2011 Cubs

[Dan Michler]

Went to my car at lunch today to listen to the Epstein press conference.  He talks a good game!  I've got to admit, the guy got me pumped up for Cubs baseball, and we just lost 90 games!  Big kudos to Tom Ricketts.  Going out and prying Theo from the Sox was a ballsy move.  He's got to be feeling proud of himself today.

My gut feeling after listening to his speech was that the bulk of our resources will go towards overhauling the scouting and player development system from top to bottom this offseason, and not toward any high-priced free agents.  Don't be surprised if the Cubs are not in the Fielder or Pujols sweepstakes.

He also seemed really hesitant when asked about Quade.  He said he needs to sit down with Quade and talk about the details of what happened over the past year and get a feel for his vision of the future.  I'm feeling like a change at manager is definitely being considered.  However, they'd have to pay Quade to not manage next season, which could factor into the equation.

[pdga#7648]

Looks like the Cardinals had some of Cubs luck today. Take away 20 wins from an 86 win team and it's not looking good. Cubs add Pujols in 2012 and it's really starting to look brutal. Maybe Ken Williams needs to shut his pie hole because Pujols stock just went up if Wainwright needs Tommy John surgery. Hopefully Carpenter goes down and the Cardinals can feel Cubs fans pain from Wood/Prior. Welcome to our world Cardinals. It's starting to crumble all around you.

how about add 4 wins to that 86 of last year, and winning the World Series!  never doubt the Great Carinals in St. Louis Brett!

and only thing crumbling is the Cubs stadium.

[Dan Michler]

I don't get having Verlander win the MVP.  Thats why there is a Cy Young award.  Pitchers should not be eligible for MVP.  Their role is too drastically different from that of an everyday position player.

[pdga#7648]

it had not happened since 1986. Verlander deserved it. Take him away, and Detroit doesn't make the playoffs. Take Bautista away from Toronto, and yep, they still miss the playoffs.

Verlanders numbers speak for themselves. Those are better or as good as Clemens when he won it in 86.  Bob Gibson like numbers. Hardly ever seen anymore.

[Dan Michler]

it had not happened since 1986. Verlander deserved it. Take him away, and Detroit doesn't make the playoffs. Take Bautista away from Toronto, and yep, they still miss the playoffs.

Verlanders numbers speak for themselves. Those are better or as good as Clemens when he won it in 86.  Bob Gibson like numbers. Hardly ever seen anymore.

Yeah, Doug, and if you put Verlander on Toronto and take away Bautista, guess what?  Toronto doesn't make the playoffs!  So explain to me again how you just proved that Verlander is more valuable than Bautista?

I'm not arguing that Verlander didn't have one of the greatest seasons by a starting pitcher of alltime.  He did.  I'm saying no pitcher should ever win the MVP award.  The Cy Young award is essentially the same award, but for pitchers.  The MVP award should be for everybody else.  That is my opinion.

Trying to guess at how many wins Verlander is worth and how many wins Bautista/Ellsbury are worth is a stupid argument.  I'd much rather compare hitters versus other hitters.  I feel that Bautista was the best hitter in the AL this year by far.  Ellsbury had a great year too, but it didn't compare to the year Bautista put up.  Both guys play in hitters parks and are in the same division, so I'll take that out of the equation.  Ellsbury certainly had an advantage with the best lineup in baseball around him, which helped him put up some gawdy RBI and Runs scored totals.  However, Bautista had a slugging% 56 points higher than Ellsbury and an OnBase% 71 points higher!!  Bautista hit 43 jacks to Ellsbury's 32.  This shouldn't have been close between Bautista and Ellsbury.  This just proves that it pays to play all your games on national TV in Boston instead of being stuck up in Canada.  If Bautista played in Boston he would have finished ahead of Ellsbury in the voting, no question.

[Dan Michler]

By the way Doug, if you are going to bring up trancendent seasons by pitchers, you should be talking about Pedro Martinez 1999 and 2000.  Those are the 2 best seasons by a pitcher, ever (and he didn't win the MVP either year, which shows how stupid this voting process is).

1999   2.07 ERA  23-4   313 K  0.923 WHIP
2000   1.74 ERA  18-6   284 K  0.737 WHIP (0.737 is just incomprehendable)

Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA isn't what you think.  Hitting that year bottomed out with the huge strike zone, higher mound, and dead ball.  Pitchers all over the league were setting marks.  Denny McClain won 31 games.  Luis Tiant led the AL with a 1.60.  The leagues collective batting average of .231 is the alltime lowest.  It was a great year by Gibson, but you have to put it in perspective.

Pedro put up those 2 seasons in the middle of the juiced ball, steroid era, in a hitters park when guys were hitting 60HR.  Offense was booming.

Look at those 2 seasons and then look again at Verlander's 24-5  2.40 ERA  250 K  0.920 WHIP, and consider Verlander pitches in one of the best pitchers parks in baseball in a division with the White Sox, Royals, Twins, and Indians, who ranked 6th, 9th, 12th and 13th out of 14 teams in the AL.  And Clemen's '86 season wasn't even close to being his best season (although it was his only MVP) at 24-4  2.48 ERA  238 K  0.969 WHIP.

Why they occasionaly decide to give the MVP to a pitcher is beyond me.  And don't even get me started on Eckersley winning in 1992 when he pitched a grand total of 80 damn innings.  C'mon MAN!  Awards voting is incredibly flawed and they need to simplify the process by taking pitchers completely out of the equation for MVP voting.  They messed it up this year again.

[pdga#7648]

I guess this is why we all have our own opinions.  yea we could argue back and forth all day, but who is really right?

[Dan Michler]

I guess this is why we all have our own opinions.  yea we could argue back and forth all day, but who is really right?

So far, its been me.

[pdga#7648]

so far??  you mean always? 

[stpitner]

Eckersley did it in 1992 as a relief pitcher.  That to me is crazier than Verlander.  The last starting pitcher to do it was in 1986.

If you're going to call it the MVP, then I say it has to include all players and doesn't matter if it's pitcher or position player.

Since you have a pitching award called the Cy Young, why not have a position player award called something like the Mickey Mantle award or the Willie Mays award?  Or rename the MVP to that so that it gets more defined to be position players only.

[Dan Michler]

Predictably, Ryan Braun is the NL MVP.  This was a 2 horse race with Kemp, although I don't get why Verlander should be the AL MVP but Kershaw isn't even remotely considered after winning the Triple Crown in the NL.

Anyways here is Kemp versus Braun
Kemp  .586 slug  .399 OB   .324 BA  39 HR  40 for 51 in SB.
Braun  .597 slug  .397 OB   .332 BA  33 HR  33 for 39 in SB.

Very close race statistically.  Neither is great defensively.  Braun wins easily because he had the good fortune of playing for a team that went to the playoffs.  Something tells me he won't be quite so valuable without Prince hitting behind him.  The fact that Kemp plays in one of the better pitchers parks in baseball at Dodger Stadium while Braun plays in a bigtime hitters park in Miller Park makes me think Kemp was the better player in 2011.  I would have voted Kemp, but its not a travesty that Braun won.  This is very similar to the Pujols versus Votto debate in 2010, where Votto won in a landslide because Cincy won the division.

I read Bautista was as low as 9th and outside the top 5 on numerous AL voter's ballots.  They need to seriously reconsider who votes for these things.  My Mom could do a better job of identifying the MVP than half of these writers.