MVP?

David Ortiz or Alex Rodriguez? There’s been a lot of debate lately about who deserves the Most Valuable Player award in the American League and why each candidate should win. The nebulous criteria for selecting the recipient only fuel the debate.

What does the word valuable mean in the context of baseball? Is it simply about statistics or do wins and losses matter? Writing for Boston Sports Review, Bob Halloran believes that the former is all that matters, and under that pre-text, Alex Rodriguez is your AL MVP.

Now, I’m a Yankee fan and I guess I should be pleased that Halloran believes in A-Rod so strongly. However, I think the MVP should be judged beyond statistics and should be evaluated against the team’s bottom line, which in baseball terms is “wins”. While Rodriguez had a great year offensively and defensively, I think you could argue that Mariano Rivera, Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon all had a greater effect on the Yankees’ win-loss record this season. If you substitute Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano for Small and Chacon, we’re not talking playoffs today. Additionally, Rivera’s accomplishments this season are especially important when you look at the lack of closing talent around the league (Boston for example). So if A-Rod isn’t even my Yankee MVP, he certainly can’t be my AL MVP. Without discussing the merits of other players, I have no problem with David Ortiz being named the 2005 Most Valuable Player in the American League.