was ’47 when the writer left Williams off the ballot, not ’49. Teddy did win the MVP in ’49.

By: bklynbaseball

bklynbaseball — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:50:09 +0000

Do you mean Tim Kurkjian??

By: chevybob

chevybob — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:27:02 +0000

I see people say Braun missed a bunch of games. What was the Brewers record in the games he missed? That should tell you how valuable Braun was to the Brewers. I’m not much with computers or research so I’ll leave it to the baseball geeks.

By: hushbrother

hushbrother — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:42:58 +0000

It was 1949 when the Boston writer left Teddy off his ballot, not 1941. This did allow DiMaggio to win the MVP, but on the other hand, three writers actually left DiMaggio off of their ballots. Ted wasn’t left off any ballots after hitting .406; any writer who did that would have been tarred and feathered.

1942 was when Ted really got screwed. He won the Triple Crown but lost the MVP to Joe Gordon. Difference in WAR: Ted 11.0, Gordon 8.4. Now THERE was a case of voters giving it to the guy with better teammates.

By: jason9696

jason9696 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:06:20 +0000

We’ll see how well Jerry Seinfeld does for the Brewers next year when Prince Fielder isn’t around.

By: jason9696

jason9696 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:55:49 +0000

I thought the MVP was supposed to be for the BEST player in the league not the best player on a good team? They royally fvcked up both MVP’s this year.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:57:27 +0000

“Handbook…is that short for “Handjob-inducing stat book for stat geeks’?”

Yes, actually. Bill James is best known for inducing handjobs. I’m shocked he wasn’t “Sexiest Man Alive” this year, but it’s all politics really…ya know?

By: adirtyplayernamedsue

adirtyplayernamedsue — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:54:03 +0000

Congratulations Ryan Braun. You truly deserve this. Nice to see a player who is about more than “getting paid”. Braun took less money to play the game he loves, and give his team the opportunity to sign other quality players. Hats off to a great baseball player, and person.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:47:05 +0000

Good to know that you still live with your mom (as I suspected all along). Bonus points for correctly knowing what the title of the Bill James publication was. Handbook…is that short for “Handjob-inducing stat book for stat geeks’?

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:44:36 +0000

Actually, someone CAN be that stupid. You are living proof of that. I see how you found that stat that you pulled out of your ass…your head was in there and you could see it clear as day.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:42:44 +0000

If the insult is stupid, then it fits you to a T.

By: purnellmeagrejr

purnellmeagrejr — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:41:59 +0000

enjoyed Craig’s low key approach – have to agree with him.

By: bballerjones

bballerjones — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:41:35 +0000

Braun may have the MVP trophy but Kemp has the BENJAMINS!!!!

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:35:35 +0000

“(Joe) DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. His career cannot be summed up in numbers and awards. It might sound corny, but he had a profound and lasting impact on the country.”

Where are the folks above talking about defense when people question joe D?

By: thekcubrats

thekcubrats — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:29:51 +0000

not just that, or even that, it’s a shot at the guy who voted for Michael Young for AL MVP, bullseye; I’m also curious how preseason tantrums count as “leadership” but not so much that I want the likes of him to try to edify me… the specific density around here, particularly around this topic, is a thing of wonder

By: marko61

marko61 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:51:08 +0000

I would agree with falcon. Braun has had very good/great years every year he has been in the league while Kemp has had probably two such years. Still, Kemp may have a higher ceiling based on this year’s accomplishment. We shall see. Both are great players/persons and are actually good friends as well.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:41:04 +0000

Why the shot at Michael Young in a NL MVP article? What’s the point?

It’s called a joke, and one he stole from either The Common Man or Bill @ The Platoon Advantage who mentioned it on twitter earlier.

or in other words, lighten up francis…

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:15:20 +0000

“falcon is left sitting in his mom’s basement poring over the latest copy of Bill James’s Sabermetrics Spectacular,”

My mom doesn’t even have a basement. I’m sitting in her living room, moron.

And it’s the Bill James Handbook, thank you very much.

By: kehnn

kehnn — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:11:47 +0000

I wasn’t saying it was right. I don’t think pitchers should be mvp. The Hank Aaron award is pretty much an unknown award and pitchers have the Cy. I just think that people who lean toward voting for a pitcher for mvp tend to vote that way only when the players is far and away the best pitcher in the league, like Verlander was.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:10:25 +0000

Yes, but you’re tie breaker is ridiculous. Hence, my Ichiro example.

See, if I say my tiebreaker is the number of 9th inning game winning doubles in the month of August, that doesn’t mean my statistic that I pulled out of my ass is anything other than worthless. Can you pull up a number of examples that put your stat to the test to confirm the hypothesis that % of “runs produced” correlates with value? You see, when Bill James made runs created, he tested his formula with various teams and discovered punching in those fancy and scary number did correlate to the numbers of runs scored.

Math and science is your friend! But throwing out a hypothesis without testing it is just pulling stuff out of your ass. See, I have hypothesis that your are in fact a genius, but just really bored, so you entertain yourself by playing a complete f**king moron on the internet…because seriously, no one can actually be this stupid.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:04:08 +0000

You missed my point. I wasn’t saying I didn’t get the insult, I’m saying that the insult was really, really stupid.

By: franklapidus316

franklapidus316 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:17:39 +0000

OK, facts matter, the last WS MVP from a losing team was in 1960.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:15:20 +0000

Be careful, dasher. How dare you offend the all-knowing “falcon”. Of course, once we get out of the Internet version of The Wizard of Oz, falcon is left sitting in his mom’s basement poring over the latest copy of Bill James’s Sabermetrics Spectacular, while the rest of us live normal lives. How dare someone who leads the league in driving in runs even think that he is a worthy MVP? Because as everyone knows, hits are much more important than runs in baseball.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:09:10 +0000

My “runs responsible” award is only to be utilized as a tie-breaker of sorts, not as the be-all, end-all decider, idiot. Hence, Ichiro isn’t even in the convo due to all the other stats you posted. You bringing him into the convo is what is moronic.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:07:04 +0000

Seriously, get over yourself. The Cry Young joke was in reference to all of your whining about Verlander winning the MVP as a pitcher (like he was supposed to be satisfied with the Cy Young). Try keeping up, stat geek.

By: cowhawkfan

cowhawkfan — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:03:15 +0000

Craig,

Why the shot at Michael Young in a NL MVP article? What’s the point? You’ve made it obvously, you don’t like Young, but the extra shot in this article is juvenile to say the least. As a Texas fan, I love Michael Young. I believe he was every bit as much of an MVP for Texas as Verlander was for Detroit. How much of an MVP could Verlander have been if his teammate, Cabrera, was also as close as he was to being the MVP. Texas had no one else even close. With Kinsler, Beltre, Hamilton, and Cruz on the DL so much this season, I don’t believe Texas even makes the play-offs without Michael Young’s bat and leadership. Yes, I realize you question his leadership and his glove has been suspect, but Young should have been at least Top 5 after a great year at the plate and keeping his team alive while his teammates were on the DL.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:58:49 +0000

The know-it-all regulars here would probably love that, philliesblow.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:44:47 +0000

I’ll take it with a mountain. You really want to compare Braun and Kemp with Ellsbury and Bautista? Granderson would have made the NL a three-player race, and he pretty clearly fell behind the pack in the AL.

By: tjammin

tjammin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:36:56 +0000

Clearly,
x = {q + [q2 + (r-p2)3]1/2}1/3 + {q – [q2 + (r-p2)3]1/2}1/3 + p
where, p = -b/(3a), q = p3 + (bc-3ad)/(6a2), r = c/(3a)
But since this could be expanded to 2(cos(ax−bx)−cos(ax+bx))−k2(cos(ax+bx)+cos(ax−bx))=−1
Which can be simplified to:
(1−k)cos(ax−bx)−(1+k)cos(ax+bx)=−2
therefore clearly Kemp is WAY better than Braun, therefore should have been the MVP no question.

By: thewo2

thewo2 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:36:26 +0000

Kemp was not hype. He plays in a pitchers ballpark. His offensive numbers would have be untouchable by Braun in similar ball parks. His range on defense is unmatched. Listen to Tim Kershin of ESPN and he said that Kemp was the best player but his vote went to Braun because of team standings.