Justin Verlander, most veritable player

November 22, 2011

More games, most game?

Can a pitcher be a league's most valuable player?

In 2011, Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury played in 158 games and manned center field for 1,358 1/3 stanzas. He won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

In 2011, Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander made 34 starts and pitched only 251 innings. He won a Cy Young Award.

What excludes a pitcher?

Just juxta-position

History doesn't exclude a pitcher.

Beginning with the 1931 season (when the Baseball Writers Association of America first began naming winners of awards in both leagues), three of the first six NL MVPs were hurlers. The AL MVP went to a pitcher in three consecutive seasons from 1943 to 1945, twice to the same southpaw - Hal Newhouser, also a Motown toiler.

Numbers don't exclude a pitcher.

In his 158 games, Ellsbury made 729 plate appearances and handled 394 fielding chances. In his 34 starts, Verlander faced 969 batters, handled 50 fielding chances and made four plate appearances.

This arm voted mightier than those bats

This arm voted mightier than those bats

This past season, Ellsbury had a hand in the fate of 100 more batters than did Verlander. Is that a huge difference? In fact, infielders and catchers are involved in more plays than outfielders or pitchers. Perhaps the award should go only to infielders and catchers.

(Then again, the PAs of most pitchers rarely result in anything but an out, so perhaps those four measly times at the dish should count against him. Maybe that's why Clayton Kershaw wasn't a serious candidate for the MVP Award in the Senior Circuit!)

Not even Wins Above Replacement, where the calculation differs depending on the context, resolves the dispute. It's not so much what the numbers mean; it's that they allow for the possibility. It's not that they make an argument; it's that there's an argument to make.

Predetermination excludes a pitcher.

Who made that rule? What's the difference between a player who's a central figure in every game in which he appears versus a player who appears in five times the number of games with the chance to be a central figure in all of them?

Instead of practically eliminating Verlander from the scope of consideration in 2011, contemplate whether Pedro Martinez warranted even more of it in 1999.

The definition of "valuable" is fixed, but what qualifies is pretty subjective. (See: BBWAA Voting FAQ, 10th question.) Throw a superlative in front of it, and you have a gargantuan argument on your hands.

That's when the real fun begins.