WHY MVP IS FOR PLAYERS, NOT PITCHERS

"There's nothing in the criteria that says a pitcher cannot receive the award, but at the same time, there's a couple of items that should eliminate a pitcher from receiving the award from the get go." --Jose Bautista

Good for Jose Bautista to say something that fans have been dying for players to say! (Read HERE.) Pitchers should NOT be awarded the MVP. That being said, Congratulations to Justin Verlander for being a terrific pitcher in 2011. We all knew he was capable of winning the Cy Young this season, after all, he’s a dominant pitcher who will probably have an incredible career. What he is not however, in my humble opinion of course, is the Most Valuable Player of 2011. That, my friends is an award for someone who plays an entire grueling season in the field and racks up over 600 At Bats, hits over 30 plus home runs and racks up over 100 plus RBIs. The Most Valuable Player award should be awarded to just that, the Most Valuable PLAYER. Yes, Pitchers are players but pitchers pitch and in Verlander’s case, he doesn’t even hit. You can sit there and say, well, he’s an American League pitcher, he doesn’t have to hit. I say to that… you just made my point.

I LIKE Justin Verlander just like I liked Dennis Eckerskley when he shouldn’t have won the MVP in 1992 and I liked Roger Clemens when he shouldn’t have won the MVP in 1986. I don’t believe that that award should be given to a pitcher and it would be a smart idea to really re-evaluate what the MVP actually means.

Now, not only am I not pleased about the outcome of today’s MVP, I’m going to go into a predictable step further and scream anti-Yankee bias! Here's the List:

1. Justin Verlander (280)
2. Jacoby Ellsbury (242)
3. Jose Bautista (231)
4. Curtis Granderson (215)
5. Miguel Cabrera (193)
6. Robinson Cano (112)
7. Adrian Gonzalez (105)
8. Michael Young (96)
9. Dustin Pedroia (48)
10. Evan Longoria (27)

Curtis Granderson finished 4^th? Seriously? Cano is 6th? Wait... Granderson is behind Jose Bautista? How is that possible? I predicted anti-Yankee bias before these awards happened and I’m sticking with it.

Now I’m going to say something crazy, nutty, and maybe even absurd…and I’m going to say it because while I am a Yankee fanatic, I am also a person who appreciates the game of baseball. You ready? Here it goes… Jacoby Ellsbury got robbed… and not only do I think so, I know he thinks so and so does Jose Bautista. You can’t sit there as a true baseball person and not believe that and I'll tell you, you're crazy.

So, while many have opinions on how this vote should have played out, there are many things wrong with it and very little right with it. There is no denying Justin Verlander is a terrific pitcher, but he just won an award that definitely should not be awarded to him. Sorry, that’s how I feel about it. How do you feel? Comment... keep it clean and sound off in this post.

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