Award This!

Jason Michael Barker

While surfing the 'net today, I ran across an online poll that nearly made me drop my lunchtime sandwich (turkey on whole wheat, thanks for asking). At first glance the question seemed simple enough: "Who do you think should be the American League MVP?"

Perhaps my first mistake was heading over to that four-lettered sports conglomerate in the first place -- for shame, for shame. My second mistake was voting in said poll. If I had simply left it blank instead of making my choice and clicking "Submit Vote," I wouldn't have seen the following results:

Frank Thomas -- 32.5%
Carlos Delgado -- 26.1%
Pedro Martinez -- 18.7%
Alex Rodriguez -- 13.2%
Jason Giambi -- 9.1%

Most of you know I'm writing this from Seattle, but I wasn't so upset that Alex Rodriguez was fourth although I find it impossible to rank him outside the top three. You might think I was upset that Carlos Delgado wasn't at the top of the list, given that I gave him my mid-season MVP this season, but I'm no longer convinced he's such a clear choice.

You might also know that Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher I've seen in my lifetime (and possibly you in yours) and that he's having another incredible season, but I wasn't all that surprised that he came in fourth given the anti-pitcher bias that most people have when it comes to the MVP Award. Nor was I particularly upset with (or surprised by) Jason Giambi's placement, given how few A's fans there seem to be these days.

That leaves Frank Thomas. To borrow a line from Dennis Miller -- I don't want to get off on a rant here, but I don't see how anyone outside of a White Sox fan blind to the rest of baseball could possibly think Frank Thomas deserves the American League Most Valuable Player this season.

Somehow the media has turn the AL MVP race into a battle between two slugging first basemen: Thomas and Delgado. How Rodriguez -- putting up stellar numbers while playing the toughest position on the diamond for a first-place club -- got lost in the shuffle is beyond me, but for the moment I'll focus on Delgado and Thomas.

The Big Hurt's White Sox have 89 wins this season, while Delgado's Blue Jays check in with 79 as of this writing. Naturally Thomas has been the more valuable of the two, right? That's the same line of thinking that cost Mark McGwire the NL MVP in 1998, even though it wasn't his fault the Cardinals had no pitching while Sammy Sosa's Cubs had just enough to win the Wild Card.

If Thomas played on a last-place club but was putting up the exact same numbers, do you think anyone would be making an MVP case on his behalf? Other than perhaps his mother, it doesn't seem. But would playing on a bad team make him suddenly less valuable? He'd still be the same hitter, the same fielder, the same player, making the same contributions to his team. That he's surrounded by horrible players should make no difference.

Further, it's not as if Toronto has been a horrible team this season. While they are ten games worse than the White Sox, the Blue Jays are just three games out of the Wild Card race and were in contention in the AL East much of the year.

Another popular MVP argument back in 1998 surrounded the Triple Crown stats, namely that Sosa had both more runs batted in and a higher batting average than McGwire. Both statements are true -- Sosa out-hit McGwire .308 to .299, and his 158 RBI were 11 better than McGwire's 147 -- embracing for the moment the idea these stats aren't filled with flaws.

This season Delgado stands in at .353-40-133, with Thomas sporting a .330-42-140 line. Using not the least bit of statistical analysis, I'm willing to call that even (if anything, Delgado should have a slight advantage). Certainly those who voted in the poll aren't making their choice based on these numbers.

The great thing about comparing Thomas and Delgado is that they both either DH or play first base, so you don't have to consider positional differences. Looking simply the raw numbers -- batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage -- there should be no doubt as to who has had the better season in 2001.

Thomas -- .330/.435/.644
Delgado -- .353/.475/.682

Both men are certainly having wonderful seasons, but Delgado's is clearly just that much more wonderful and based on these numbers. If you're a stickler for defense Delgado get the nod as well -- he's played all of his 149 games this season at first base, while Thomas has appeared in the field in just 30 games.

And what of Rodriguez, who's hitting .326/.430/.621? He'd get my MVP vote if I had one, followed by Delgado and Pedro Martinez, with apologies to the Big Hurt.