Justin Verlander Named 2011 AL MVP

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DETROIT, MI: Justin Verlander #35 of the Detroit Tigers throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers in Game Five of the American League Championship Series at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

Justin Verlander picked up 13 of 28 first-place votes, and became the first starting pitcher to win the MVP since Roger Clemens in 1986.

Nov 21, 2011 - Monday brought us the BBWAA's big reveal of the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player, and in the lead-up, there was quite the healthy debate. Among the most prominent candidates were Justin Verlander, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson and Miguel Cabrera. One could argue over the value and measurement of defense. One could argue about the value of playing for a contending team. One could argue about the value of a pitcher versus the value of a position player. This year's AL MVP race had something for everybody.

Our own Rob Neyer wrote that his MVP was Ellsbury, with Bautista getting silver and Cabrera getting bronze. However, Neyer also wrote that:

But with Pedroia and Kinsler splitting some votes and Ellsbury and Granderson splitting some votes and Adrian Gonzalez and Miguel Cabrera splitting some votes and Jose Bautista's second half, maybe this is the year a (starting) pitcher can sneak in and win for the first time since 1986.

Verlander, of course, won the Cy Young just last week, and many felt he had a compelling case for the MVP. Neyer suggested that he could pull it off. And in the end, as announced by the BBWAA, Verlander pulled it off.

The complete voting table:

Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Points
Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers	13	3	3	4	1	2		1			280
Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox	4	13	4	1	4	1				1	242
Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays	5	7	4	4	4	1	1	1	1		231
Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees	3	4	4	8	6	1	2				215
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers	2		9	5	5	2	4		1		193
Robinson Cano, New York Yankees			2	2	3	6	4	5	1	1	112
Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox			1	1	2	6	8	3	3	1	105
Michael Young, Texas Rangers	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	7	4	2	96
Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox						4	1	4	6		48
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays				2			1	2		3	27
Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers					1	2	1	1	1		25
Alex Avila, Detroit Tigers							1	1	2	2	13
Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox									5	1	11
CC Sabathia, New York Yankees						2					10
Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers								2	1	1	9
Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays					1					1	7
Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers								1	1	2	7
James Shields, Tampa Bay Rays									1	5	7
Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees							1			1	5
Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians									1	2	4
Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals										3	3
Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers										1	1
David Robertson, New York Yankees										1	1

Verlander picked up 13 of 28 first-place votes, and won even despite being left off one ballot entirely. It seems there are still voters out there - or voter - of the mind that pitchers have their own award and shouldn't be eligible for the MVP. I disagree with that stance, but I don't care enough to rip it. It has been ripped.

The worst vote voted, obviously, is the first-place vote for Michael Young. That is an inexcusable vote, and the vote that will probably end up getting the bulk of the attention in the aftermath, but ultimately it was an irrelevant vote. Justin Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts, and that won him some big awesome hardware.

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Comments

Seriously who voted Michael Young?

We need to check that writer into a clinic.

"Don't you think it's strange that you'll make more money than President Hoover this year?"
"Why not? I had a better year than he did." - G.H. Ruth

Posting pictures

by Andrew GM on Nov 21, 2011 2:41 PM EST reply actions

This guy!

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/11/justin-verlander-wins-mvp-one.html

by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 21, 2011 2:42 PM EST up reply actions

Well he’s not a homer at all. Also Bautista 7th? The hell? Kinsler and Beltre were way more valuable to the Rangers too and yet it’s Michael Young? As primarily a DH?

SO MANY QUESTIONS

"Don't you think it's strange that you'll make more money than President Hoover this year?"
"Why not? I had a better year than he did." - G.H. Ruth

Posting pictures

by Andrew GM on Nov 21, 2011 2:55 PM EST up reply actions

he should not be allowed to vote anymore

Completely serious- take away this man’s vote.

Ryan Miller was the true MVP. See my profile for rant.

by Jsz on Nov 21, 2011 3:18 PM EST up reply actions

How could Verlander be MVP when Greinke wasnt in 2009

Greinke 2009: 2.16 ERA, 2.33 FIP, 229.1 innings
League average ERA was 4.45
AL MVP 2009: Joe Mauer, .438 wOBA over ~600 PAs, average defense at catcher
League average wOBA was .329

Verlander 2011: 2.40 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 251 innings
League average ERA was 4.12
Jose Bautista, .441 wOBA over ~650 PAs, average defense at corner positions
League average wOBA was .316

Greinke in 2009 was clearly better than Verlander in 2011, and faced worse competition from postion players.

M's fan newly relocated to SF My homepage

by lailaihei on Nov 21, 2011 2:56 PM EST reply actions

See their argument would be that he obviously wasn’t that valuable because the 2009 Royals went 65-97 whereas the 2011 Tigers won the division.

(Not that I agree with this of course. I definitely get your point.)

"Don't you think it's strange that you'll make more money than President Hoover this year?"
"Why not? I had a better year than he did." - G.H. Ruth

Posting pictures

by Andrew GM on Nov 21, 2011 3:08 PM EST up reply actions

I believe it has more to with the fact Mauer was the "consensus" MVP while this year there wasn't one

Not so much to do with Grienke’s actual performance.

Ryan Miller was the true MVP. See my profile for rant.

by Jsz on Nov 21, 2011 3:17 PM EST up reply actions

Position difference

Great stats with average defense as a catcher (and you can argue he was well above-average) is significantly more meaningful than great stas with average defense in a corner. Not saying that Verlander should have won, but it’s tough to argue that Mauer didn’t deserve it over Greinke or was less valuable than Bautista was this year.

by jsantoro12 on Nov 21, 2011 3:54 PM EST up reply actions

That Young vote is disappointing on so many levels.

One of those levels is that now, Michael Young is going to be torn down by plenty of us objective analysis types, who (rightfully so), believe he doesn’t fit the title of one of the top 10 most valuable players in the AL. And that’s no fault of his own, he played well this season.

I just wish that the BBWAA had some methodology for weeding out votes like Young’s, in which a player gets a vote from a “hometown” writer that seems so jarring and undeserving. But at the same time…he got 2nd and 3rd place votes from other writers! You can’t even “prove” that the vote is an extreme outlier, because others thought he should at least be near the top of the list as well! It’s a minor aggravation in the grand scheme of things, but shouldn’t there be a better way?

Twitter: @bgrosnick
Writer at RotoHardball

by Bryan Grosnick on Nov 21, 2011 2:57 PM EST reply actions

The idiocy of the vote is self-evident

It requires no validation beyond what everyone outside of Texas knows, that Young, while certainly a good player, wasn’t MVP-caliber holding it down largely at DH and, when in the field, with subpar defense.

I am surprised that Jered Weaver wasn’t thrown a single bone.

R.I.P. Nick Adenhart - Always an Angel

by Kernel on Nov 21, 2011 3:03 PM EST up reply actions

Seriously?

How do some of these writers get votes? How could any intelligent, knowledgeable sports writer vote Ellsbury as low as 10th. How can you justify giving Michael Young a 1st place vote when he doesn’t even play defense. And seriously… David Robertson got a vote? He pitched 66 insignificant innings…

We all know that the real MVP is Bautista. Verlander had 24 wins… OK… only 4 were against teams over 500. 4… He had a AAA schedule and gets MVP for it.

by Borbes on Nov 21, 2011 3:11 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

I think a case can be made for Ellsbury and Verlander, but I would have voted for Bautista also.

But yeah, Michael Young? That vote is an insult! And you’re right, who could vote Ellsbury at 10th? And David Robertson had a great year for a middle reliever, but come on? One of the 10 most valuable players in baseball? Not even close.

"Perhaps the worst comment I've ever seen on LL." - sanford_and_son.

by Ride the Apocalypse on Nov 21, 2011 5:40 PM EST up reply actions