Teixeira is having a fine year, largely fueled by the team he plays for and by the ballpark in which that team plays.
- Away from Yankee Stadium, Teixeira is hitting .267 with 11 HRs. An .867 road OPS. Double that and he'd be considered a $20 million bust rather than an MVP candidate.
- Twenty-one of his thirty HRs have come with the bases empty.
- Despite a great BA with two outs and RISP, his overal RISP ba is a mediocre .270 with four HRs in 122 at-bats.
In other words, if ARod was doing the same thing, he'd be run out of town.
Also, Teixeira's season will probably not be as good as Giambi's first season with the Yankees (.314/41/122/121 runs). Now, Giambi came in fifth in MVP voting (which sounds about right for Teixeira), but Giambi was completely ignored by his hometown fans and writers.
Of course, none of these observations necessarily exclude Teixeira from the MVP discussion. "Road OPS" or "BA with RISP" are not necessarily the most important critieria in determining an MVP candidate. I can cherry pick the stats to the positive or to the negative.
Teixeira deserves to be in the discussion and will probably win a gold glove while spearheading the best offense in the league.
Except it's really Yankee Stadium which deserves most of the credit for the best offense in the league.
Oh, and if there's any doubt who the AL MVP is so far, please gaze upon the stats of Joe Mauer.
All the NYC anti-ARod playa-hatas should be forced by law to vote for the guy who's batting .403 with RISP and .457 with RISP and two outs.
I know Teixeira's a more likeable guy than ARod, but if you invent criteria, you should apply that criteria evenly.
RISP BA was suddenly very fashionable when it was used to denigrate ARod. Not so much when it can be used to denigrate Teixeira.
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