NL MVP Results: A Rant on the BBWAA's Decision

Yesterday, the BBWAA announced the winner of the National League MVP award, and the winner was Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun. Braun had a terrific season, helping the Brewers make the playoffs. He was definitely one of the two candidates that were in the running for the award. 

But the BBWAA got this one wrong. Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp had the better year and should have, in my opinion, won the NL MVP award.

I was going to write that they got the American League MVP vote wrong as well, but with that vote, they showed that they could break down the barriers that some have about voting for starting pitchers for the MVP award. We all know how important an ace starting pitcher is for any team in baseball, or even your fantasy team. The price on the free agent market for an ace starting pitcher is around $120 million over 5 years, just ask Cliff Lee. Or CC Sabathia. Or Clayton Kershaw in the very near future. So, voting Tigers ace Justin Verlander as the American League MVP, while different, showed us that the BBWAA was willing to push the envelope and vote for the right guy, and put old school thinking on the back burner.

The rest of my rant after the jump:

Last year, the BBWAA put old school thinking on the back burner when they chose Mariners Felix Hernandez as the American League Cy Young award winner, even though he did not have the most wins. The BBWAA looked beyond surface stats like wins and considered a starting pitcher on a last place team by voting for King Felix. Hernandez's 13 wins the lowest win total for a Cy Young award winner ever, as voters looked at his league leading ERA of 2.27, batting average against of .212, and 249 2/3 innings pitched, along with his complete dominance of the league, with little to no run support from him team, to award him the 2010 Cy Young award.

Heading into the NL MVP award announcement, I thought that the BBWAA would overlook the case against Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. That case was that he did not play for a winning team. Well, the Dodgers were 82-79 this season, but they did not make the playoffs. For some reason, these voters think the MVP has to play for a team that made the playoffs. Somehow they decided that Braun was the most valuable Brewer. The Brewers are a team that includes Prince Fielder, who is a top 5 first baseman in all of baseball who might be more valuable over the term of his next contract than Albert Pujols. The Brewers are a team that includes starting pitchers like former AL Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum, and Yovani Gallardo and a closer named John Axford who tied for the NL lead in saves. And Braun was the most valuable Brewer somehow.

Meanwhile, Kemp played with the likes of one really good pitcher, NL Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, and that's about it. Here is a look at the lineup the Dodgers ran out there on a daily basis:

C - Rod Barajas

1B - James Loney

2B - Juan Uribe/Aaron Miles

SS- Jamey Carroll/Dee Gordon

3B - Casey Blake/Juan Uribe

LF - Jerry Sands/Tony Gwynn Jr./Juan Rivera

CF - Matt Kemp

RF - Andre Ethier

Pretty pitiful lineup, no? And now the Brewers lineup:

C - Jonathan Lucroy

1B - Prince Fielder

2B - Rickie Weeks

SS - Yuniesky Betancourt

3B - Casey McGehee

LF - Ryan Braun

CF - Nyjer Morgan

RF - Corey Hart

I am not sure how Ryan Braun could be the Brewers most valuable player in that lineup, or that he stood that much above teammate Fielder. It is obvious that Kemp was the Dodgers most valuable player when you look at the talent Don Mattingley had in his clubhouse on a daily basis.

Some of the arguments against Clayton Kershaw in the NL Cy Young award voting this season was that he pitched in the NL West, the division with less than stellar lineups in San Diego and San Francisco. That, and he pitched in a pitcher park and in a division with two of the best pitchers parks in the National League in Petco Park and AT&T Park.

But for some reason, this argument did not work in Kemp's favor. He played 99 of his 162 games in those same pitchers parks. Here is how he hit in those pitchers parks this season: