SBN Awards: Player of the Year

Please note the absence of the word "valuable" in the title of this SBN Award. I think people who try and argue that the MVP should go to one guy instead of another "because it's most valuable... not best" are intentionally missing the point, but for this award, the possible grey area of "value" has been eliminated (I hope).

Let's Go Tribe had two ballots for the American League award, one of which was filled out by me (Ryan had the other). As I mentioned in my write up on the results of the Pitcher of the Year Award, I think voters should be willing to stand by their choices, so here is the ballot I submitted at the end of the regular season:

The Trout vs. Cabrera debate has probably had more digital ink spilled over it than any other baseball topic this year. I think the points on each side are pretty well known by now, but here they are, in short:

TROUT: the value of incredible base running and fielding in addition to hitting; the impact of different stadiums on any player's hitting; a player is not responsible for the quality of his teammates or opponents; WAR

CABRERA: the significance of winning the Triple Crown; his having agreed to change positions; a strong second-half; the Tigers making the playoffs

I'm much more convinced by the arguments in Trout's favor. I think Cabrera had a tremendous season and I believe he's the best hitter in baseball. Furthermore, I think it's incredibly cool that he won the Triple Crown. Batting average and RBI are far from the best ways of evaluating a player, but the Triple Crown is still a significant part of baseball's history and lore, and no one had ever won it in my lifetime. His name belongs on the list of winners and that list is a very impressive bunch.

BUT, it doesn't automatically mean he was the best player in the league. Trout had an historically good season, plenty good enough, in my estimation, to make him clearly a more productive, BETTER player than anyone else in baseball in 2012. If you're still not convinced, don't take my word on it, America's new numerical guru, Nate Silver has his take on the issue available in the New York Times.

Further down the ballot, Cano actually finished second in both bWAR and fWAR. I suppose that will cause some to think WAR is no good, but since even the creators of WAR wouldn't claim it's meant to be used as the final word, instead of being put off by it, I find it interesting food for thought. If you're going to debate Cabrera vs. SOMEONE, a battle against Cano is probably a more legitimate argument.

Some people don't think pitchers belong in the MVP/Play of the Year discussion, but I'm not one of them (though I'm not sure of the last time I'd have supported a pitcher for 1st place in such a balloting). For the second year in a row, Verlander was one of the very best players in baseball, not just the best pitcher.

Adrian Beltre strikes me as one of the more underrated players in baseball, someone who's putting together a Hall of Fame career before our very eyes, without many people taking notice.

I won't go into more detail on the rest of my choices, feel free to disagree with me on them in colorful language below! In the meantime, here are the full SBN A.L. Player of the Year results:

Did the picture I ran fool you? Unlike the BBWAA, which I expect to choose Cabrera for A.L. MVP, Trout won the SBN Player of the Year award handily. I suspect that the average SBN voter is younger than the average BBWAA voter, and I think that the metrics that favor Trout have been more widely accepted by younger baseball fans (with exceptions on both sides, of course).

Sadly, even with 25 different players receiving at least one point in the voting, not a single Indians was mentioned, making them the only team in the American League without a player listed. Sigh...

No one from Let's Go Tribe had a vote in the N.L. If I had, my 1st place choice would have been Buster Posey, though Ryan Braun and Andrew McCutchen would both have been very, very close to him. Here are the SBN results for National League Player of the Year:

Posey won more comfortably than I expected. 33 different players received mention here, so obviously there are a few I think look a little silly, but in the end a 9th or 10th place vote doesn't matter all that much.

I think SB Nation did very well for itself in its Player of the Year voting, better than the BBWAA is going to do when its MVP awards are announced tonight.

Congratulations to Mike Trout and Buster Posey!