Sporting News has dubbed Verlander the 2011 MLB Player of the Year.
In voting by 289 major league players (177 players from the AL, 112 from the NL), Verlander was the first pitcher to win the award since the Los Angeles Dodgers' Orel Hershiser in 1988.
This is likely the first of many awards for Verlander this year. Keep 'em rolling in!
Congratulations, Justin.
MJVP!
He deserves this
He deserves to be Player of the Year. He probably won't win MVP, but I hope he does. Verlander was way more valuable to his team than Granderson or A-Gone or Ellsbury.
4th Generation Student
Class of 2014
Go Blue!
Agreed....
He definitely deserved the POY. In my opinion he deserves to win the MVP and Cy Young as well. A-Rod is definitely not a part of that discussion for MVP. It's between Granderson, Bautista, and Verlander. Ellsbury has an outside chance. As always Go Blue!
Jacoby Ellsbury
He's got more than an outside chance, look at his stats.
I'd easily have him ahead of Bautista and Granderson.
I know, but it's wrong
It just doesn't make sense, though.
Granderson was involved in 691 plate appearances as a batter and 0 as a pitcher. Verlander was involved in 4 plate appearances as a batter and 969 as a pitcher. If you accept that pitching is no less important than hitting, Verlander had more of an impact on the Tigers' success than Granderson had on the Yankees'.
BFP
Sure they count plate appearances for pitchers--they just call it "BFP" (batters faced by pitcher). Verlander had 969. Or maybe I misunderstood what you are saying. I also know about the difference in games played. It's just that Granderson, or any other non-pitcher, accounts for much less of the result of a game than a pitcher does.
Of all Yankees at bats, Granderson was involved in almost exactly 11 percent (which makes sense, because he is exactly 1/9 of the starting lineup). Verlander pitched 17.4 of all of the Tigers' innings, which makes sense because he is 1/5 of the starting rotation. You can't tell me that Granderson had more of an effect on the Yankees than Verlander did on the Tigers--he played more games, yes, but he played a much smaller role in each of those games.
There's nothing I can say about Pedro Martinez. That was an MVP year, and he didn't win it because he was a starting pitcher. You are clearly not the only person in the world who is biased against pitchers when it comes to the MVP award--the voters are biased as well, and it will ensure Granderson wins the award. Too bad, though; he isn't the most deserving candidate.
I get it now.
Okay, we are on the same page. I left off Granderson's defense mainly because Granderson really shouldn't want defense anywhere near the MVP discussion. I agree that the Center Fielder's defensive responsibilities are much greater than the pitcher's defensive responsibilities, but he still only catches about 2.5 fly balls per game.
It really is an apples to oranges argument when comparing pitchers and batters. If the pitchers didn't have their own separate award, or if the batters did have their own separate award, pitchers would certainly get more consideration for the MVP.
Awesome, too bad Tigers
Awesome, too bad Tigers aren't playing rit now
Playing football on Wall Street
When do they announce the
When do they announce the winners of the Cy Young and MVP awards?
He was the most dominant
He was the most dominant player this year (and yes, I know Haaliday put up similar stats, but in a diluted league), and deserves this award. He locked up the Cy Young, and while I figure he'll be passed over for MVP, it was still a great year, one in need of even more recognition.
Only Just
Only just for someone who was - without question - the player who had the most influence on the games he played in. Way to go, Justin!
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Well deserved honor. Cy Young
Well deserved honor. Cy Young is surely to follow, MVP probably won't. But he should get a significant amount of votes.
MJVP!
Biochemistry
Class of 2010.