Will someone, anyone, please explain the MVP voting?

So by now all of you have heard that the awards for baseball have been handed out. All pretty much explanatory save for one huge surprise.

 

N.L. MVP

 

Somehow, someway, Paul Goldschmidt got robbed.

Before the voting was announced, all of the pundits, ESPN, FOX, TSN, MLB.com etc all predicted Goldschmidt in a runaway. No one was close.

And then voters voted. Perhaps these are the same people doing the HOF voting? Maybe they were busy buying porkbellies and didn't watch any actual baseball this year?
Did Selig open the MVP voting up to the fans like the *snicker* All Star game?

Maybe everyone was wrong.... maybe everyone was mistaken and the select dozen people knew something we didn't.... so let's delve into the stats and see.... I don't pretend to know much, so let's list off some FACTS.

Paul Goldschmidt led the National League in Home Runs(36), RBI's(125), extra base hits(75), total bases(332), Slugging % (.551), OPS (.952), Intentional walks (19), and then again in some catagories that all of you Bill James types worship.... stuff like RE24, WPA, WPA/LI, REW... all of those.

I'm not even going to begin to try and figure out what they are, but the next time Brad Pitt and I have a pop together, we'll get into it, I promise you.

How about the glove? Is Goldschmidt that bad with the leather? No. He led the National league in put outs at his position and was second in fielding percentage. (Second by .001%. That's pretty close if you ask me)

Hmmm... well how about when was he productive? When the game was on the line? Or not?

Well, Goldschmidt led ALL of baseball in go-ahead home runs(20), go-ahead RBI's(37), walk-off home runs (3), game-winning RBI's (19) and RBI's with runners in scoring position (84).

After the 7th inning, Paul Goldschmidt led the National League in home runs(13), RBI's(41) and hits (60).

Awesome.

Andrew McCutchen? The "winner"? He hit .317 with 21 Home runs, 84 RBI's, and 97 runs scored.

Paul Goldschmidt did that after the 7th inning. Imagine if we counted the first 6 innings? Wait. Shouldn't we?

And Pittsburgh being a playoff team has NOTHING to do with this. If anything, it favours Goldschmidt. Imagine what he could've done on a better team?

Paul Goldschmidt got robbed. This wasn't even a close contest.

Contest Update! and a bit of a rant...

Alright! So we have updated to the second standings after the first round in the Great Waxaholic Playoff Hockey Contest II.

1. DogFacedGremlin 75/120
2. CynicalBuddha 72/120
2. Jeremy 72/120
4. Play at the Plate 70/120
5. Sal 67/120
6. madding 65/120
7. Roy 57/120
8. Dan 55/120
8. Dr. Steven Ibbotson 55/120
8. shanediaz 55/120
8. roofgod 55/120
12. 1st and Goal 52/120
13. Dayf 50/120
14. Night Owl 49/120
14. GCRL 49/120
14. Justin G. 49/120
14. DFWBuck2 49/120
18. BA Benny 42/120
19. Wax Wombat 40/120

*results are unofficial (because I did this REALLY late at night)

Please DO NOT forget to make your guesses for Round 2 (scroll down a post) Also, I have no way to contact a couple of you as you are not following this blog, nor have you sent me an email... please do one or the other. Or both.

Now......
I was going to go off on the NHL schedule makers for their horrible kob at scheduling the playoff games, particularly Round 2. Why do the teams that went a full 7 games start the second round, while the teams that haven't played for a week continue to get rest???
But we all know that the executives at the American Television studios make the schedule, not the NHL, so I'll let it go for now.

What I really want to chat about is the Hart Trophy. The Hart Trophy, for those of you who don't know, is the award given to the Most Valuble Player.
The finalists were announced today, and amazingly enough, the NHL screwed the pooch on this one too.
The finalists are as follows.
Henrik Sedin - Vancouver Canucks
Alexander Ovechkin - Washington Capitals
Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins

Really? REALLY? Do they not actually watch the games? Were these names pulled out of a hat? Okay, first, Henrik Sedin, a very good choice. Top scorer in the league, vital to Vancouver's success. Bravo. But here's where we delve away from reality.
Sidney Crosby? Mr I Live for games that mean nothing so I can pad my stats Crosby? He's no more worthy of this award than I am. Pittsburgh is still the fourth seed in the playoffs without him. Next.
Alexander Ovechkin. Huh? Did you not see how Washington did without him during his suspensions? The Capitals still win the Presidents Trophy without him. They are that good. (In the regular season, anyways...heh...)

I can see people putting Ovechkin in because of the leadership he provides. After he was named Captain, the Caps just took off. But seriously.... he's not worthy of the Most Valuble Player.

This is a problem I have had in baseball as well. Too often the MVP award is given to the BPL. (Best Player in the League) See: Albert Pujols. Was he the Most Valuble Player? No. Not even close. The Cards are a very good team, with or without him. But he is the best player. So let's give him an award.

The Hart Trophy Finalists SHOULD be:

Henrik Sedin - Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Miller - Buffalo Sabres (Buffalo doesn't even sniff the playoffs without him, let alone win the 3 seed.)
Ilya Bryzgalov - Phoenix Coyotes (Phoenix may have made the playoffs without him, but not with any other goalie they have on their roster right now, so..... see above)

Most Valuble Player in simple terms means the player that's the most valuble to his team. Is that too hard to understand?

Apparently, the NHL thinks so......

this months MVP is....

it's May 1st, which means it's time to select the Atlanta Braves MVP for April. I feel honoured to be selected to choose the winner of this monthly award. The winner will receive my undying devotion and, in this months case, a promise to go out and actually find some of his cards.

This months winner is none other than catcher David Ross.
David really saved the Braves' bacon when Brian McCann went on the shelf. 2HR 6RBI .321AVG .457OBP .653OPS while gunning down 3 of 6 attempted steals. I was critical of the Braves for signing David to a two year deal in the Spring. Not because of the player, but because I was tired of the Braves continuing to not give their young home grown players a chance and insisting on using veteran free agents. (that usually never pan out)
In this case, they were right. David has proven his worth.
Congrats on the MVP David! All David has to do is to supply me with his home address, and a certificate of achievment will be on the way.

This months runner up is Jair Jurrjens.

Jair is 2-2 with 1.72ERA. His record is misleading. Both games he lost, were 1-0 affairs. Will someone score the man some runs please? He should be 5-0, not Grienke.

Honourable mention goes to Martin Prado.

As a side note, 2B Kelly Johnson was a runaway lock for this award until a week ago. Then he forgot how to hit. Kelly is in the midst of an 0-1,000,000,000,000 streak. Here's hoping Kelly bounces back, and soon...