WHY THE 2011 AL MVP PLAYS IN THE BRONX

With less than 40 games remaining in the regular season, the debate will kick into full force as to who should be the Most Valuable Player in the American League. 2007 was the last time the award was given to a player in pinstripes. That season, Alex Rodriguez hit 54 home runs, led the American League with 156 RBIs, a slugging percentage of .645 and received 26 of 28 first-place votes en route to his third AL MVP award. Last season Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers won the MVP award with 32 home runs and 100 RBIs. But now let’s take a look at who should be front and center in the discussion for the 2011 American League MVP award. In 123 games played this season, Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson has hit 35 home runs, including an inside the park job Sunday afternoon at Target Field in Minnesota. The Grandyman also has 98 RBIs, 65 total extra base hits and a slugging percentage of .594. All of this with 37 games remaining on the Yankees regular season schedule.

Here is where I will take a different twist on the MVP debate to solidify the vote for Granderson. From the break of spring training, actually, from the time Andy Pettitte announced his retirement and Cliff Lee spurned the Yankees for the Phillies, questions began to surround the Yankees as to who would step up for this team. When the team left Tampa, most thought the issue would be pitching, surprisingly it has not been as big of a concern as once feared. Through the slumps of Teixeira and Swisher and injuries to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on the offensive side, one thing has remained consistent…Curtis Granderson has been hot right out of the gate all the way into late August.

So as we sit here, 37 games away from the end of another regular season, we look at what has unfolded: The Captain reach a milestone never-before seen in the Bronx. The back end of the Yankees rotation was mocked by mostly everyone in baseball. The greatest closer ever, Mariano Rivera will move into first place on the all-time saves list. But, I ask you though... who has been more valuable to the Yankees than Curtis Granderson?

Thanks to Granderson's offense and defense, this New York Yankee team sits a half game up in the AL East on the Boston Red Sox. A Red Sox team that was supposed to rival one of the greatest clubs put together in decades. BYB wrote about it here in THE STATE OF THE YANKEES.

If the Most Valuable Player award is to go to a player who is indeed, the MOST valuable to their team and in all likelihood a team in the playoffs, how can it not be Curtis Granderson? If you subscribe to the theory that the MVP award is exactly that, I ask you to think about where this New York Yankees team would be today without Curtis Granderson. To me, the decision is crystal clear, isn't it?



--Justin Slaton, BYB Guest Writer




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