11/22/2011 12:11:00 PM
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Verlander Returns the M.V.P. to Pitchers
Early in the last decade, when he was still an unblemished legend, Roger Clemens invited me to Houston to interview him in the trophy room of his home. The centerpiece of the display was a stone wall with his Cy Young Awards encircling the most sacred and rarest prize for a pitcher: the most valuable player.
Until Monday, no starting pitcher had won that award since Clemens in 1986. Now, the American League award belongs to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, another right-handed power pitcher, who said he grew up idolizing Clemens.
“I remember seeing that he won an M.V.P. and thinking that may never happen again, and how impressive that was,” Verlander said Monday on a conference call with reporters. “That means a lot to me, to be the successor to that.”
The idea that a pitcher could be his league’s most valuable player is nothing new. The first time the writers association selected the American League M.V.P., in 1931, they gave it to Lefty Grove, the ace of the Philadelphia Athletics.
Pitchers have won 20 times since then; the most recent before Verlander was a reliever, Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley, in 1992. Verlander said he hoped to revive the trend.
“I think this set a precedent,” Verlander said, adding later, “I’m happy the voters acknowledged that we do have a major impact in this game and we can be extremely valuable to our team and its success.”
Verlander, who won the A.L. Cy Young Award unanimously last week, led the league in victories, earned run average and strikeouts. He is the only A.L. pitcher to reach 24 wins and 250 strikeouts, with an E.R.A. of 2.40 or lower, since the advent of the designated hitter in 1973.
The last pitchers to receive M.V.P. votes were the Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez and the Phillies’ Brad Lidge in 2008. The last pitcher to come close to winning was Boston’s Pedro Martinez, who was second in 1999 after going 23-4 with a 2.07 E.R.A. and 313 strikeouts.
Martinez had the most first-place votes that year but was left off two ballots, which stretch to 10th place. Verlander appeared on 27 of 28 ballots this year; only Jim Ingraham of The News-Herald, near Cleveland, omitted him.
Ingraham told SiriusXM Radio on Monday that while he did not want to detract from Verlander’s success, “philosophically, I’m not comfortable voting for a player that plays in such a low percentage of his team’s games.”
Detroit played 128 games without Verlander, but his durability helped keep the bullpen fresh. Verlander also faced 969 hitters; Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, the runner-up, had 729 plate appearances.
Verlander collected 13 first-place votes; Ellsbury had four. Toronto’s Jose Bautista finished third (but had five first-place votes), followed by the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson (three first-place votes) and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera (two).
The Yankees’ Robinson Cano finished sixth, just ahead of Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez. The Texas Rangers’ Michael Young, who finished eighth, had the other first-place vote.
This was the first time since 2003 that at least six players received a first-place vote for M.V.P. That season 10 players got first-place votes for the A.L. honor, which fell to Alex Rodriguez of last-place Texas. In a similarly splintered field this year, Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group voted for Bautista, even though Toronto did not contend.
“He led the league in O.P.S., and I just thought he had very little help in that lineup,” Stiglich said. “He was just a strong overall candidate across the board. I don’t like going with a guy who doesn’t help his team contend seriously for the postseason, but it was kind of a process of elimination, settling on him and feeling best about going with him. I really wrestled with it.”
Advanced statistics were cloudy in this debate. The metric Wins Above Replacement, which attempts to quantify each player’s overall contribution, placed Ellsbury as the league leader — but only when calculated by FanGraphs.com. By the calculations of Baseball-Reference.com, Verlander and Bautista tied for the league lead.
This much was clear: Ellsbury led the A.L. in total bases while batting .321 with 32 homers, 119 runs scored and 39 steals. Had the Red Sox reached the playoffs, he very well could have won. But their 7-20 record in September, even as Ellsbury hit .358 for the month, likely sank his chances.
“I thought about Ellsbury; he had great numbers,” Stiglich said. “I just had a tough time going with a Boston player after the way they collapsed.”
Stiglich put Ellsbury second, as did Joe Christensen of The Minneapolis Star Tribune, who put Verlander first. Christensen emphasized Verlander’s impact on the Tigers during the majority of their season.
Before May 7, when Verlander threw a no-hitter, Detroit was 15-18. Over the next 90 games, the Tigers went 17-3 when he pitched and 33-37 when he did not. That brought them to Aug. 17 with a perilous two-game division lead, before a season-ending 30-9 sprint to run away with the division.
“I feel like it has to be a special year for a pitcher to win, and he has to really separate himself,” Christensen said. “To me, Verlander did that. I feel like he kind of put the Tigers on his shoulders. When they were treading water, it was like his start — and then four other days.”
Verlander said he did not think about winning the M.V.P. until midseason, when the buzz grew louder. At that point, he said, “I wanted it badly.”
As for the future, Verlander said, pitchers will probably be more seriously considered now that he has won. But a consensus on their value is unlikely.
“That’s what I love about this game, the debate part of it,” Verlander said. “There’s plenty of it to be had.”
Early in the last decade, when he was still an unblemished legend, Roger Clemens invited me to Houston to interview him in the trophy room of his home. The centerpiece of the display was a stone wall with his Cy Young Awards encircling the most sacred and rarest prize for a pitcher: the most valuable player.
Until Monday, no starting pitcher had won that award since Clemens in 1986. Now, the American League award belongs to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, another right-handed power pitcher, who said he grew up idolizing Clemens.“I remember seeing that he won an M.V.P. and thinking that may never happen again, and how impressive that was,” Verlander said Monday on a conference call with reporters. “That means a lot to me, to be the successor to that.”
The idea that a pitcher could be his league’s most valuable player is nothing new. The first time the writers association selected the American League M.V.P., in 1931, they gave it to Lefty Grove, the ace of the Philadelphia Athletics.
Pitchers have won 20 times since then; the most recent before Verlander was a reliever, Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley, in 1992. Verlander said he hoped to revive the trend.
“I think this set a precedent,” Verlander said, adding later, “I’m happy the voters acknowledged that we do have a major impact in this game and we can be extremely valuable to our team and its success.”
Verlander, who won the A.L. Cy Young Award unanimously last week, led the league in victories, earned run average and strikeouts. He is the only A.L. pitcher to reach 24 wins and 250 strikeouts, with an E.R.A. of 2.40 or lower, since the advent of the designated hitter in 1973.
The last pitchers to receive M.V.P. votes were the Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez and the Phillies’ Brad Lidge in 2008. The last pitcher to come close to winning was Boston’s Pedro Martinez, who was second in 1999 after going 23-4 with a 2.07 E.R.A. and 313 strikeouts.
Martinez had the most first-place votes that year but was left off two ballots, which stretch to 10th place. Verlander appeared on 27 of 28 ballots this year; only Jim Ingraham of The News-Herald, near Cleveland, omitted him.
Ingraham told SiriusXM Radio on Monday that while he did not want to detract from Verlander’s success, “philosophically, I’m not comfortable voting for a player that plays in such a low percentage of his team’s games.”
Detroit played 128 games without Verlander, but his durability helped keep the bullpen fresh. Verlander also faced 969 hitters; Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, the runner-up, had 729 plate appearances.
Verlander collected 13 first-place votes; Ellsbury had four. Toronto’s Jose Bautista finished third (but had five first-place votes), followed by the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson (three first-place votes) and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera (two).
The Yankees’ Robinson Cano finished sixth, just ahead of Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez. The Texas Rangers’ Michael Young, who finished eighth, had the other first-place vote.
This was the first time since 2003 that at least six players received a first-place vote for M.V.P. That season 10 players got first-place votes for the A.L. honor, which fell to Alex Rodriguez of last-place Texas. In a similarly splintered field this year, Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group voted for Bautista, even though Toronto did not contend.
“He led the league in O.P.S., and I just thought he had very little help in that lineup,” Stiglich said. “He was just a strong overall candidate across the board. I don’t like going with a guy who doesn’t help his team contend seriously for the postseason, but it was kind of a process of elimination, settling on him and feeling best about going with him. I really wrestled with it.”
Advanced statistics were cloudy in this debate. The metric Wins Above Replacement, which attempts to quantify each player’s overall contribution, placed Ellsbury as the league leader — but only when calculated by FanGraphs.com. By the calculations of Baseball-Reference.com, Verlander and Bautista tied for the league lead.
This much was clear: Ellsbury led the A.L. in total bases while batting .321 with 32 homers, 119 runs scored and 39 steals. Had the Red Sox reached the playoffs, he very well could have won. But their 7-20 record in September, even as Ellsbury hit .358 for the month, likely sank his chances.
“I thought about Ellsbury; he had great numbers,” Stiglich said. “I just had a tough time going with a Boston player after the way they collapsed.”
Stiglich put Ellsbury second, as did Joe Christensen of The Minneapolis Star Tribune, who put Verlander first. Christensen emphasized Verlander’s impact on the Tigers during the majority of their season.
Before May 7, when Verlander threw a no-hitter, Detroit was 15-18. Over the next 90 games, the Tigers went 17-3 when he pitched and 33-37 when he did not. That brought them to Aug. 17 with a perilous two-game division lead, before a season-ending 30-9 sprint to run away with the division.
“I feel like it has to be a special year for a pitcher to win, and he has to really separate himself,” Christensen said. “To me, Verlander did that. I feel like he kind of put the Tigers on his shoulders. When they were treading water, it was like his start — and then four other days.”
Verlander said he did not think about winning the M.V.P. until midseason, when the buzz grew louder. At that point, he said, “I wanted it badly.”
As for the future, Verlander said, pitchers will probably be more seriously considered now that he has won. But a consensus on their value is unlikely.
“That’s what I love about this game, the debate part of it,” Verlander said. “There’s plenty of it to be had.”
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