Monday, November 17, 2014

Kershaw Got What He Deserved

Clayton Kershaw was not only the best pitcher in major league baseball in 2014 - he was also the top overall player - so the voters got it right when they chose him to receive the NL Cy Young Award and  the Most Valuable Player Award.

The notion that a starting pitcher shouldn't win a Most Valuable Player Award is preposterous.  A dominant starting pitcher is often every bit as valuable - or more valuable - as a top position player in any given year - like this year, for example.

The Wins Above Replacement leaders (WAR) in the National League in 2014:

Kershaw - 8.0
Lucroy - 6.7
Stanton & Rendon - 6.5
McCutchen, Wainwright & Cueto - 6.4

The voters also got it right in the American League - as Mike Trout (7.9 WAR) finally got the MVP Award he has actually deserved for the past three seasons - and Corey Kluber (7.4 WAR) won the CYA.

Kershaw is the first National League pitcher to receive both awards since Bob Gibson did it in 1968.  And yes, Gibson's WAR of 11.9 was tops in major league baseball that season - so he certainly got what he deserved.

Quite often, starting pitchers don't get what they deserve when it comes to the Most Valuable Player Award.  Since 1950, starting pitchers with the highest WAR have been snubbed fifty times - twenty-five (NL) & twenty-five (AL) - for MVP Awards.  Obviously, there's a strong bias against pitchers taking home Most Valuable Player Awards, since they already have "their own" (Cy Young) Award.

However, the results show that pitchers are often the top players in each league, year in and year out.  But they've gotten aced out with startling consistency, as we can see below (WAR):

1950 - Garver (8.2) loses AL MVP to Rizzuto (6.7)
1952 - Roberts (8.5) loses NL MVP to Sauer (5.7)
1953 - Roberts (9.8) loses NL MVP to Campanella (7.1)
1959 - Pascual (8.6) loses AL MVP to Fox (6.0)
1962 - Pascual (6.2) loses AL MVP to Mantle (5.9)
1964 - Chance (8.6) loses AL MVP to Robinson (8.1)
1965 - McDowell (7.9) loses AL MVP to Versailles (7.2)
1966 - Koufax & Marichal (both 9.8) lose NL MVP to Clemente (8.2)
1966 - Wilson (7.9) loses AL MVP to Robinson (7.7)
1969 - Gibson (11.3) loses NL MVP to McCovey (8.1)
1970 - Gibson (10.1) loses NL MVP to Bench (7.4)
1971 - Jenkins (11.9) loses NL MVP to Torre (5.9)
1971 - Wood (10.9) loses AL MVP to Blue (8.6)
1972 - Carlton (12.5) loses NL MVP to Bench (8.6)
1972 - Perry (11.2) loses AL MVP to Allen (8.6)
1973 - Seaver (11.0) loses NL MVP to Rose (8.2)
1973 - Blyleven (9.9) loses AL MVP to Jackson (7.8)
1974 - Perry (8.6) loses AL MVP to Burroughs (3.6)
1975 - Palmer (8.5) loses AL MVP to Lynn (7.4)
1976 - Fidrych (9.6) loses AL MVP to Munson (5.3)
1977 - Reuschel (9.6) loses NL MVP to Foster (8.4)
1978 - Niekro (10.4) loses NL MVP to Parker (7.0)
1978 - Guidry (9.6) loses AL MVP to Rice (7.5)
1980 - Carlton (10.2) loses NL MVP to Schmidt (8.8)
1983 - Denny (7.6) loses NL MVP to Murphy (7.1)
1985 - Gooden (13.2) loses NL MVP to McGee (8.1)
1986 - Scott (8.2) loses NL MVP to Schmidt (6.1)
1986 - Higuera (9.4) loses AL MVP to Clemens (8.9)
1987 - Clemens (9.4) loses AL MVP to Bell (5.0)
1988 - Hershiser (7.1) loses NL MVP to Gibson (6.5)
1989 - Saberhagen (9.7) loses AL MVP to Yount (5.8)
1990 - Clemens (10.6) loses AL MVP to Henderson (9.9)
1991 - Glavine (9.3) loses NL MVP to Pendleton (6.1)
1992 - Maddux (9.4) loses NL MVP to Bonds (9.0)
1992 - Clemens (8.9) loses AL MVP to Eckersley (2.9)
1993 - Rijo (10.2) loses NL MVP to Bonds (9.9)
1993 - Appier (9.3) loses AL MVP to Thomas (6.2)
1994 - Maddux (8.7) loses NL MVP to Bagwell (8.2)
1995 - Maddux (9.6) loses NL MVP to Larkin (5.9)
1995 - Johnson (8.7) loses AL MVP to Vaughn (4.3)
1997 - Clemens (12.1) loses AL MVP to Griffey (9.1)
1998 - Brown (9.1) loses NL MVP to Sosa (6.4)
1999 - Johnson (8.8) loses NL MVP to Jones (6.9)
1999 - Martinez (9.7) loses AL MVP to Rodriguez (6.4)
2000 - Martinez (11.7) loses AL MVP to Giambi (7.7)
2006 - Santana (7.5) loses AL MVP to Morneau (4.3)
2009 - Greinke (10.4) loses AL MVP to Mauer (7.8)
2010 - Halladay (8.1) loses NL MVP to Votto (6.9)
2011 - Lee (9.2) loses NL MVP to Braun (7.8)

Of course, some of these "snubs" were of the slimmest of margins, while others were overwhelming.  What's really appalling is when a pitcher leads his league in WAR, then not only gets snubbed for the MVP Award, he also gets snubbed for the Cy Young Award.  Those victims:

Lee, Brown, Appier, Rijo, Higuera, Niekro (twice), Reuschel, Fidrych, Perry, Blyleven, Wood, Jenkins, Gibson, Wilson, Marichal, McDowell, and Pascual (twice).

It's interesting to note, when Kershaw won his first Cy Young Award in 2011, Cliff Lee was actually a bit more deserving.  However, in 2014, there was nobody more deserving than the Dodgers' ace - not only for the Cy Young Award, but the Most Valuable Player Award, as well.











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