MLB Award Winners for 2014

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by majordanby

goldschmidt didnt win it last year because his team didnt make the playoffs. the BBWA value players with "good" seasons that make the playoffs more than players with better numbers (gold had a nice year, but his numbers were not jump out of the page spectacular) but whose team stunk.

some will defend mccutchen's mvp award last year because he plays a more demanding position (center field), plays good defense at that position, has value on the basepaths, and his non traditional stats are a better reflection of his overall value to the team (e.g. WAR).

I understand why Goldschmidt didn't win it. The main reason that Braun didn't win it in 2012 was because the Brewers didn't make the playoffs. I don't think the positive test in 2011 had as much of an impact as people let on. He was tested a lot more in 2012, and had no injuries that would necessitated anything to accelerate healing. His numbers overall were better than they were in 2011 when he did win it, though his WAR was a little lower because he wasn't as good in the outfield. Braun was chasing his own Triple Crown until the last week of the season. Ultimately it was the batting average that cost him, as he ended up third in batting. He lost the RBI title on the last day of the season when Headley got 2 more RBI. Braun ended up leading the NL In runs scored, home runs, OPS and total bases. Buster Posey won the batting title and led the NL in OPS +. And he had the same kind of narrative McCutchen would have in 2013, the feel good story. Posey was coming back from that terrible broken leg when he had his MVP season. McCutchen won it in large part because the Pirates were making the playoffs for the first time in forever.