From Marc Carig:
As you’d expect in a champagne-soaked celebration, the Yankees were quick to hand out credit to others on Sunday afternoon. Take, for instance, Alex Rodriguez, who bestowed MVP honors on at least three different guys.
“You could say Joe Giradi has been our MVP,” Rodriguez said. “He has been phenomenal.”
He continued: “Mark Teixeira, he’s like a four-star general. He’s just an unbelievable player. I’m so proud to be this teammate, Derek Jeter as well. Both guys should be MVP.”
[snip]
Jeter’s presence atop the lineup has ignited the offense. Teixeira’s blend of power, run production and defense has been invaluable. Girardi should get plenty of credit for his approach to rest and preventing injury. And Cashman should be lauded for the mix of talent he has pieced together.
I asked this question back in August, and the poll to the right suggests that Jeter is the most popular choice. However, a legitimate case can be made for Teixeira, Sabathia, Hughes, Rodriguez, Rivera, and others. Here is my short list:
1. Jeter- has been the team’s best and most consistent hitter.
2. Teixeira- provided the punch to this lineup, stabilized the infield defensively.
3. Sabathia- best pitcher, beat Boston 4 times.
4. Rodriguez- team turned around when he returned.
5. Rivera- the one weapon other clubs cannot match.
6. Hughes- stabilized the set-up role, should be huge factor in October.
What does your list look like?
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12 Responses to Discussion: Who Is The Yankees MVP?
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TIQ IQ
mmmmm… Jetes. He did it all year long, while others started slow or got injured or slumped.
2nd choice: CC – his innings and consistency stopped losing streaks and saved the pen.
I’m actually going to go with CC Sabathia. His performances against Boston have been huge like the man himself, but his second half performance, in general, has been spectacular. When you consider the lofty expectations, I think Sabathia has just gone above and beyond what the Yankees had hoped for in his first season in the Bronx.
That’s fair. I wrestled with Tex v. CC for 2nd place. I think Jeter leads the team in WAR for a reason- he has been the only guy to play consistently well all year- he has one month with an OPS under .800, and that’s September.
Alfredo Aceves saved the Yanks bullpen. He ate innings and prevented everyone else, Hughes included, from being overused. As soon as he started pitching well in the bullpen, the rest of the team came together.
Please tell me you did not just nominate Aceves for Yankee MVP. I’m a big fan of out of the box thinking, but you are waaaaaay out of the box. You can’t even see the box, anymore. Your box is on Mars.
I think it’s pretty much a six way draw between everyone you listed. Without any one of them this team struggles to make the playoffs. Is anyone of them more important than Sabathia? Phil Hughes really solidified that bullpen, but without Arod or Teixeira or even Jeter, that lineup isn’t nearly as strong.
There really is no one guy, that’s what makes this team so good.
I loved the job Hughes did, but I’d rate Cano way ahead of him.
My vote goes to Mo. If you’re asking who can the Yankees not be without, I don’t really see any other choice. I love Jeter, Tex, CC, and the others, but I think if you ask “Who could the Yankees not be without?,” I’d have to go with Mo.
I think Jeter’s this year’s MVP. Having a DP combo like the current Yankee’s version is almost unprecedented. Add in Arod and Tex, and it’s hard to find a comp in MLB history. (Of course, before 1940 or so, not a lot of 3B were nearly as good with the stick as a lot of guys that came after.)
The Yankees season turned around when the bullpen got its act together. Phil Hughes is arguably the biggest part of that equation.
But that only happened because we had 5 starters. Well, 4. Remove one of them, and Hughes is languishing in mediocrity, and the pen is likely still working to hold things together in close games. How many of those 60+ walk off and come from behind wins never happen because Girardi handed the ball to a sub-par reliever?
And which of our starters had the strongest season? Pitched the most innings to make sure our pen got off at least 1 day in 5?
CC Sabathia is the keystone to the Yankees pitching.Pull him, and it all comes tumbling down.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ… stats… Time missed… emotional boost… Enough said…
This is not a vote for Robbie Canoe (I get it…RISP has been interesting all year), but check out the below comps. Isn’t it amazing that one was the AL MVP, and the other can’t get mentioned within the top 6 of his own team? I know this has often been a topic of conversation so sorry about rehashing, but I thought it was really interesting to peak at the comps side-by-sides, and I was just curious about how people were reading into this.
Cano
2009 NYY 156 627 102 202 48 2 25 84 28 62 5 7 .322 .352 .525 .877
Pedroia
2008 Bos 157 653 118 213 54 2 17 83 50 52 20 1 .326 .376 .493 .869