The AL MVP race still has a week to go. Manny might make a run, Teixeira might make a run, Hafner may also make a run. ARod and Ortiz may fade a bit or they may distance themselves from the pack.
But, as of right now, the top two spots are rock solid. I don't know who will be first and who will be second, but Hafner is in a battle for third.
Madden's argument quickly disproves itself:
"But in the case of Hafner, he missed 3-1/2 weeks after being hit in the face with a pitch from the White Sox's Mark Buerhle in mid-July and was still suffering dizziness for two weeks after his return. That more than anything accounts for his lower RBI and home run totals."
The award is not for Most Valuable Player Per Game. The award is for the entire season.
Fair or not, one of the most important stats in determing MVP is games played. It's why Nomar Garciaparra and Bobby Higginson and Rey Sanchez have absolutely no shot to get even one MVP vote. It's why Griffey is a bust in Cincinnati.
A player has to play to add value to his team.
"While the game-winning RBI stat tends to be misleading in that it constitutes the run that puts a team ahead for good, no matter what inning it occurs or how big the ultimate margin of victory, it is interesting to note that the three AL leaders as of Friday were A-Rod with 20, Ortiz with 19 and Hafner with 18."
Let me get this straight:
In his attempt to prove that Hafner is more valuable than ARod or Ortiz, Madden uses a statistic where Hafner comes in third ... behind ARod and Ortiz.
There's an M in MVP. All Madden is doing is proving that Hafner is Very Valuable.
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