per rotoworld, Dye finished 5th in the MVP race.

 

Justin Morneau was named AL MVP on Tuesday after receiving 15 of the 28 first-place votes.

 

Ridiculous. Derek Jeter came in second with 12 first-place votes and 306 points. Even though Morneau was, in reality, the third most valuable player on his team, he ranked in the top four on all 28 ballots cast by the writers, giving him 320 points. In third place was David Ortiz, who received 193 points. The rest of the top 10 included Frank Thomas (174), Jermaine Dye (156), Joe Mauer (116), Johan Santana (114), Travis Hafner (64), Vladimir Guerrero (46) and Carlos Guillen (34). Santana received the lone first-place vote not going to Morneau or Jeter, but seven voters left him off the ballot entirely. Morneau wins despite leading the league in no significant categories. He finished eighth in OPS and 10th once OPS is adjusted for ballpark, and since he did that as an average defensive first baseman with little value on the basepaths, he qualifies as perhaps the weakest MVP in decades.

My (fictional) Ballot went something like this.

 

Jeter

Mauer

Dye (homer vote)

Ortiz

Santana

Guillen

Hafner

Morneau

Sizemore

Verlander (I just wanted to leave the AL West off my list)

Edited November 21, 200619 yr by Gene Honda Civic

Remember that stretch when the Twins won 21 out of 23? You know, the stretch that prettty much put the Twins in the playoffs? Morneau had 11 HR and 33 RBI in those 23 games.

 

A .320 average with 130 RBI ain't too shabby in the big picture.

 

Santana and Liriano were crucial, but the big man was lurking in the background. He was at the forefront of the MVP discussion since June, and his overall numbers look pretty damn good to me. Perhaps there were others that are more deserving (as Cheat points out), but who cares. He's MVP caliber in my book, and he's only gonna get better. This ain't no great injustice. The weakest MVP in decades? Please. You can not deny that Morneau is awesome.

Edited November 21, 200619 yr by hammerhead johnson

Jeter's one of my favorite players in baseball but Justin Morneau deserved the MVP. When the Twins made their run, he was providing the O while Santana and Liriano shut the other team down. I hate the Twins but gotta give credit where it's due.

The voters are completely out of whack this year. Howard over Pujols and now Morneau over Jeter.

 

Winshares

Jeter - 33

Morneau - 27

 

VORP

Jeter - 80.5

Morneau - 52.0

 

Morneau should have been behind Mauer and Santana. Surprised to see Hafner and Thomas and no Thome.

Why didn't Michael Jordan win the MVP award every year? What were his winshares and VORP?

 

What are you guys arguing about, exactly?

 

Give it a rest. It's meaningless.

Why didn't Michael Jordan win the MVP award every year? What were his winshares and VORP?

 

What are you guys arguing about, exactly?

 

Give it a rest. It's meaningless.

 

No arguing here. The MVP should go to the best player, and Morneau was not even the best player on his team.

 

At least AJ got a vote!

At least AJ got a vote!

 

Word, AJ got a vote.

I love AJ Pierzynski. I think he's the heart and soul of this team. At least, he'll always be the first position player I think of when I think of 2005 and beyond.

all i know is I never felt safe when Morneau came to bat against us last season.

I love AJ Pierzynski. I think he's the heart and soul of this team. At least, he'll always be the first position player I think of when I think of 2005 and beyond.

 

No way I could think of just one. Just couldn't do it.

 

When I think of 2005, I don't think of any particular person; I think of the team.

 

 

 

(it's homerish, but it's true...atleast as far as I'm concerned)

Edited November 22, 200619 yr by witesoxfan

When I think of 2005 I think of the pitching staff, the starting pitching staff, first and foremost, and then I think of Pierzynski as far as position players go.

I dont really care what the "winshares" say.... Morneau had better stats and in everyway deserved the MVP over Jeter.... My Personnel order

 

 

Justin Morneau

Jermaine Dye

Derek Jeter

Big Papi

Frank Thomas

I think of Bobby. He came out of nowhere to finish so many huge games for us. Maybe it's just seeing him on the mound at the end of the game, but he really pops into my head when reminiscing of 2005.

To me when remembering the 05 season: In no order, Crede, The Big 4 CG's, Uribe, Pods, PK. How great it was...

Bulls***.

 

 

wite = pwn3d

Ballots....

 

Joe Cowley put AJ 10th, and failed to include Mauer.

 

I think there is a bit of collusion going on here. How did so many writers, including the Twins writers, come up with Morneau as the top choice when his numbers are strikingly similar to Konkero's.

Ballots....

 

Joe Cowley put AJ 10th, and failed to include Mauer.

 

I think there is a bit of collusion going on here. How did so many writers, including the Twins writers, come up with Morneau as the top choice when his numbers are strikingly similar to Konkero's.

Nice. Now we know which clown had JD 9th.

 

DETROIT

Danny Knobler, Booth Newspapers

1. Morneau

2. Thomas

3. Mauer

4. Jeter

5. Ortiz

6. Giambi

7. Santana

8. Guillen

9. Dye

10. Sizemore

Edited November 22, 200619 yr by WHarris1

Ballots....

 

Joe Cowley put AJ 10th, and failed to include Mauer.

 

I think there is a bit of collusion going on here. How did so many writers, including the Twins writers, come up with Morneau as the top choice when his numbers are strikingly similar to Konkero's.

/adjusts tinfoil hat

 

I believe Cowley, without question, knew how other writers were voting. Detroit's John Lowe may have been collaborating with him as well.

 

Isn't it rather suspicious Joe places Jeter in 6th place -- two places below John Lowe's vote -- and the total points seperating the two top candidates is fourteen? There appears to be far less variability among Jeter than Morneau. It's as if both writers knew beforehand what was necessary to hold Jeter from obtaining his award.

 

Now, If someone could figure out exactly how many points correspond to each position, then we'll know whether one slot higher for both Lowe and Cowley would have made a difference.

Edited November 22, 200619 yr by Flash Tizzle

It's 14 for first, 9 for second, and one fewer for each spot lower...

 

I don't think it's that complicated. I just struggle to see how 28 writers only came up with 3 different first place choices, and only two hitters. It seems to me that they probably talked it over with each other first.

 

We did voting in through the blog network, and I just assumed since many of the blogs aren't stat heavy at all that I'd see Jeter and Morneau top the list. (I voted Jeter first, Mauer second) I was shocked when Joe Mauer was named the SBN winner when our voting was conducted. There was no discussion between our group, and somehow Morneau wasn't given a single first place ballot.

 

8 different players got first place votes, and we only had 18 voters. The top spot was not nearly as cut and dry as the official voting made it seem. There had to be some kind of behind the scenes discussion before the ballots were due.

Edited November 22, 200619 yr by Gene Honda Civic

You guys are kidding right? An AL MVP ballot box stuffing conspiracy?

 

Okay then.

You guys are kidding right? An AL MVP ballot box stuffing conspiracy?

 

Okay then.

Let's try it here. Sealed ballots between 28 posters. No way there are only 3 guys who get first place votes.

 

There was collusion. I'm not claiming conspiracy. I'm claiming that many discussed who they were voting for.

 

What else is there to do, day in, day out, during a KC-Tor game in early September, aside from write the game story (which takes all of 25 minutes, tops)?

 

There's no other explanation. Thomas appears second on both Oakland ballots. Why second? Why not first?

Discussion among sportswriters happens. But collusion in something as unimportant as this? It doesn't seem to be worth the effort to me. Maybe Morneau gets a bonus that he promised to share with the voters. Follow the money! That must be it.

Collusion probably isn't the right word, but my vocabulary isn't deep enough to come up with the correct term right now.

 

There was discussion, and somehow Morneau emerged from the primary as the democratic candidate for '06 MVP. Jeter, it was decided, would represent the republicans. Santana, the oddball, was the green party's representative.

 

The voting should have looked much more like a presedential race without primaries. Lots of differing top horses. There was legitimate arguments for numerous candidates, yet 2 dominated the list. I'm quite interested in why this happened.

Collusion probably isn't the right word, but my vocabulary isn't deep enough to come up with the correct term right now.

 

There was discussion, and somehow Morneau emerged from the primary as the democratic candidate for '06 MVP. Jeter, it was decided, would represent the republicans. Santana, the oddball, was the green party's representative.

 

The voting should have looked much more like a presedential race without primaries. Lots of differing top horses. There was legitimate arguments for numerous candidates, yet 2 dominated the list. I'm quite interested in why this happened.

 

I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.