Who's Your Guy?
by ReggieARodJeter on Oct 5, 2009 1:11 PM EDT
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You might have guessed mine. That would be Alex Rodriguez. Two slow claps and counting. My reasons: 13-15 w/out, 90-44 with. Factor in the the protection for Mark Teixeira and the overall stability he brought to the lineup since May 8th. Then consider the maybe 20 hits to tie or go ahead, the walk-off vs Minnesota May16th, the Verlander/Sabathia pitcher's duel he settled after the all-star break, the memorable 15th inning GW HR on August 7th vs Boston and the pop up that brought Luis Castillo insomnia in mid-June. Now after missing nearly 30 games, 30 HR, 100 RBI---done and....done. I knew he was hot, but I didn't see that coming. And hey, he doesn't play a bad 3bag either.
But of course "my boy" isn't the only one. You can't downplay the magnificent addition of Mark Teixeira. The Gold Glove, and the staggering offensive numbers (considering how he started off) 39 HR,122 RBI.
But surely you'd be silly to neglect the contribution of Robinson Cano. Also "nice wit it" on D, and a beastly .320,25,85 playing 2B!
What about Captain Sanderson? Among the team's best performing months July and August,the hits just kept coming............At leadoff. To the point where he finished with 212, hit over .330, and threatened to jack 20 homers at the ripe age of 35. And SS range diminished? Try a .986 FPCT (his highest since 1998)
Or do you take it to the hill? My main man CC "Big Poppa" Sabathia won 9 of his last 13 decisions,threw 230 frames(23 fewer than 08) finished with a WHIP of 1.15, just missed winning 20 games and 200Ks!
And then there is Mariano Rivera. 44 saves, a 1.76 ERA, a shutdown 9.77 K/9 and a .90 WHIP.
So Yankee fans......Who's your team MVP? Who's your guy?
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I have to chose the incrediblely consistent year Jeter has had, with CC a close second. He’s put up unbelievable numbers offensively and defensively in a season when most of us figured he’d begin to decline.
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
I'm going with Tex.
We were going into this year with Swisher at 1B. Granted, Swisher has had a great bounce back year, but Tex has excellent defense plus higher in all 3 slash stats. If there was no Tex, Swish would be the full time 1B, and that would leave Melky in RF and Gardner in CF, but what about when GGBG was injured? Swish and Tex both added a great amount of depth we didn’t have last year and was evidenced greatly when Nady went down in April.
i agree about A-Rod
the award is called most VALUABLE player. And this guy, with his protection, his bat, and the way he turned the team around, he is the most VALUABLE player this year.
going from a numerical standpoint...
the player with the highest WAR on the team is Jeter at 7.4. If you extrapolate A-Rod’s numbers out to if he had played the full season, he would have been at around 5.9, better than Teixeira’s 5.4. However, you also have to remember that A-Rod hadn’t been “A-Rod” until the last 2.5 months of the season. Had he been present the entire season and not injured, his year would have been monstrous. Even getting off to his slow start, he ended the year leading the team in wOBA.
That said, in the actual MVP vote players often get penalized for having missed large chunks of the season, so in the Yankee MVP vote, I’m going for Teixeira. Second on the team in wOBA, and 2/3 of the AL triple crown.
But also remember
Tex really didn’t get to be Tex UNTIL Alex came back.
------It's October,winning is what the Yankees do........let's just do it already
TEX
Tex made Arod more productive at the plate. In the field, Tex made me think of Donnie Baseball. He made the entire infield better—giving each the confidence to take chances, and it paid off in spades.
With the bat, Tex was simply a monster.
Jeter, Cano, Arod, Swisher, Damon, CC, Mo and even Hughes were all spectacular … but Tex was just alittle better.
"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will
?
Tex made Arod more productive at the plate
You really believe that?
What the f$%k is the internet?
I didn't understand that one either,but its all good.
------It's October,winning is what the Yankees do........let's just do it already
by ReggieARodJeter on Oct 5, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Absolutely ...
What don’t you understand?
The presence of Tex impacted Arod in two key ways—one he’s a masher, and took some of the pressure off Arod to “be the man”. Second, he provides protection for Arod. The Cardinals adding Holliday made Pujols more productive as well because pitchers suddenly had to pitch to him. In Boston, Big Crappy had Manny …
"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will
Teixeira bats 3rd, A-Rod bats fourth
A-Rod protects Teixeira, not the other way around. I agree that Teixeira takes pressure off of Rodriguez to be “the man”, but Tex doesn’t provide any protection for A-Rod in the order.
while the idea of lineup protection is debatable...
I’ve never heard of a player batting ahead of someone being the “protector”.
Small sample, but Tex was ASS when A-Rod was hurt, “MVP” contender when A-Rod came back.
the first part, that A-Rod doesn’t have to be the man, is true.
And I don’t know where you see Albert being so much better with Holliday there. He was on pace to shatter all kinds of records, namely the HR one, without Holliday. He came back to earth with him there.
What the f$%k is the internet?
CC
We’ve always had offense, but a dominant #1 starter is what we’ve been missing for years.
by Rumplestiltskin02 on Oct 5, 2009 5:16 PM EDT reply actions
See screen name
I’ve been a huge fan of Tex ever since he was drafted, mainly because I found out he wore 23 in honor of Mattingly. I knew he put up great numbers every year, but it wasn’t until I got the chance to watch him play every day this year that I realized what a great player he actually is. The guy plays gold glove defense, runs hard all the time, is popular in the clubhouse and with the media, never gives away at bats, and the list goes on and on. Lots of credit to Cashman and the team on this one for realizing that this kind of player RARELY hits free agency and that they needed to jump on him.
by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Oct 5, 2009 5:17 PM EDT reply actions
A-Rod.
Other guys have the numbers, but the team has been night and day as soon as he came back.
What the f$%k is the internet?
agreed
Once Arod came back, the team has been completely different, and Tex owes Arod all the pitches he’s allowed to see (that he didn’t get when Arod wasn’t in the lineup) to produce the way he has been. They’ve been very similar to the Manny/Ortiz combo of years past. Only the crazy (Joe Maddon) walks Tex to get to Arod.
That, and Arod has a ton of clutch hits (to tie or put the Yankees ahead) this season that can’t be ignored. Arod is the reason they’ve won many games, period. I don’t care about WAR calculations, you take Arod out of that lineup and Tex doesn’t get to swing a bat if they can just pitch to Matsui or Swish instead.
Walking Tex
While A-Rod is the better hitter the same logic applies that I think applied to Ortiz and Manny. Even though Manny was better, it made sense to walk Ortiz with an open base because then you only have to face one of them and not both. I haven’t seen many managers apply this logic to Tex/Arod yet, but it does make some sense.
by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Oct 6, 2009 12:45 AM EDT up reply actions
They're all valuable to the team as a whole.
But, I totally agree with some of the statements above, A-Rod’s contribution is invaluable. A-Rod is my MVP choice.
ha
It’s funny how so many of the people commenting are saying A-Rod, but then the vote goes completely to Texeira and Jeter. Common sense prevails.
I voted for A-Rod...
Im sure the people who said A-Rod was their MVP did too.
Its the mass horde of heathens, trolls and misinformed (tho of course more than a few completely in-tune, knowledgeable fans mixed in….) who made the vote sway toward Jete and Tex.
Tex was an average player before A-Rod came back.
Since A-Rod’s back, the team is the best in baseball. A-Rod is A-Rod no matter where he plays.
There are times that “common sense” is in the eye of the beholder.
A-Rod really is this team’s MVP. Yea, Tex’ improvement could have been a slow start, but the guy was simply a hapless soul at the plate before Alex returned. I don’t see it.
He was Giambi part II without A-Rod…..
What the f$%k is the internet?
by FreeBradshaw on Oct 5, 2009 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions
I think ARod absolutely deserves to be considered for the positional MVP along with Teix and Jeter, but WAY too much has been made of how the team turned around when he came back.
First, if you check the numbers, in the weeks following his return, the big change wasn’t in offense, but in pitching. The day he came back was also the day CC Sabathia started a string of 7 fantastic starts. And the in the days prior the Yanks had sent down Wang and called up Hughes, who may not have been a great starter, but he at least gave us a chance to win without completely burning out the pen every 5 days. Aceves, too, was called up that week. Put those three things together, and you have an improved, and more rested, bullpen – starting, coincidentally, at the time ARod returns.
As for Teix, ARod helped (though again the pitch breakdown raise questions whether Teix saw any change in pitches once he came back), but Teix has always been a slow starter, and always broke out in May, and never needed ARod’s help to do it. And lest you forget, Teix had strained his forearm in April. That too was probably healed around the first week of May.
Again, I do not wish to minimize ARod’s contributions. Look past his batting average, and you’ll see he had a phenomenal season for the Yanks (indeed, at the ASB, he led the Yanks in a number of offensive stats). But this whole team was well balanced, and no one position player was completely indespensible.
Guess I believe in team chemistry.
Certain teams, for reasons beyond the ability of individual stats to grasp, will tend to do better than the sum of their parts. Maybe the members feel comfortable together. Maybe they help one another out with everything from tips and observations, to intelligence on how to prepare for a particular pitcher or hitter. Could be lots of reasons, but I believe chemistry does matter, and not all teams have it… plus that for this reason, one player can have an impact on many of his teammates even beyond the obvious… for example, pitchers influencing the team’s hitters and vice versa. Maybe with the pitching improving, the offense doesn’t feel the need to put big numbers on the board all the time, so they stop pressing, relax, and play better themselves. I don’t know.
That is true but...
In that case ARod is still only one of the combination of players that allows the team to operate above the level of their individual stats – ARod is important to Teix, but so too Teix and Jeter and Damon and Matsui to ARod. My point is simply that some people seem to want to build up this myth that ARod changed the team’s fortunes with one swing, and that only works if you ignore everything else that came together at the same time.
I have to vote CC.
The team is stacked with hitters, and while all of them are important, losing any one of them wouldn’t have killed the team. Hell, it probably would not have dropped us out of first, let alone the playoffs.
However, with Wang unable to contribute, the starting pitching was razor thin. We danced around the #5 position the whole season. Take out any one of the 1-4 starters, and Hughes is likely still struggling in the rotation, and never puts the final piece in our pen.
But take out CC specifically, and the bullpen is tossing another 3-4 innings every 5th day, again without Hughes. You risk overworking Aceves (and see the July Angels series to see how the Yanks did when Aceves was lost), and likely don’t hold the opponents lead long enough to let us win 50 come from behind games. What happens to this team when AJ – our “ace” without CC – falls down in August and September? What happens when he’s joined by Joba, and we can only count on Andy Pettite to give us a good start after the All Star Break? And if we make the post season, does anyone here like our chances to go to the WS with Andy-AJ-Joba-Hughes?
Or do the Yankees are trading away valuable pieces for Washburn or some other spit-the-bit pitcher for the stretch run? Or do we toss away our most valuable prospectes to secure Riccardi’s future employment?
Has to be Rivera
44 saves and 3 wins, that’s 45% of the team’s victories, and he’s 39!, not in the prime of his baseball career. He is as near automatic as he has always been. They are not the Yankees of the last 14 years without him. Everybody has made sound arguments for their pick, but when Rivera finally retires, we will never see anyone like him again.
I'm not sure
that Mo will ever leave his prime. He could still be pitching when he’s 50 if he wants to and could probably still post “in his prime” numbers. He’s that good. If Rivera is true to his word on that interview he did with ESPN, then he won’t be retiring for a long time.
Mo is one of those guys who never seems to be THE star
in any particular season, but when you look back at the end of his career it will be obvious he was the most important piece in the whole puzzle. He is truly amazing. I appreciate him more and more over time… I admire and respect him, even hold him up as a role model for my children, not just because of his greatness as a ballplayer, but for his overall greatness as a human being. He is an incredible person both on and off the field, and we are all blessed to have enjoyed witnessing his career.
Well put pinstriper
Holy poll votes Batman!!!!
------It's October,winning is what the Yankees do........let's just do it already
by ReggieARodJeter on Oct 6, 2009 11:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Defense wins titles
and our infield went from average to really good.Texeira is mine,he was the most noticeable change in the field from Giambi to whoever else was kicking it.Texeira was going to hit regardless so I don’t buy Arod made his yr.He protected him yes but Texeira always hits and is a notorious slow starter so some of it was coincidence and some was better pitches to hit.It’s not like Arod was a terror out of the gate.It was HR or nothing for the 1st month.Really they are all deserving.The really big run came following the break when the pitching started to shut em down.I love those of you who call others trolls and misinformed because they disagree with you.Opinions are subjective to many circumstances and thinking yours is the only right one or the only that matters is assanine.Its not like Arod never had a poor start to his yr,namely his first Mvp with the Yanks but you wouldn’t call him Robin Ventura part 2.Pointless to post what you think the Yankee rent a cop will put you in your place.
Although I do think A-Rod is the key player that will take them to the next level, Jeter is who gets the team to inspired and motivated. The Yankee captain lets his play on the field do the talking and gets the team to rally around him. When they were down 0-2 yesterday against the Twins, who hit the game tying 2-run homer and got the fans hyped up? Jeter…
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