Mister Faded Glory | www.misterfadedglory.com

I hate to attempt to care about sports awards, such as the American League MVP. First, they’re fodder largely for sports radio, empty-headed columnists, and as fans, why should we really care?

However, when an egregious mistake is made, based solely on the ridiculous argument that Player X means the most to his team rather than giving the award, simply, to the best player, well, that’s pure folly. Sorry, Dustin Pedroia. But if I were Red Sox GM, I’d trade the MVP Pedroia straight up for at least 15 other players in the American League, no questions asked.  Rob Neyer lays out a better case for Joe Mauer, and also decries the ugly criteria for self-important MVP voting. Neyer quotes Joe McDonald‘s sheer lack of wisdom:

Whether the voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America select Pedroia as the A.L. MVP, he had an MVP-like season. If he did not produce in such a manner, the Red Sox do not have the success they enjoyed and the club does not reach the playoffs. That’s how you should judge the MVP. … He’s a unique player, one who plays the game right every single day. He wants to win and because of that the Red Sox do win. He’s a good hitter who becomes a great hitter in big situations. He’s a good base runner who becomes very good in key spots. Defensively, there aren’t many balls that get by him. Actually, he’s probably helped the Red Sox win more games with his glove than his bat. 

I’ll be blunt: What a fucking idiot. More than almost anything in sports, I cannot stand sportswriters playing semantic professors and debating the meaning of “valuable” to befit their own groupthink or cognitive dissonance. Most Valuable Player means Best Player. Period. End of discussion.