Justin Verlander For MVP?
Written by Christopher Corazon, Tuesday August 23 2011
The Tigers defeated the Rays 5-2 in St. Petersburg. Justin Verlander matched a career high with 19 wins. He also won that many in 2009. He leads the AL in wins, innings pitched (209.2), strike outs (212), WHIP (0.88), and winning percentage (.792). He is second n ERA (2.28) and complete games (4).
Verlander is clearly the leader for the Cy Young, could he win the MVP as well? First question, should a pitcher be allowed to win the MVP? Absolutely. The award is for a player, not necessarily a position player. In the old days, pitchers could win the MVP. But the last pitcher to do so was Dennis Eckersley (Oakland, 1992). The last time a starter won was Roger Clemens (Boston, 1986). Detroit actually has a history of MVP pitchers, including Willie Hernandez (1984), Denny McLain (1968) and Hal Newhouser (1944,45)
Another argument in Verlander's favor opposed to other candidates should be that he is on a playoff contender, unlike Jose Bautista. At the same time, he is playing for the Tigers, opposed to the Yankees and Red Sox. Sure, both teams have MVP candidates, but what is their real value when they are surrounded by All Stars and other MVP hopefuls? A real MVP should be a player that is so valuable, if he was not on that team, the team would not be the same and might be significantly worse. Verlander might be it.
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