Simon:
Sky Kalkman, now of SB Nation saber site Beyond the Boxscore, throws cold water on the whole "Carlos Delgado for MVP" bandwagon. Sky points out what everyone already knew: based on season-long stats, Delgado has no business even being mentioned in the MVP conversation. His cumulative stats are not impressive, and even his second-half stats pale in comparison to those of Albert Pujols, who has quietly hit .362/.467/.655 this year while providing better defense and baserunning than Delgado.
I completely agree that there's no real argument for Delgado being the best player in the National League, but I've also been paying enough attention to the MVP award process to know that's hardly a disqualifier. The year that Shannon Stewart was traded to the Twins from the Blue Jays midseason, and then (not thus) the Twins went on a ridiculous run to the playoffs, Jayson Stark opined that he deserved consideration. If he did, then after the second half he's put up (.295/.387/.628), Carlos Delgado should too.
Sure, in principle it would be nice to see the MVP award get awarded a bit more regularly to the actual best performance over a season. It's downright stupid that players on non-playoff or (gasp) sub .500 teams are disqualified just because their teammates happen to suck. But why return to sanity now, when the potential beneficiary of the stupid system is a Met?
Plus, despite my earlier, horribly wrong, assessment that his career was overcooked, I like the guy personally for some reason.
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2 comments:
Thanks for the link.
Even if you only consider players on playoff teams for the MVP, there are many better options than Delgado. On the Mets, there are at least three in Beltran, Wright, and Reyes.
In the comments at Beyond the Boxscore, I run through how much Beltran and Delgado have meant to the Mets (using WPA, which takes into account clutch performance, position, and fielding):
Beltran +7 wins; Delgado +2.5 wins.
Yes, but does your WPA take into account drama? Because you know the MVP voters will.
I kid of course. I'd also be happy to see Wright or Beltran get it, but that's just it: they don't qualify as unqualified candidates. I can't even come up with a topical reference that adequately expresses how unqualified Carlos Delgado is to be MVP, even though I just watched Sarah Palin answer questions on foreign policy.
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