Bone: to Pick or Chew

Baseball is an enigmatic sport. In the Bay Area people are giddy that the San Francisco Giants have hired Felipe Alou. Of course, Felipe is not of the new school of taking walks and getting on base rather than gripping and ripping. But, Felipe Alou has been successful in the past even being stranded in Montreal. For a few years, at least. He never reached the playoffs in Montreal as a manager. Alou, later in Montreal, was not much of a manager and more of a tender of the store. He ignored pitchers on the mound who had lost their effectiveness and needed to come out. He made pitching changes based hunches and the fact he could care less. He told hitters to get a pitch to hit and rip it. Not exactly a cultivation of talents, rather a sand blasting to see what sticks.


Do you think people aren't going to start chirping that they there when the Alou brothers all played in the outfield for the A's? Of course not. But if Alou fails to keep the Giants above .500, you can bet someone will chime in, "I always said Jim Fergosi would have been the better choice".

True Value Hardware

Awards. What do they really say about a player? Depends. What do they say about a player's season? Depends. What do they say about a player's career? Depends. It's hard to pinpoint the Most Valuable Player in a team sport.


It depends on three things;
A) Who is asking
B) Why they are asking
C) Do you really want to know


Does the MVP award really matter to anyone out there besides sports network talking heads, sports radio geeks and agents? When you read about bloggers and fans getting so upset about the Cy Young and MVP awards, you know there is a problem.

One of the stupidest arguments we've heard is; "How can Miguel Tejada be the MVP of the AL when Barry Zito was the MVP of the A's?"


It's absurd. If you want to find MVP based on value and intangibles, then Mark Ellis, Miguel Tejada and John Mabry of the position players and Aaron Harang and Chad Bradford of the pitchers were the team's MVP's. Zito doesn't get mentioned because he actually did what was expected of him, possibly under-performing. Billy Koch blew up so many times TNT wants to start showing some of his outings on their Movies for Guys weekends. How's this for Cy Young whining, of the 15 no decisions Tim Hudson had in 2002, nine times he left with the lead.


The problem doesn't reside with the voting, either. The ballots cast in 2002 were done with the same criteria that has been established for several decades.

The problem resides in perception.


Most of us who blog are of the new school of baseball. That of the high OBP and total bases for hitters and ground ball/flyball ratios and counting pitches for pitchers. It?s not new science. Little League coaches for fifty years have told kids to "wait for your pitch", "just throw strikes" and "a walk is as good as a hit". There were just too few good coaches to stand up to the fathers screaming in the stands, "SWING the God Damn Bat, Billy!" A few less of those fathers and there would be fifty MLB teams instead of a dozen teams worth mentioning.


The top grossing movie doesn't win the Academy Award. Though, that is starting to change. Actors and Actresses are now getting awards based on popularity and the savvy or their agents, managers and publicists. Not their ability to portray characters and actually be able to act. Julia BLEEPING Roberts won an Oscar? Are you kidding me? Did anyone see Training Day? How can a mediocre, two star movie have two male co-stars up for Academy Awards and still be that bad? Perhaps the crap acting had something to do with it. Sir Lawrence Olivier could grace the screen for 90 seconds, wave to the audience, walk off screen and win an Oscar, and actually deserve it. Cuba Gooding, Jr got 105 seconds of screen time for As Good As it Gets and got nominated for best Supporting Actor.

Never underestimate the ability of an agent, manager or publicist to get an issue its head start.


So, you're asking why Alex Rodriguez (or anyone else) didn't win the AL MVP? Okay; do you harbor any resentment that Rodriguez gets slighted by the media and fans because of his paycheck? Do you think it's hard to be a professional in a bad situation and still be successful? Do you think that numbers are numbers and that numbers are the best way to determine a player's value and worth? Do you think that Alex Rodriguez is the best shortstop in baseball?


Well, if you had any preconceived notions about A-Rod, then you can't argue your point. You are automatically disqualified because you have stated you show a sentimental attachment to the player.


If you think that it is hard to play every day for a bad team then you are a borderline idiot in the clinical sense and the shorter school bus is here for you. Of the 750+ MLB players last year less than a handful opted out of trying to play every day as hard as they could. Even if 80% is all they had to give, most gave that 80%. And I say, most. But, that is the difference between AA and being in Fenway Park. Professionals are professionals and they share a code of conduct. If you think you see a player shutting it down other players notice and even a dim-witted manager knows to pull the player out of a game. Derek Bell and Pedro Martinez were the few low-lights this year, and that is because they were stupid enough to verbalize their intent.


If you think that numbers are numbers then why bother with formulas and averages? Just go with the counting stats. That's your key. Hits, homeruns and runs batted in. That's all you get. Somewhere along the line, people missed the intent of Bill James. It's not about trying to figure out who is better because of their statistics. It's about trying to figure out where a player fits according to their statistics. James looked at players along career lines and over several years. Trying to use the magic stats to pinpoint six months of comparison is stupid and worthless. They are a tremendous tools, don't get us wrong. However, there is no asterisk for playing with a bruised foot in week 12 of the season or broke up with girlfriend in week 20. Those blips on the radar wouldn't really shift the focus of a three year players evaluation. Is Alex Rodriguez a better player because he hits a lot of homeruns or is Alex Rodriguez a better player according to the number of homeruns he hits? I think you'll find the later is the litmus test result you're looking for and homeruns can be given too much weight, at times.
Alex Rodriguez happens to play shortstop. Let's get this notion out of the way. A-Rod could play the outfield, third or short or even first base. But, if A-Rod played left field suddenly some of the tarnish comes off and you have to compare A-Rod to Bonds, Sosa, Williams, Ruth and the like. At short, A-Rod stands head and shoulders above of the smoke and mirror trick we saw in the 80's and 90's: Ozzie Smith and Cal Ripken, Jr.


That being said, Alex Rodriguez is one of the best players in Major League Baseball without taking into consideration the position he plays. He's automatically, then, the best shortstop because no other shortstop fits the criteria one best player without considering position. There are other shortstops that one might consider taking over Alex Rodriguez namely Miguel Tejada, Nomar Garciaparra and the 1997 Derek Jeter (the current model is no longer in production). But, those decisions carry context. Attitude, perception, personality, etc. It's hard to pin point those on a spreadsheet.

The Alex Rodriguez fawners want A-Rod to get the MVP awards they seem to think he so richly deserves and they offer simple solutions; change the way the writers vote or create a new award. Sort of like telling organized religion to change its practices and views of homosexuality and pre-marital sex to be in step with the times. If you don't agree with it, don't associate with it and don't be upset if they don't see things the same way as you do.


And for the last time, we would have voted AGAINST Miggi and Zito for their awards if given the chance. By winning, they are going to cost that much more when free agnecy comes around. We just wanted them in the conversation of upper echelon, top tier performers for the year. Plus, we know what the process is for selcting those awards. We are not naive and sightless.