Joe Mauer missed the beginning of the season and most baseball experts think the Twins will just miss the playoffs this season. Those are basically the only 2 reasons that people have argued Joe Mauer doesn’t deserve the MVP this season. They are both foolish. First of all, the other candidate often mentioned is Derek Jeter. Jeter and the Yankees will be going to the playoffs this season, but I’m not convinced Jeter is even the MVP of his team. Certainly Mark Teixeira would get some votes in that category.

Despite missing a month of the season, Mauer has caught up to and passed Jeter in the major counting categories (HR, RBI, R) while dominating the average categories (Avg, Slg). Mauer has been better at every aspect of the offensive game. On defense, Jeter is having one of his best seasons at shortstop yet and seems to have improved on his range factor, something critics have always pointed to when claiming Jeter was an overrated fielder. Mauer, on the other hand, is a catcher. He’s not just a catcher, he’s one of the best catchers in the game. Catcher is the only fielding position with more importance than shortstop. So Jeter gains on his teammate Teixeira (first basemen get few “bonus points” because even a sloth like David Ortiz can play some first base when needed and it’s basically a position teams have their slowest and worst fielder play), but he loses ground to Mauer. In terms of playing above replacement value, nobody comes close to Mauer. There are a dozen guys in baseball who could replace Jeter and play at 85% of his level; you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in baseball who could even play at 60% of Mauer’s level.

One of the main arguments for Jeter — that he’s on a team going to the playoffs, should be used as an argument against him. Jeter is surrounded by the best lineup in baseball. He’s got guys on the bottom of the lineup getting on base in front of him and sluggers batting after him to drive him in and also to make sure he gets a lot of good pitches to hit. With that kind of protection it’s no wonder he does well. How would Jeter hit if he were on the Athletics with no protection and playing in a stadium that isn’t nicknamed Colorado East? Jeter plays on a home field that will set the record for home runs in the season this year, yet Mauer’s got him beat in home runs and RBI while playing home games in the pitcher-friendly Metrodome.

The MVP voting this year shouldn’t be close. Mauer may not make the playoffs, but the Twins are a respectable team that is contending for a playoff spot, so it’s not like those rare years when an MVP is reluctantly selected from a bottom-dweller (Andre Dawson on the ‘87 Cubs, A-Rod when he was with the Rangers). He has provided tremendous value to a Twins team that has otherwise been very mediocre this season.

Tags: derek jeter, joe mauer, mark teixeira, minnesota twins, mvp, new york yankees