10/17: MVP Comparisons
Posted by: James
Apparently, this talk about A-Rod's postseason performance will not go away that quietly. Also, it keeps getting brought up that so much more is expected from A-Rod since he is a MVP candidate and a prior MVP winner (I'm throwing out the money issue since all MVP winners tend to be amongst the most highly paid players in the game). I'm personally not going to blame one player for the series loss but seeing that argument made repeatedly got me thinking. I'd never thought of the MVP award as any sort of precursor to postseason success but hey, I could be wrong so I took a look. Here are the MVP winners in the AL for the past 5 years and how they stack up in the postseason.
2004: Vladimir Guerrero: .180 (AVG)/.255 (OBP) .240 (SLG) with 1 extra base hit (XBH) and 7 RBI in 13 games and 50 ABs.
2003: A-Rod: .305/.401/.534 with 15 XBHs and 16 RBIs in 31 games and 118 ABs.
2002: Miguel Tejada: .212/.242/.329 with 8 XBHs and 8 RBIs in 20 games and 85 ABs.
2001: Ichiro Suzuki: .421/.488/.474 with 2 XBHs and 3 RBIs in 10 games and 38 ABs (all in 2001).
2000: Jason Giambi: .301/.432/.496 with 12 XBHs and 16 RBIs in 36 games and 123 ABs.
1999: Ivan Rodriguez: .295/.359/.448 with 10 XBHs and 20 RBIs in 27 games and 105 ABs.
I could go back several more years but I thought that this should be a good enough example. Apparently an MVP means very little in the postseason (just ask Angels fans right now) and so far, over the course of his entire postseason career, A-Rod has performed just as well (better for the most part) as his hardware-winning peers. He just seems to get more heat for his down performances. It's not that any of these guys aren't great players or "clutch". It’s that, just like with A-Rod’s current postseason performance, we end up looking at a pretty small sample size. Given more ABs, all of these guys should play to their true ability and A-Rod should get the same chance.
2004: Vladimir Guerrero: .180 (AVG)/.255 (OBP) .240 (SLG) with 1 extra base hit (XBH) and 7 RBI in 13 games and 50 ABs.
2003: A-Rod: .305/.401/.534 with 15 XBHs and 16 RBIs in 31 games and 118 ABs.
2002: Miguel Tejada: .212/.242/.329 with 8 XBHs and 8 RBIs in 20 games and 85 ABs.
2001: Ichiro Suzuki: .421/.488/.474 with 2 XBHs and 3 RBIs in 10 games and 38 ABs (all in 2001).
2000: Jason Giambi: .301/.432/.496 with 12 XBHs and 16 RBIs in 36 games and 123 ABs.
1999: Ivan Rodriguez: .295/.359/.448 with 10 XBHs and 20 RBIs in 27 games and 105 ABs.
I could go back several more years but I thought that this should be a good enough example. Apparently an MVP means very little in the postseason (just ask Angels fans right now) and so far, over the course of his entire postseason career, A-Rod has performed just as well (better for the most part) as his hardware-winning peers. He just seems to get more heat for his down performances. It's not that any of these guys aren't great players or "clutch". It’s that, just like with A-Rod’s current postseason performance, we end up looking at a pretty small sample size. Given more ABs, all of these guys should play to their true ability and A-Rod should get the same chance.
Patrick wrote:
2004: 3 games, 2 for 12 (.167), 1 run, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .286 OBA.
2003: No postseason play.
2002: 5 games, 3 for 21 (.143), 3 runs, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .174 OBA.
2001: 10 games, 16 for 38 (.421), 7 runs, 3 RBI, .488 OBA.
2000: 5 games, 4 for 14 (.286), 4 runs, 1 RBI, .500 OBA.
1999: 3 games, 3 for 12 (.250), .250 OBA.
So, as you can see, it really has not meant very much.
A-Rod's performance in the postseason this year: 5 games, 2 for 15 (.133), 2 runs, .435 OBA.