I know we like to try to convince people that Alfonso Soriano is a better player than people give him credit. We don't like when boos cascade down on him for every single ball that lands in front of him in the outfield that the fat guy on the sofa thinks should have been an easy catch, or when the drunk guy in the bleachers thinks recognizing a slider outside is the easiest thing in the world to do.
So it is nice to see a positive piece about Soriano in the Sun-Times from Gordon Wittenmyer. The problem is, he's insane. Or an idiot. Or desperately trying to boost traffic to his columns. Probably a combination of the three. Because no rational human being with even a rudimentary understanding of baseball could ever state with a serious face that Alfonso Soriano is an MVP candidate in the National League. But Gordo does.
This year’s MVP race in the National League might have tilted his direction if the team wasn’t so bad. The NL West-leading Giants’ top player, Melky Cabrera, was suspended for performance-enhancing drug use, Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun’s big numbers are diminished some by his own team’s losing record, and Matt Kemp and Joey Votto — who got off to big starts for their contending teams — both have missed significant time with injuries. It’s put guys such as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen and the Cincinnati Reds’ Jay Bruce into prominent spots in the discussion.
Let's forget that Gordo thinks Braun's numbers should be diminished by his team's place in the standings. (Don't look now, but the Brewers and Phillies are are only 5 games out of the Wild Card and charging hard while St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and the Dodgers all struggle.) But even if we were to accept that Braun should be disregarded, and that Kemp and votto need to be eliminated due to injury, what puts Soriano in a league with Andrew McCutchen? Here are the NL's rWAR leaders as of right now:
- Andrew McCutchen (6.4)
- David Wright (6.1)
- Ryan Braun (6.0)
- Michael Bourn (6.0)
- Buster Posey (5.8)
- Yadier Molina (5.7)
- Jason Heyward (5.1)
- Chase Headley (4.7)
- Joey Votto (4.7)
- Giancarlo Stanton (4.7)
Soriano comes in at #85 at 1.3 rWAR, which ties him with Rafael Furcal and Wilin Rosario.
If we look at fWAR:
- Ryan Braun (7.2)
- David Wright (6.6)
- Andrew McCutchen (6.5)
- Michael Bourn (6.3)
- Buster Posey (6.2)
- Chase Headley (6.2)
- Jason Heyward (6.1)
- Aramis Ramirez (5.4)
- Yadier Molina (5.4)
- Matt Holliday (5.2)
Fangraphs is kinder to Soriano. He comes in 24th at 3.6 fWAR, bookended by Jimmy Rollins and Jose Reyes.
If you don't like WAR, he's 7th in the NL in homeruns and tied for 4th in RBI. He is not in the top ten in batting average, on-base percentage, or slugging percentage. He is, however, tied for 3rd in grounding into double plays.
Soriano isn't even clearly the most valuable player on this shitty team. According to B-Ref, they have Darwin Barney (4.3), Starlin Castro (2.7), and Anthony Rizzo (1.7) above Soriano's 1.3 rWAR. Hell, David DeJesus is right behind him at 1.2. Let's start the MVP campaign for Kim DeJesus' hubby!
Again, Fangraphs likes him more as he does lead the Cubs with Starlin Castro coming in 2nd at 2.7, Barney at 2.3, and Rizzo and DeJesus each at 1.7.
It's a great season for Soriano. Perhaps he is the Most Valuable Player That Everybody Had Mostly Given Up On As Completely Useless Prior to This Season, but let's have a little perspective. When you start printing nonsense about how Soriano is an MVP canididate, then stupid people who accept anything you say because it's in the newspaper are going to believe it and they will start to expect him to play like an MVP all over again. Then when he again starts showing his age (as we know he will sooner or later), the disappointment from the dopes will be magnified and he'll get even more unnecessary crap heaped on him from the stands than he does now.
Is there any editorial process at all at the Sun-Times? I honestly don't know how this got printed without Wittenmyer's colleagues laughing their asses off at him. Maybe they thought it was his submission to join The Onion writing staff.
DeLuca: What have you got today, Gord?
Wittenmyer: I explain how Soriano could be an MVP candidate if the Cubs were a better team.
DeLuca: HA HA HA HA HA HA! Great one! You're hilarious. What have you got, really?
Wittenmyer: That is what I've got.
DeLuca: Well fuck it, it's kind of late. I guess we'll print it.
Like I said, I'm glad it's at least a positive piece. I guess we just have to take what we can get in that area, however ridiculous it might be.
Comments
New aside:
http://obstructedview.net/aside/sammy-sosa-911-hr.html
BerseliusQuote Reply
Gordo has it all wrong, Adolfo and Samardzija are the Cubs co-MVPs, so they’re going to split the vote.
BerseliusQuote Reply
That was a recent aside video I enjoyed.
Rice in limboQuote Reply
That video reminded me that Rondell White once played for the Cubs. It also reminded me of Rondell White in general, since I completely forgot he existed.
WenningtonsGorillaCockQuote Reply
How much does the title of the award “Most Valuable Player” have to do with it? Most people assume MVP means best player but some people take it literally. Between MVP and Cy Young, there seems to be too many idiot voters out there that don’t understand how to vote. They should change it to Player of the Year or something because for some reason team success has too much weighting with the voters.
MuckerQuote Reply
Former Playgirl Model Steve Stone, not be outdone, told Mully and Hanley that “the White Sox need to learn to win without Adam Dunn.”
Dunn has been worth 1.1 WAR.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
To be fair, Wittenmyer isn’t say they should be diminished, he’s saying they will be diminished, and in that he’s correct. BBWAA members regularly rationalize not voting for obviously deserving candidates because their team is not in the playoff hunt. Dawson’s MVP was an outlier.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
Yeah, I don’t get it either, but this year in the AL Trout has far and away been the best player that I’m confident even the BBWAA won’t get it wrong. It’s just too obvious.
mb21Quote Reply
Berselius wrote:
(dying laughing)
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Agreed. Trout, along with being one of the best hitters, has also been one of the best baserunners and fielders as well. It shouldn’t even be a debate really.
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder: To be even fairer, if I was voting I'd be more likely to vote for a player on a team that is contending than one that is not. Let's say I've narrowed down the best to 3 players, 2 of which may actually be better but played on last place teams, I'm probably giving it to the other guy. "Best" or "most" is subjective and it seems more than fair to me that a player on a contending team be awarded for something that players on non-contenders aren't. The player on the contender performed in higher leverage situations, for one. He did so on a team that had more to lose. If it's close enough, I'd easily pass on the non-contenders to a contender. If it's obvious, then I wouldn't. Let's say the Angels are in last place. Under no circumstances would I vote for anyone other than Mike Trout. And I would seriously vote for him to win the NL MVP. MLB could fuck off if they didn't like it.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
(dying laughing), glad someone caught the reference.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
I don’t know what berselius meant by bbraa.
mb21Quote Reply
Didn’t ARod win MVP with last place Texas?
MuckerQuote Reply
@ mb21:
I think that’s fair. I just hate the “we can take this guy out of the running right now because his team sucks” argument.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Agreed.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
@ mb21:
The problem with Gordo is that Soriano is nowhere close to the conversation even if the Cubs were winning 100 games.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I think it’s a reference to sports jernalists who rite good.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ mb21:
A few years ago, when the BBWAA froze out most of the internet writers (in particular Keith Law and Rob Neyer) there were jokes abound that they should be called the Baseball Reporters Association of America instead. Some suggested it should be the Baseball ‘Riters Association instead (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Yeah, as you said in the article, he’s not even the MVP of this shitty fucking team. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
Also, I think writers are looking for any reason to not vote for Braun because of the positive PEDs test. Milwaukee could still be the Wild Card (in fact, I’m starting to think they might be with the shitty way everyone else is playing) and he’ll lose votes because of that.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Actually, he might be the MVP of this shitty fucking team, but that says more about the rest of the shitty fucking team than it does Soriano.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
He’ll lose some and has no chance of winning the award, but I think some will still vote for him (especially those in Milwaukee).
mb21Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
THIS
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Amazon.com is an Internet store. It should not be able to vote for Most Valuable Loyalty Scheme.
eTrade will have to sell stocks for another 60 years if it wants to vote for IPO of the Year.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ mb21:
In an article someone posted yesterday, a blogger said he’d take Miguel Cabrera over Trout (?!?!?!?). Seriously, it’s not even close.
I’d definitely prefer a “Player of the Year.” Maybe there is some logic to a winning team providing more high leverage situations and that, but a player who plays outstanding baseball should be in consideration no matter what his team is doing. And besides, isn’t leverage one of those things you have no control over?
Oh, I guess I don’t really care. Give it to whoever has the nicest smile.
joshQuote Reply
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/13466/soler-drawing-comparisons-to-sosa?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Dusty overusing a pitcher? Can’t be true: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/9/11/3315986/reds-worried-about-aroldis-chapman
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
josh wrote:
Yes, but it’s also why closers are more valuable than other relievers. It’s more difficult to pitch in those situations and the cost of not pitching well is often a loss. Playing well on a contender is valuable and more valuable than playing well on a non-contender. I don’t mind if there are a few relatively equal players that the one on the contender is chosen. I would, but if it’s an obvious best player then you take him regardless of where his team is in the standings.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
He’s only thrown 67.2 innings. that’s not even close to overuse. I hadn’t looked at his stats recently, but based on the url was expect to find he’d thrown 130 innings at which point I might agree.
mb21Quote Reply
Trout is in the top 25 career WAR for the Angels organization.
GBTSQuote Reply
Prior to his last 2 outings, Chapman hadn’t allowed a run in 7 appearances. He’d thrown 7 innings, allowed 3 hits, struckout 9 and walked 2. Then you have to go back to June to find when he last allowed a run. In his 30.2 innings prior to his last 2 outings, he allowed 14 hits, 1 freaking run, walked 6 and struckout 56 batters.
I didn’t read the article, but since when are two appearances the sign of being tired? (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I can’t decide if that’s homoerotic or racist.
joshQuote Reply
josh wrote:
Can’t it be both?
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Where exactly is the UP.SS.? More to the point, who edits what ESPN puts out there? I think I could do a better job, for much less cost than Y. Cespedes.
joshQuote Reply
Trout could conceivably win MVP, Gold Glove, and ROY. Fuckit, give him the Cy Young too.
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Homoeracist.
MishQuote Reply
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbcs-today-skips-911-moment-of-silence-for-kardashian-interview_b145281
To be fair, silence is pretty boring, I guess.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
He went on to say “He’s just one of those big guys who looks like he could just jump you in a dark alley with that big bat of his and just really give it to you. And you wouldn’t want to, but you’d have to take revenge on his people, because you can’t let them get out of line. You’d have to go right to his village and just give it to all the biggest men. Just pound them until they learned respect.”
So you be the judge.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
I think you’ve discovered a new, very disturbing literary genre.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ josh:
WaLiQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
this is interesting because one of two things happened, either they didn’t know about the moment of silence (which means they are pretty bad at staying on top of shit) or else they did know and deliberately ignored it. if it’s the latter, then that means that someone had the job of choosing content to play during that slot, and they knowingly aired a piece on kris jenner instead of a moment of silence for 9/11. which is interesting.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
My brother pointed out that maybe it was a brilliant “fuck you” to the Islamic fundamentalists that we choose to listen to some bitch with fake tits instead of mourn their greatest victory over America.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
Believe me, Samuel Johnson gets it.
joshQuote Reply
Shut it down, josh has won the thread.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Please, hold your applause until after I’ve scored.
joshQuote Reply
A quick Google search has revealed extremely little in the realm of racist homoerotica. There’s a void to fill, Josh.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
This is another prime example of why Google should be forced by law to permanently delete someone’s search history if they die unexpectedly or otherwise can’t defend themselves. That last one will definitely require some context. (dying laughing)
GBTSQuote Reply
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/9/10/3313607/one-more-crazy-thing-about-mike-trouts-season
MishQuote Reply
@ josh:
I can’t believe Bears fans are so fucking dumb they are pushing back against this.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
I think he already wrote about that.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
That can’t be right. That’s basically all they wrote in the 18th Century.
joshQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I thought it was understood you made noise when the other team was trying to call plays to throw them off, but let your team hear their audibles.
Football fans are the worst.
so stoked for Thursday.
joshQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Are they really fighting against it? geez…
WaLiQuote Reply
@ josh:
I didn’t know Laurence Sterne was racist.
GBTSQuote Reply
josh wrote:
My understanding is this. When your team is on defense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdWAcK6Eh8&feature=related
When your team is on offense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHlk12QKwNY&feature=fvst
I thought that was common knowledge
WaLiQuote Reply
Bears fans, help me trend this shit: https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23ThingsMeatballBearsFansSay
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
ha, not where i was going with that but i like his theory more.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
josh wrote:
Hopefully there’s some unseasonable BEAR WEATHER. The Bears are unique in that they play half their games outdoors right next to Lake Michigan.
GBTSQuote Reply
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
His wife’s response was classic 😀
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The hell did you bastards do to Rizzo!!?!!?
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Looks like his leg landed weird on the bag and then he ran into the 1B and launched into the air. I’m glad he was able to walk off on his own.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
That sucks
joshQuote Reply
Two missed calls on that fucked up pickle! Astros get a gift stolen base (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I hate it when the umps are fucking pickels when they should be calling the game.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3YgCVD0dHc
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Aramis appears to be having the best year of his career.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat wrote:
False. The Brewers are back in the Wild Card race. Aramis only performs WHEN IT DOESN’T MATTER. There is plenty of documentation on this.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Unfortunately, he managed to stats-gather when they weren’t in the hunt, so he should taper off now that it’s getting close. He’s already got his career fWAR beat, but I’m confident we’ll still be able to jam whatever happens into the pre-existing narrative.
joshQuote Reply
It’s comments like these last two that remind me of innocent times of yore when I first lurked on ACB and thought “what a bunch of idiots and assholes”.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
I still think this. (dying laughing)
MishQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
which was?
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Notre Dame ———-> ACC
Non-football, but they’ll play 5 games a year vs the ACC
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I looked through the responses and I’m pretty sure it was this one:
DE Favstar.fm 50★’s @favstar50_de
@BMcCarthy32 Congrats on your 50★ tweet!
joshQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I think her response was something like “I WILL PUNCH A MAN who had brain surgery” or something to that effect.
MishQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/11/brandon-mccarthy-discharged-from-hospital-still-great-at-twitter/
Rice in limboQuote Reply
@ Rice in limbo:
He had a tweet to (I’m assuming a talk show host) that said:
“People say becaues I have a brain injury that I should tune into your show now”
(dying laughing)
WaLiQuote Reply
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/13487/castro-a-part-of-another-cubs-miscue
I get why they’re telling Castro to hustle all the way through, but there are a couple things…
1. Who the hell told Sappelt to go? It certainly wasn’t Pat Listach.
2. Castro’s picking up his teammate in the on-deck circle or else he would have run hard all the way, I think. He probably should anyway, but the ball is that deep and he’s that fast, he’d make it in easily on a trot.
I’d blame Sappelt a hell of a lot more than Castro on that one.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Ugh!
http://deadspin.com/5942584/?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Ouch. It looked like he landed on his wrist pretty hard. Any news on the injury?
WaLiQuote Reply
New Facepalm: http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/daily-facepalm-9-12-2012.html
AndCountingQuote Reply