2012 MLB Thread

[🏀]

Shouldn't Bud award the home field advantage for the WS to the American League since the MVP of his "meaningful" game was cheating?

Bud should be more worried about Melky taking home the batting title at this point.

[MerrittsMustache]

Shouldn't Bud award the home field advantage for the WS to the American League since the MVP of his "meaningful" game was cheating?

Interesting but that's a slippery slope if they decide to go down that path. If anything, they should give home-field to the team with the best record because of this...and keep it that way.

[jmayer1]

Interesting but that's a slippery slope if they decide to go down that path. If anything, they should give home-field to the team with the best record because of this...and keep it that way.

+ infinity

[GGGG]

Or revert to switching it back and forth like they used to.  There is no evidence that anyone takes the All Star game more seriously because of the home field advantage aspect.

[Hards Alumni]

Can't disagree. I also think there has to be some trust in the collectors over potentially following a collector to a FedEx store, and then breaking into said store to steal the sample.

Would you trust a person you don't know with your reputation and a ton of money?

[Benny B]

Would you trust a person you don't know with your reputation and a ton of money?

It's mind-boggling to think what "average" people would do for even $10,000 these days without regard for the consequences.

[🏀]

Would you trust a person you don't know with your reputation and a ton of money?

Kinda happens everyday to more than MLB players. People are trusted to do their job.

In the perfect world, Ryan Braun pees into a container than has a small camera to confirm his wiener is releasing the urine. As soon as the stream stops, the container transforms into a small rocket ship the size of a paper airplane and flys to the testing facility.

However, I believe we are still a few years away from this technology.

[Bocephys]

Kinda happens everyday to more than MLB players. People are trusted to do their job.

In the perfect world, Ryan Braun pees into a container than has a small camera to confirm his wiener is releasing the urine. As soon as the stream stops, the container transforms into a small rocket ship the size of a paper airplane and flys to the testing facility.

However, I believe we are still a few years away from this technology.

If NASA would stop its unrequited love affair with Mars they could focus one these much more important projects.

[Benny B]

Kinda happens everyday to more than MLB players. People are trusted to do their job.

In the perfect world, Ryan Braun pees into a container than has a small camera to confirm his wiener is releasing the urine. As soon as the stream stops, the container transforms into a small rocket ship the size of a paper airplane and flys to the testing facility.

However, I believe we are still a few years away from this technology.

The technology is the easy part... the hard part is getting it to make that cool "transformer" sound, chee-goo-goo-gunk-go-gunk.

[GGGG]

Looks like he's not trying the Ryan Braun school of defense either and is accepting the punishment.

Turns out he did worse.

http://deadspin.com/5935999/melky-cabrera-cooked-up-a-phony-website-to-try-to-beat-his-suspension

And yeah, he appealed...but it was kept quiet like Braun's should have been.

[🏀]

Turns out he did worse.

http://deadspin.com/5935999/melky-cabrera-cooked-up-a-phony-website-to-try-to-beat-his-suspension

And yeah, he appealed...but it was kept quiet like Braun's should have been.

I've got to applaud that effort though.

[CTWarrior]

Or revert to switching it back and forth like they used to.  There is no evidence that anyone takes the All Star game more seriously because of the home field advantage aspect.

I prefer that they use 3 criteria.  Whichever league has the best interleague record, the team with the best record, and the all-star game.  This year the AL dominated the NL (again) in regular season interleague, but the NL won the all-star game, so whichever team of the World Series participants has the best record would get home field advantage.  Keeps a little juice in the all-star game, but more likely to reward the better team with home field.

[Otule's Glass Eye]

Jurickson Profar homered in his first at bat with Texas today, becoming the first player in Rangers history to homer in his first at bat, the first 1993 born player to hit a home run, and the youngest player to homer in the MLB since Adrian Beltre in 1998. He is a 19 1/2 y/o.

[wadesworld]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_09_02_pitmlb_milmlb_1&mode=wrap#gid=2012_09_02_pitmlb_milmlb_1&mode=video

This guy would be absolutely scary if he actually took steroids.  My goodness. (Edit, the link doesn't take you directly to the video...click on the Video link and go to Braun's 3 run homer on the right) People thought the Braun's production would drop because he was "no longer juicing" and he lost his protection in Prince Fielder.  I think you could put a little league team around him against major league pitching and he'd still hit .300 with 30 bombs a year.

Honest question, who is going to win the NL MVP?
- Andrew McCutchen: .344 BA, 24 HR, 80 RBI, 16 SB, .972 OPS
- Ryan Braun: .310 BA, 37 HR, 95 RBI, 22 SB, .996 OPS
- Matt Kemp: .331 BA, 18 HR, 55 RBI, 9 SB, .980 OPS
- Buster Posey: .329 BA, 19 HR, 83 RBI, 1 SB, .935 OPS
- Joey Votto: .342 BA, 14 HR, 49 RBI, 5 SB, 1.069 OPS
- David Wright: .314 BA, 17 HR, 79 RBI, 12 SB, .910 OPS

Last year Kemp had 6 more home runs and 15 more RBI than Braun, while Braun hit 12 points higher than Kemp.  The Brewers finished with the 2nd best record in the NL and 96 wins, while the Dodgers finished below .500 with 79 wins.

For these players, the rankings among NL players are as follows:

Batting Average:
- McCutchen 2nd
- Posey 3rd
- Wright 5th
- Braun 7th
- Kemp and Votto do not have enough ABs to qualify

Home Runs:
- Braun 1st (by EIGHT, which is a pretty darn big gap between 1 and 2)
- McCutchen 12th (tied)
- Posey 23rd (tied)
- Kemp 27th (tied)
- Wright 32nd (tied)

RBI:
- Braun 1st
- Posey 10th (tied)
- McCutchen 15th
- Wright 16th
- Kemp and Votto both are outside of the top 40

Stolen Bases
- Braun 16th (tied)
- McCutchen 24th (tied)
- Posey, Wright, Kemp, and Votto are all outside of the top 40

OPS
- Braun 1st
- McCutchen 2nd
- Posey 4th
- Wright 5th
- Votto and Kemp don't have enough ABs to qualify, but Votto would be 1st and Kemp would be 3rd

If you want to include WAR, it is:
- Wright 1st (6.0)
- McCutchen 2nd (5.8)
- Braun 3rd (5.6)
- Posey 6th (5.0)
- Votto 8th (tied at 4.6)
- Kemp is outside of the top 40

Cincinnati is tied for the best record in the NL.  SF is 5.0 GB of Cinci, LAD is 10 GB of Cinci, Pitt is 11 GB of Cinci, Milwaukee is 16 GB of Cinci, and NY is 17.5 GB of Cinci.

Cinci and SF will be in the Playoffs.  LAD will battle for a Wild Card spot and probably get in.  Pittsburgh has a chance but will likely end up out of the Playoffs.  Milwaukee and New York will miss the Playoffs.

The combination of the "weaker" stats (compared to the other guys) and being on the worst team of these guys drops Wright out in my opinion.

With Kemp and Votto missing so much time yet their teams still being in the Playoff race (and the Reds really thriving without Votto), plus their stats are nowhere near the other guys (not even giving them enough ABs to qualify for certain batting category rankings) leads me to drop those 2 out in my opinion.

That leaves Posey, Braun, and McCutchen.  Posey is putting up really good numbers all while playing the most difficult position to play everyday.  McCutchen is a big reason why the Pirates are fighting for a Playoff spot.  Braun is arguably the best player in baseball, but on a weak team.

Last year, both Kemp and Braun were in the top 5-10 in just about every major statistical category.  While Kemp had the better numbers overall, the gap was not very significant at all.  Had both teams been in the Playoffs, chances are Kemp wins the MVP over Braun, but Kemps team finished 13.5 games worse than Braun's.  The statistical gap was not big enough to justify giving Kemp the MVP over Braun.

If the Brewers continue to play the way they have been over the last month for the rest of the season, they will finish with a better record than the Pirates, a record above .500 (4 under right now, but winners of 11 of their last 13), and within a couple games of a Wild Card spot (6.5 games back as of right now).  To me, that would drop McCutchen out and leave it down to Braun and Posey.

Braun's numbers are significantly better than Posey's in every statistical category except for batting average, which is arguably the least important statistic of them all (along with RBIs).  Posey plays a more important position and is a better defender at his position, but Braun's War is still .6 games higher than Posey's.

In my mind, Braun should win the MVP.  Their is no stand-out star on a Playoff team this year, or someone who is so close to Braun that the fact that their team is so much better they should get it.  Braun's numbers are so much better than everyone else's and the Brewers could still finish fairly close to a Playoff spot.  It will be interesting to see because Braun benefitted from playing for a better team last year, if he loses out on a back-to-back MVP for the exact same reason this year.

[Benny B]

I agree with dropping Kemp and Votto to the extent they are short of qualifying.  If they qualify by season's end, I think you have to put them back into the conversation.

If the Pirates get in, you almost have to give it to McCutchen.  Cincy, LA, SF, Milwaukee, etc. all have multiple high profile guys... The Pirates have one.

If the Pirates don't get into the playoffs and Kemp/Votto don't qualify, I would say its between Posey and Braun.  And while I am of the mindset that an MVP from a non playoff team has to be far and away better than the next guy whose team did get in the playoffs, an 18 HR differential is tough to overlook.

Edit:  Your analysis may be all for naught... if the Brewers - now only 6 out of the WC (loss column) with 3 to play against StL - were to make it into the postseason, then based on current stats/rank/differential holding, Braun would be the MVP without question, most likely in a unanimous decision

[Otule's Glass Eye]

I think it will be between Braun, McCutchen and Posey. Wright is taken out because of how poor the Mets have played this year, and Kemp and Votto have been injured for large periods of time this season and should not be in consideration. Right now I would say McCutchen would win it. And btw wadesworld the Brewers still have a small chance at the playoffs, I'm a Brewers fan . How many people said the Cardinals couldnt make the playoffs last year?

[wadesworld]

I think it will be between Braun, McCutchen and Posey. Wright is taken out because of how poor the Mets have played this year, and Kemp and Votto have been injured for large periods of time this season and should not be in consideration. Right now I would say McCutchen would win it. And btw wadesworld the Brewers still have a small chance at the playoffs, I'm a Brewers fan . How many people said the Cardinals couldnt make the playoffs last year?

I'm a Brewers fan too, but no.  It's not going to happen.  The Cardinals had a stacked lineup last year but for whatever reason it took them until the end of the year to put it all together.  Their bullpen was also the best in baseball last year, whereas the Brewers is the worst in baseball this year.

1) Aoki vs. Furcal - Furcal by a pretty decent margin
2) Weeks vs. Jay/Craig - Jay/Craig by a slight margin
3) Braun vs. Pujols - push
4) Ramirez vs. Berkman - very slightly to Berkman
5) Hart vs. Holliday - very slightly to Holliday
6) Lucroy vs. Freese - Freese by a pretty decent margin
7) Gomez vs. Molina - Molina by a pretty decent margin
8) Segura/Bianchi vs. Punto - Punto by a large margin
9) Pitcher
Their bench was also better with guys like Daniel Descalso and Ryan Theriot coming off of the bench, compared to the Brewers Cesar Izturis and Travis Ishikawa.

Their top 3 of Chris Carpenter, Edwin Jackson, and Jaime Garcia is far and away better than the Brewers' this year of Yovanni Gallardo, Mike Fiers, and Marco Estrada (or Rodgers or Estrada, whoever the number 3 is right now for the Brewers).

And the bullpens, well...

There's really no comparison whatsoever between last year's Cardinals and this year's Brewers.

[copious1218]

Wades -

Not sure how Holliday is not even in your discussion.   His stats are certainly comparable - .307 (9th in NL), HR 25 (8th), RBI 92 (2nd), SB 4 (not top 40), OPS .905 (6th), WAR 4.4 (11th).

And the Cards are in better shape than the Mets, Brewers, Pirates, and essentially tied with the Dodgers.  Not saying Holliday would absolutely win it, but I think he belongs in the discussion with the six you already named.  By the way, I'm a Cubs fan so it pains me to put a Card in the discussion.

[MerrittsMustache]

If the MVP was for the best player, Braun would likely win it this season. However, if it's truly the most valuable player, it's Andrew McCutchen without question.

The Pirates as a team: .246/.301/.404/.704
Without McCutchen: .234/.288/.384/.672

The Brewers as a team: .257/.320/.433/.753
Without Braun: .250/.311/.413/.724

The Brewers' offense without Braun is still better than the Pirates' offensive with McCutchen. The Pirates' second-best player this season has been Garrett Jones who would be the fourth- or fifth-best player on the Brewers (behind Braun, ARam, Lucroy and possibly Hart).

Granted, I don't think Pittsburgh will make the playoffs but to even be in contention at this point is a testament to how great McCutchen has been.

All of that said, I think Posey will win it because sportswriters like to vote for a guy on a playoff team.

[wadesworld]

Wades -

Not sure how Holliday is not even in your discussion.   His stats are certainly comparable - .307 (9th in NL), HR 25 (8th), RBI 92 (2nd), SB 4 (not top 40), OPS .905 (6th), WAR 4.4 (11th).

And the Cards are in better shape than the Mets, Brewers, Pirates, and essentially tied with the Dodgers.  Not saying Holliday would absolutely win it, but I think he belongs in the discussion with the six you already named.  By the way, I'm a Cubs fan so it pains me to put a Card in the discussion.

Very good points.  I didn't even look at Holliday's numbers this season.  I just kind of looked at the players whose names I had heard come up in discussions of NL MVP so far.  The combination of his numbers and his teams' success definitely make him an NL MVP candidate, probably one of the top 3 candidates.

If the MVP was for the best player, Braun would likely win it this season. However, if it's truly the most valuable player, it's Andrew McCutchen without question.

The Pirates as a team: .246/.301/.404/.704
Without McCutchen: .234/.288/.384/.672

The Brewers as a team: .257/.320/.433/.753
Without Braun: .250/.311/.413/.724

The Brewers' offense without Braun is still better than the Pirates' offensive with McCutchen. The Pirates' second-best player this season has been Garrett Jones who would be the fourth- or fifth-best player on the Brewers (behind Braun, ARam, Lucroy and possibly Hart).

Granted, I don't think Pittsburgh will make the playoffs but to even be in contention at this point is a testament to how great McCutchen has been.

All of that said, I think Posey will win it because sportswriters like to vote for a guy on a playoff team.

Good points.  McCutchen is more valuable to his team than Ryan Braun is to his team.  To me, then, it would come down to whether either one has a legitimate shot to make the Playoffs within the last week or so of the season.  If both teams miss the Playoffs but are close or both teams miss the Playoffs and neither were really close at all, then I think it goes to Braun due to the better numbers (outside of Batting Average, which is widely agreed upon as a fairly meaningless stat, although so are RBIs which Braun has going for him).  If both teams made the Playoffs (no chance, but if), then my guess is it would be Braun because of the better numbers despite McCutchen actually being more valuable to his team, a Playoff team.

I agree that it usually goes to the best player on a Playoff team.  If that is the case again this year, then I would say that Holliday deserves it more than anyone looking at his numbers, but my guess is Posey would get it because he is doing what he does while playing catcher.  There just seems to be so little hype/discussion about Holliday as MVP.

Overall, I think the numbers show that Braun clearly is having the best year in the NL, but he may lose out on what helped him to win MVP last year.  I guess what goes around comes around.

[MerrittsMustache]

Overall, I think the numbers show that Braun clearly is having the best year in the NL, but he may lose out on what helped him to win MVP last year.  I guess what goes around comes around.

PEDs?


(Come on, it was too easy!)

[wadesworld]

PEDs?


(Come on, it was too easy!)

Haha well played

[Benny B]

PEDs?


(Come on, it was too easy!)

Now, now... the MVP voting happens at the end of the regular season, and Braun clearly wasn't juicing until the postseason.

[tower912]

He'll have slightly more homers than Trout when the season is over and more RBIs, but that's it.  Trout will have more runs, a higher batting average, better OPS, significantly more stolen bases, and plays elite defense at a premium position.  No too mention he didn't even play the first month so Cabrera had a head start.  Obviously there's still two months left in the season, but given their current pace I don't see it as much of a contest.

Cabrera currently leading in batting average and RBI's.    Still not much of a contest?

[buckchuckler]

Cabrera currently leading in batting average and RBI's.    Still not much of a contest?

There is a month to play.  That is what will decide it.  Seriously though, batting average?  The difference in their batting averages in .000388.  Hardly a point to argue with 25 games left.  

Also, RBIs should really be in Cabrera's favor.  First of all Cabrera has played in 21 more games than Trout.  Secondly he is a middle of the order hitter giving him many more opportunities to drive in runs than Trout, who is a lead off hitter.  

Cabrera is on a crazy tear though.  He is a scary hitter.  

(at least) One of their teams isn't going to make the playoffs.  That may be as much a factor as anything.