Saturday, November 15, 2014

Starting Pitchers Should Not Be Allowed to Win the MVP Award


It was reported on Thursday evening that Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the MVP Award for the American League and Clayton Kershaw won the award for the National League. I made this same argument when Justin Verlander won the award a few years back for the Tigers and I will make the same argument today, a starting pitcher should not be allowed to win the MVP Award in my opinion.

Starting pitchers have their own award that they can win and it’s called the Cy Young Award. How is it fair that Kershaw, who undoubtedly was the most valuable player in the league, can win the award for pitchers and the award predominantly for the positional players. If a positional player could win the Cy Young Award or the Mariano Rivera Award and such I would have no problem with it but they can’t. The relievers have their award, the pitchers have their award, and the positional players should have their award.

While I understand that the positional players have Silver Slugger Awards that does not carry the same weight as being the most valuable player in the league. It seems like a one-way street that only the pitchers can take in my opinion and it doesn’t seem right with me. As a member of the IBWAA I had an MVP vote and I refused to vote for Kershaw for that exact reason, I voted for Giancarlo Stanton.

This is a debate that will rage on forever I think and a debate that most feel extremely passionate about one way or the other. I won’t win this debate with anyone and I’m not interested in a debate because you won’t win one with me either. This is my opinion and my opinion is that a starting pitcher who pitches every fifth day and has their own prestigious award should not be allowed to win the MVP.


Discuss. 

2 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more. If a starting pitcher makes at most 34 starts a year. That's about 21% of a team's games. If a position player only played 34 games, he wouldn't even be in the conversation. Not even if he hit .500 with 34 homeruns.

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    Replies
    1. He wouldn't even qualifying for any of the awards, let alone win the award

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