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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Why I voted Verlander for MVP

Posted Nov 21, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Nov 21, 2011 at 07:27 PM

ROGER MOONEY

I don’t fully by into the theory that pitchers shouldn’t win the MVP award.

Yes, I know they have their own “MVP” award in the Cy Young, and I get that they don’t play every day and are not subjected to the daily grind of a 162-game season.

A starter can be the difference in only 33 to 35 starts while the best closer will make a difference in less than half of his team’s games.

I get all that.

But I think the Cy Young Award doesn’t always tell the entire story, because sometimes the winner was the best of an average group of candidates. If you look at the names of all the Cy Young winners without their stats it is hard to separate the ones who had the truly great seasons from the ones who were simply better than the rest.

And I think a good starting pitcher having an outstanding season can make a difference in close to 100 games.

For those reasons I put Justin Verlander’s name at the top of my MVP ballot.

I felt what he did this season (season stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml) deserved recognition beyond that of the Cy Young Award.

Apparently I wasn’t alone since 12 of the other 27 voters (two in each AL city) had the Tigers ace first on their ballots, as well.

He made 34 starts, and was so dominating that players would look at the pitching matchups for an upcoming series with the Tigers and basically concede the game in which they were to face Verlander.

Talk about Verlander to any of the Rays position players this past season and they would just shake their heads. There’s a reason Verlander won the MVP in the Players’ Choice Awards.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland knew he could use his entire bullpen the day before Verlander pitched knowing he probably wouldn’t need them the following night. And, when Verlander turned in his typical start, Leyland had a rested bullpen for the next game.

That’s impacting three of every five game.

The Tigers surely came to the park on the day Verlander was pitching knowing they were going to win.

If I had an AL MVP vote while a junior in high school I would have voted for the Yankees Ron Guidry, because his start to the 1978 season (13-0) kept the Yankees from falling so far behind the Red Sox that their second-half surge would have been moot.

I would have voted for Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999 (his stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martipe02.shtml) for the same reasons I voted for Verlander this season.

Every so often a pitcher turns in a year that is so above the rest of the league that the Cy Young Award is not enough. It doesn’t tell the entire story.

Verlander became the first starting pitcher in 25 years to win the MVP (Roger Clemens in 1986), and years from now when baseball fans look at the list of AL MVPs, they will know that Verlander’s 2011 season was one for the ages.