Jeter Not Mvp ?

[staindsox]

Come on, Jeter was not robbed. Morneau put the Twins in the playoffs. And for the record, Jeter's gold glove isn't deserved. His range is crap. SABR measures this statistically. If you look at the number of balls he fields over the course of a season, it has typically far less than other shortstops. Over the course of a week, there could be a variance depending on how often the ball is hit to you, but over the course of the season, it averages out. He won the gold glove because of his popularity. If anyone were to ever be robbed, it would never be Jeter. He is far too popular. Why can't anyone be big enough to give Morneau credit. Jeter had a great season, but Morneau is the MVP.

[Yankwood]

As the nickname Yankwood might imply, I am a lifelong Yankee fan, which goes back to the mid 1960's. My opinion, for whatever weight that carries, is that a case can be made for both players, as well as a few more. We all like to think out favorites were the "best" and I too was hoping that Derek Jeter would win the award. Had he won, I'm sure we Yankee fans would have had to "defend" this selection against the cries of angry Yankee haters. This is pretty much common practice and has formed a tough hide in most of us. However, this is what makes the game fun. For over a hundred years, friendships have formed and even flourished in the face of so-called heated debates concerning our teams that we choose early in life. And if the arguments between fans of teams and players were not enough, the SABRmetricians and "traditionalists" have locked horns. These make for interesting discussions and arguments that never really get settled once our minds are made up but as time goes by and we get a little older we realize that the heated discussions of today get lost in the shuffle of all the debates of the past once a new season begins.
I have no problem with Morneau's selection. His team was wallowing early in the year as he struggled close to the .200 mark, however as he heated up so did his team. Fans of Johan Santana make the same claim. On the other hand, Jeter, I believe held his team together through many injuries, overall suspect pitching and also in the face of A-Rod's less than stellar production, especially in the clutch. This can debated too, however, it is the way I saw the season unfold. Jermaine Dye, David Ortiz, Johan Santana, Frank Thomas, et al. all had fabulous seasons and I'm sure the fans of the White Sox, the A's, the Twins, Red Sox, Yankees, etc. all have different opinions. The trick here, though, is to listen when the other one is talking because if the same players we speak in favor of switched uniforms, our "opinions" might become radically different. This is why we are called "fans", which is short for "fanatics". Fanaticism knows no logic.

[sylbry]

Yes, Morneau had a lousy start to his season, just like his team. Starting at the end of June, Morneau put together a MONSTER season, which none of the other candidates could come close to matching. In the end he had a very fine season. So did Jeter.

The Twins would NOT have made it to the playoffs without him (or Santana or Mauer for that matter.) They played in, and won THE HARDEST division in baseball against two of the best teams in the game in 2006. Unlike the Twins, the Yankees would have very likely made the playoffs without Jeter as they played in much less competitive division (sorry Jays and Red Sox fans.) Therefore Morneau was much more valuable to his team than Jeter.

As far as Jeter being clutch and Morneau not, ask yourself what did Jeter do that was clutch in 2006? Nothing I can think of. In fact he choked on the last day of the season when he had a chance to win the batting title.

Jeter and Jeter fans should just be content with the two awards he didn't deserve to win, the Hank Aaron award and a Gold Glove.

[sylbry]

[quote=allstarsplus;26430]Now back to the Twins, they had Mauer lead the league in batting average at .347 and was a MVP candidate, Luis Castillo an All Star 2nd baseman at .296 and Tyner and Bartlett both batted over .300 with in addition Torii Hunter who had an off year with 98 RBIs and 31 HRs.[quote]

Tyner and Bartlett are bench players. The Twins lineup is not exactly Giambi, Cabrera, A-Rod, Cano, Damon, and Posada. (Ignoring Abreu, Sheffield and Matsui who only played part of the season for the Yankees.)

[JETEFAN]

Morneau hit 226, 271, and 239 his first 3 years and has had only 1/2 of a decent season since he came up. To even try to compare or imply that he is a more valuable player to his team than Jeter is insane!! Like Shakira say's hips, I mean numbers, plays, flips, dives and midnight homers don't lie!!!! The views expressed are not necessarily (But probably are!!) the views of this forum or it's members.

[sylbry]

1) It is the 2006 MVP award. What Morneau or Jeter did in the past HAS NO MEANING on this year's voting.

2) Don't try to speak for everyone on the forum. They can speak for themselves if they wish.

[both-teams-played-hard]

I like these non-memorabilia threads. They're kinda like the office Christmas party. You see where co-workers are coming from and just what they're thinking...
Jeter deserves the MVP, for the sole reason as I have never heard of this other guy. Don't shoot me...I'm just a collector!

[thome25.com]

I cannot figure out how anybody would suggest Jeter held anything together this year, especially considering the time he and A-rod colided and Jeter gave a dirty look of disgust, walking away as the ball lay on the ground.. Not exactly what you are looking for out of your club-house leader... Pick the players up while they are down, don't pile on.... Jeter is a media darling. He is a great player but certainly receives more praise than somebody of the same skill set playing for a small market club... Gold glove? Not sure I agree with that one either... I could easily suggest Hafner had more value to his club than Jeter did... Look at the numbers between the 2 of them.

[cjw]

Being a die-hard Jays fan, it is easy to dump on the Yankees. But I don't have to let my personal loyalties cloud my judgement in this case...because looking at the numbers and the way Morneau helped power the Twins through the tough Central division.....he takes the MVP in my book.

[JETEFAN]

Being a die-hard Jays fan, it is easy to dump on the Yankees. But I don't have to let my personal loyalties cloud my judgement in this case...because looking at the numbers and the way Morneau helped power the Twins through the tough Central division.....he takes the MVP in my book.

Let's look at the numbers!!!

Jeter vs. Morneau
Jeter was 22 points better BA, 42 points better on base Pct. 58 points better with runners in scoring position, Jeter also had more Hits, Runs, Doubles and stolen bases than Morneau. For a guy hitting in the number 2 spot, these numbers are awsome!!!!