All is right in the world as Joe Mauer received 27 of 28 first place votes to grab his first MVP award. Mark Teixeira finished a distant second, with his teammate and inexplicable Hank Aaron Award winner Derek Jeter coming in third. Fourth place went to Miguel Cabrera, who received the only other first place vote. I think that writer may have been trying to boost Cabrera above Teixeira and Jeter, which makes some sense because Cabrera should be second (more power than Jeter with similar batting average, much higher average than Teixeira), but he did so at the expense of Mauer, who really deserved a unanimous MVP.

I’m glad now that the fan-voting debacle of the Hank Aaron Award is out of the way we’ve seen some smart choices for the other awards this season. Fan voting might be fine for the All Star Game, but when it comes time to decide who really was the best during the season the fans tend to be idiots and pick their favorite players no matter how they played. He might not get much exposure in Minnesota, but Joe Mauer was the best player in the American League this season by all statistical measurements, and he was the most valuable player to his team because he led them to the playoffs despite being the only All Star on the Twins for the entire last month of the season, during which he guided them to an improbable division championship by making up half a dozen games on the Tigers.

Tags: american league mvp, derek jeter, joe mauer, mark teixeira, miguel cabrera, mvp, mvp voting

Baseball fans proved their stupidity Sunday night as they selected Derek Jeter as the 2009 recipient of the AL Hank Aaron Award, given each season to the top hitter in each league. That’s right, baseball fans think Derek Jeter was a better hitter this season than Joe Mauer. Perhaps Bud Selig should re-think his decision to make this award based on a fan vote. Let’s take a deeper look at the numbers:

Derek Jeter had 46 extra-base hits this season, Joe Mauer had 59. Advantage: Mauer. Jeter’s BA/OBP/OPS numbers were .334/.405/.871. Not bad. Mauer’s were .365/.444/1.031. Advantage: Mauer. Mauer played in fewer games than Jeter this season, but he still put up better “counting” numbers in nearly every category. In fact, Mauer beats Jeter in every offensive category other than hits, runs, and stolen bases (which I’ll factor in, even though it’s questionable whether base stealing ability should be considered for a “best hitter” award). Jeter’s 30 stolen bases do not even come close to making up for the huge difference between his and Mauer’s other offensive numbers. Jeter has the advantage in runs scored, but he’s also a leadoff hitter for the best lineup in baseball. If he gets on base, he’s got a great contact hitter behind him to move him over and then 2 of the best sluggers in the game to drive him in. Mauer doesn’t have that going for him, but he still scores a run every 6.4 plate appearances, compared to 6.7 plate appearances for Jeter.

Will someone please attempt to make a valid argument for Jeter winning this award over Mauer? I sure hope the MVP voters aren’t as stupid as the fans, because it would be a shame if Joe Mauer’s amazing season gets overlooked because Derek Jeter didn’t suck as much as some expected this season.

Tags: derek jeter, hank aaron award, joe mauer, mvp