A look at all of the AL MVP candidates (Popular and Not)

Now that the season is over. Let's have a look at the final contenders for the American League MVP (not including pitchers). I will list all deserving candidates. The candidates will be broken down into two lists--Popular Choices and Not Popular Choices).

Popular Choices

Vladimir Guerrero(ANA) - .337/.391/.598, 15 SB, 3 CS, 83.3 SB%, 39 HR, 74/52(1.42) K/BB, .989 OPS, 93.2 VORP

Manny Ramirez(BOS) - .308/.397/.613, 2 SB, 4 CS, 33.3 SB%, 43 HR, 124/82(1.51) K/BB, 1.010 OPS, 70.0 VORP

David Ortiz(BOS) - .302/.380/.603, 0 SB, 0 CS, 0 SB%, 41 HR, 133/75(1.77) K/BB, .983 OPS, 73.1 VORP

Gary Sheffield(NYY) - .290/.393/.534, 5 SB, 6 CS, 45.5 SB%, 36 HR, 83/92(0.90) K/BB .927 OPS, 63.8 VORP

Not Popular Choices

Miguel Tejada(BAL) - .312/.360/.534, 4 SB, 1 CS, 80 SB%, 34 HR, 73/48(1.52) K/BB, .894 OPS, 79.1 VORP

Carlos Guillen(DET) - .318/.377/.542, 12 SB, 5 CS, 70.6 SB%, 20 HR, 87/52(1.67) K/BB, .919 OPS, 71.3 VORP

Alex Rodriguez(NYY) - .286/.375/.512, 28 SB, 4 CS, 87.5 SB%, 36 HR, 131/80(1.64) K/BB, .887 OPS, 63.0 VORP

Ichiro Suzuki(SEA)- .372/.413/.455, 36 SB, 11 CS, 76.6 SB%, 8 HR, 63/49(1.29) K/BB, .868 OPS, 79.2 VORP

Melvin Mora(BAL)- .340/.415/.562, 11 SB, 6 CS, 64.7 SB%, 27 HR, 95/66(1.44) K/BB, .977 OPS, 79.3 VORP

Travis Hafner(CLE)- .311/.408/.583, 3 SB, 2 CS, 60 SB%, 28 HR, 111/68(1.63) K/BB .991 OPS, 74.1 VORP

It is the author's opinion the most important statistic that will show you a players overall performance is VORP(Value Over Replacement Player). My reasons behind this are because VORP includes SB's, CS, SB%, Quality of Competition, and Ballpark Factors. As opposed too OPS (read on...).

The second most important stat in my opinion is OPS(On-Base+Slugging). This is pretty self expanatory, everything a hitter is trying to do at the plate is reflected in this statistic.

The system I used to determine my rankings was simple. I ranked the VORP, and OPS of each player 1-10 and awarded each player with a "ranking point" equal to the rank itself. Since I believe VORP is a more complete and valuable statistic, I weighted it to mean 1 and a half times more than OPS. After completing the rankings I added up each players "ranking points"to determine their total "MVP Points." Since a better ranking equals a lower number, a less amount of points would be the better.

****Since a less amount of points is better in this system, a player's VORP ranking was cut in half to determine how many "ranking points" he was given for VORP.****

Example: At 93.2 VORP, Vladimir Guerrero ranks #1 out of the 10 candidates, and with a .989 OPS he ranks #3. Since VORP is weighted to mean 1 and a half times as much as OPS, Guerrero's VORP ranking is multiplied by .5 to give him at total of .5 points in the VORP category, and 3 points in the OPS category for a total of 3.5 "MVP Points."

Here are my Rankings:

Rank. Player- VORP--"Ranking Points"
1. Guerrero- 93.2--.5

2. Mora- 79.3--1

3. Suzuki- 79.2--1.5

4. Tejada- 79.1--2

5. Hafner- 74.1--2.5

6. Ortiz- 73.1--3

7. Guillen- 71.3--3.5

8. Ramirez- 70--4

9. Sheffield- 63.8--4.5

10. Rodriguez- 63--5



Rank. Player- OPS--"Ranking Points"
1. Ramirez- 1.010--1

2. Hafner- .991--2

3. Guerrero- .989--3

4. Ortiz- .983--4

5. Mora- .977--5

6. Sheffield- .927--6

7. Guillen- .919--7

8. Tejada- .894--8

9. Rodriguez- .887--9

10. Suzuki- .868--10


Rank. Player- VORP + OPS "Ranking Points" = "MVP Points"
1. Guerrero- .5 + 3 = 3.5

2. Hafner- 2.5 + 2 = 4.5

3. Ramirez- 4 + 1 = 5

4. Mora- 1 + 5 = 6

5. Ortiz- 3 + 4 = 7

6. Tejada- 2 + 8 =10

7. Guillen- 3.5 + 7 = 10.5

8. Sheffield- 4.5 + 6 = 10.5

9. Suzuki- 1.5 + 10 = 11.5

10. Rodriguez- 5 + 9 = 14

Very surprising to see where Travis Hafner and Gary Sheffield end up, isn't it? Some say Sheffield is going to win the AL MVP, and Hafner isn't even mentioned. It can be seen earlier that Hafner is on the "Not Popular Choices" list.

And even when the argument of "the MVP has to be on a playoff team" is used, Sheffield ranks fourth among the players that are on Playoff teams (Guerrero, Ramirez, Ortiz, and Sheffield).

So as it ends up, Vladimir Guerrero of the Anaheim Angels wins the AL MVP according the Serious Baseball.

What a great first year in Anaheim, huh??

Thank you for reading.

Frank Bundy III

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at frnkbndy@yahoo.com.