2021 AL MVP

Is this roster-spot thing a money issue? Hasn't he already been credited with the appropriate WAR, i.e. how many games better he is than a replacement hitter or pitcher?

haven't really thought about it, but first, put aside the money. just think about the value of an entire extra roster spot. yes, he's already credited with WAR for how much better than he is than a replacement hitter and pitcher. now, think about about why baseball teams get excited about adding additional roster spots at the end of the season, before the playoffs.

from a cardinals perspective, we rarely carry a 3rd catcher. yadi always starts, anyway, and knizner (the backup) rarely plays. but the effect is that yadi can never come out of the game, because if he does, there's no backup to the backup. and when knizner gets a rare starting opportunity, yadi can't pitch-hit, etc. when there's roster space, they bring up this one guy (ali sanchez) to be the emergency catcher.

what's that extra spot worth? i don't know, but every single team will take it and use it

Maneuverability--fair point. I hope the Ben Zobrists of the world got their invisible WAR adjustment in MVP voting every year.

Vlad's within a game of Ohtani in fWAR (1.2 down in bWAR) and having a good day today. I'm going to hold off till the end, and hope he edges him out in at least one of the two. If it happens, I'm going to change my argument to, "Come on, the guy pitches and hits, and Vlad still has more value!"

haven't really thought about it, but first, put aside the money. just think about the value of an entire extra roster spot. yes, he's already credited with WAR for how much better than he is than a replacement hitter and pitcher. now, think about about why baseball teams get excited about adding additional roster spots at the end of the season, before the playoffs.

― typo punishment 3: people shouldn't have to feel like they have ea (Karl Malone), Sunday, September 19, 2021 2:20 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

by definition the player who fills this extra spot will be a replacement player, right?

I'm going to change my argument to, "Come on, the guy pitches and hits, and Vlad still has more value!"

lol, tbf that is a good argument! and don't get me wrong, sorry - vlad is having a great year and he's right up there with ohtani. you can make arguments for both for sure. i just want ohtani to win before he dies.

by definition the player who fills this extra spot will be a replacement player, right?

haha, sorta! i don't know, my life is upside-down right now so the little man in my brain who figures out things is just tossing up his arms in the air recently. i think they would be a meta-replacement player

like karl i fully expect him to explode in some form within a few years, or just spend half the season on the IL every year, or stop being very good at all at either position...... if he doesn't do that then we will be blessed and i will be cool with him just getting an award annually for it. if he does this long enough to win 10 MVPs i will be just as giddy about it by #10

there should be a new award, maybe even one given while ohtani is still playing, like now:

best pitcher/position player combo. The Ohtani award.

Give Ohtani the NL MVP since no one really deserves it

That's a good point, you could argue that since he's a pitcher who hits, he's de facto an NL player

by definition the player who fills this extra spot will be a replacement player, right?

overall, yes. but the extra roster flexibility allows for high-leverage use of one-tool players — if ohtani makes the room to carry career 75 OPS+ hitter jarrod dyson specifically to run in extra innings, that has real-life value not captured by WAR.

agreed re: Ohtani's longevity, can definitely see a future where pitchers figure him out a bit (which may be happening right now) and he's too perpetually injured to pitch regularly. really hope I'm wrong though!!

Perez's 46th HR evidently does count as an official record; you've got to play at least half your games at a position to qualify for a positional record.

https://www.mlb.com/royals/news/most-home-runs-by-a-catcher

(Javy Lopez holds the unofficial record with 42 while catching.)

Ohtani and Guerrero now separated by 0.4 fWAR (Burnes has moved to #1)--which actually surprised me, as Ohtani had a very good start yesterday.

three walks and two homers isn’t great for FIP

Over. I thought Vlad was the best choice two weeks ago--TC still viable, Jays on a streak, Ohtani supposedly finished pitching and slumping badly with the bat--but Vlad (1-17) and the Jays have cooled, Ohtani's had two good starts, and his hitting has picked up. Probably back to unanimous, or close.

yeah agree

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god bless you, two people.

One of whom would change his vote today...