From: doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Jason Abner Miller)
Subject: Re: Eck Wins MVP in Horrible Voting
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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 18:03:00 GMT

In article <1992Nov23.014808.17834@Princeton.EDU>, niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent) writes...
>In article <22NOV199220212782@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu> doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Jason Abner Miller) writes:
>>In article <1992Nov22.212257.7862@panix.com>, spira@panix.com (Greg "Sarcasm Is A Way Of Life" Spira) writes...
> 
>>>Considering that Henderson's OBP and SLG were both higher in '92
>>>than his career OBP and SLG, I don't see how you can say that he
>>>played poorly for someone of his caliber.
> 
>>	How productive can a Henderson be in only 375 AB?  OK, maybe
>>his numbers were impressive, but doesn't mean he deserved any MVP votes.
>>For a position player to be an MVP candidate, they should have played
>>nearly every day (I won't go into the whole pitcher as MVP debate right now)
> 
>First of all, Henderson had *490* PAs.  (396 ABs)  Which is the relevant
>factor, since we're worried about playing time.  Secondly, the anwser
>is, very.  Playing *WELL* is much more important than playing often.  
> 
>Comparing Devereaux to Henderson, as you did in an earlier post, and
>saying Devereaux was more valuable because he played more, makes no
>sense.  It's like defending a running back by saying he gets a lot of
>carries, even though he doesn't do very much with them.  Or a basketball
>player by saying he gets a lot of playing time, even though he can't
>shoot or dribble.

	OK, guess that Devereaux should switch sports over to basketball, 
learn how to dribble, and then get the credit he deserves for his year on
this net.  Or maybe he should just transfer over to the Baltimore (oops,
make that Indianapolis) Colts, become an All-Pro running back ...
	Mike Devereaux played nearly every day for the Orioles.  Along with
Brady and Mussina (also MVP candidates), he was the most consistent player
on the team, and it's hard to imagine the Orioles playing as well as they
did without him in either the #2 or #3 spot where he played all season.  True,
he was helped tremendously by having Brady right in front of him, but that 
doesn't make him look any worse.
	Rickey, on the other hand, is not Mr. Consistency.  He is not the
backbone in the A's lineup, and he's a hard man to build a team around (in
the NON-numerical sense, that is).  With the talent and atmosphere in
Oakland in '92, I can easily see them winning without Rickey, with his
17 extra runs produced and all.

> 
>(I'm not claiming Devereaux is awful; but in comparison with Henderson,
>there is no contest.)

	If you're talking about their overall careers, certainly.  But
for MVP voting for this one season, it's a no-contest, the other way 
around.

> 
>>>According to Jeff Sagarin's markov chain analysis, Rickey created 87 runs
>>>this season while Bordick created 70.  Henderson made 287 outs, Bordick 372.
>>>17 more runs using up 85 less outs is a lot of offensive value.
> 
>>>Now, granted, offense at a middle infield position is worth more than
>>>offense from a left fielder, but that doesn't make up the huge difference
>>>in offensive contribution between Henderson and Bordick.
> 
>>	I know Bordick did not have MVP numbers.  But he was the strongest
>>glue in that infield that looked like it would have gone to pot early in
>>the year.  Bordick stepping up there and hitting .300, playing every day
>>when no-one expected him to, provides a bigger team contribution than the
>>17 extra arbitrary runs that Rickey provided.
> 
>Playing unexpectedly well is an unexpected surprise.  That doesn't give
>it more value.  

	Without Bordick up there every day in the middle infield, what do
the A's put out there?  No, those numbers will never get him into the 
r.s.bb net hall of fame, not even in the Jamie Quirk Memorial Wing, but
in the sense of consistency and attitude, I happen to like him better than
Rickey.  Neither of them were on my own MVP ballot, but Bordick was definitely
higher in my thoughts when I wrote it up.

> 
>>>And, by the way, Tony LaRussa insists that Rickey is not lazy, and in fact
>>>told the press at least once that he played Henderson when Henderson 
>>>shouldn't have been playing because of his injuries.  I see no reason not
>>>to believe Rickey when he says that he's hurt.  Baseball people, fans,
> 
>>	I watched Rickey not play for the final 3 years of his Yankee tenure.
>>He basically not played his way out of New York.  He has a long rep of
>>not playing when he feels like it, and even if LaRussa will step up there
>>and read what the management tells him to say about Rickey, doesn't mean
>>I believe him.
> 
>I, too, watched Rickey in NY.  He was the best player on the Yankees, by
>far.   He has a reputation.  So?  What that means is that he doesn't get
>along with the mediots.  That's IT.  Just because they parrot something
>doesn't mean it's true.  The fact that he snarled at them a lot does NOT
>lessen his on-field contribution.  Mattingly *wishes* he could not-play
>as well as Rickey.

	The New York Media is a very powerful instrument.  It can and does
actively trash players' careers.  Jack Clark didn't have half the market
value he did after his mediocre one-year sojourn in NY (a year before,
he would NEVER have been traded even-up for Jimmy Jones and Lance McCullers).
Bobby Bonilla is being trashed at this moment, and if Jeff Kent doesn't
produce next March, Al Harazin will be fired by June.
	No, I don't condone the New York media (especially WFAN, the de
facto NY front office), but if you're not going to get along with the press
like Rickey did, your career is not going to be helped.  He won the MVP in
1990 because he played all-out and had his career year.  But when he 
doesn't play all out, like last year and this year, it's hard to win support.

> 
>He went over to Toronto after the playoffs to congratulate them.  Why?
>Maybe because he isn't some evil person who can't get along with people.
>*Despite* his reputation as being impossible.

	As you often do, when I can't respond to a statement, I'll leave it
up there to feel lost all by itself in the middle of a long, airy column.

> 
>>>Baseball people, fans, and the media seem to think that they can determine
>>>when a player is or isn't in pain; I'm rather skeptical that anybody has these
>>>kinds of telepathic powers
>-- 
>David M. Nieporent   | "If America is a Christian country because a majority
>niepornt@phoenix.    | of the population is Christian, is it also a female 
>   princeton.edu     | nation?  Or a white nation?"  -- Michael Kinsley,
>Roland:Sign Treadway | to Governor Kirk Fordice of Mississippi.

	Why?  Treadway?  The Orioles have a definite chance to sign Lou
Whitaker this season, and even if he's going to be a stop-gap for 2 years
until a legitimate non-Ripken 2B comes along, I'd love to see him out there.
With Ripken losing many steps, and Gomez and Milligan being among the least
defensive infielders out there, Jeff Treadway would be a disaster out there
in Baltimore.  I don't see him as having any great impact on the team.


							Jason Miller
Harazin:  Sign Cone (oops!)