Fansided Player-of-the-Year

The last of the seasonal awards are here and that would be the Players-of-the-Year. Basically the MVP but only for position players, that was there isn’t the “Verlander deserves both the MVP and the Cy Young“arguments that people can get into.

So anyways… that’s what I thought. Then I looked at the results and saw how people voted. And I saw both Verlander and even Jared Weaver among those that received votes.

I’m not in any way inferring the way I voted is the way everyone ought to think. As I said previously there is certainly some subjectivity in the way one evaluates a specific player and not only just one individual but also a series of individuals.

What I do think is that pitchers have no part in partaking of the MVP/Player-of-the-Year votes. Pitchers have the Cy Young vote, hitters –and position players in general– have the MVP/PotY. I realize that this can be argued back and forth but I think it that each deserves to be said. Someone other than a fielder deserves to take the award home.

That said there is usually one player who stands above the rest in terms of their season accomplishments and this year was no different, thus preventing the possibility of Verlander taking home more “virtual hardware”. I won’t spoil the results for you; here are the results first the American League player-of-the-Year and also the National League Players-of-the-Year.

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Here is my vote in order.

10. Ian Kinsler

9. Ben Zobrist

8. Josh Hamilton

7. Alex Gordon

6. Dustin Pedroia

5. Miguel Cabrera

4. Curtis Granderson

3. Adrian Gonzalez

2. Jose Bautista

1. Jacoby Ellsbury

I think the only thing most people would be surprised about is the Adrian Gonzalez in the three hole versus the ever popular Miguel Caberera. But the thing is 1) I value defensive ability a long with their offensive value and 2) everyone forgets that Gonzalez was what carried the Red Sox early on in the year. Sure he didn’t “delivery” in September and that’s what everyone will remember.  But, realistically he had a wRC+ of 158 and was an above average hitter despite his teams’ colossal collapse in September.

Again, I don’t think everyone has to agree with me. But I just disprove of people putting pitchers on this list. Outside of that I really wouldn’t have much beef if one person voted Bautista 1 and Pedroia 2 or whatever you came up with that made sense in your mind. This is just how I voted and it’s my way of interacting with those of you that actually take the time to read this.

Overall, what do you guys think on this year’s awards? Did we get them right? Did we get one wrong? I called it how I saw it, how do you see it?