Posted by doubletruck on 11/16/2013 7:40:00 AM (view original):
Molina, Yadier 2013 R 541 .319 44 0. 12 .359 .477 A/A-/A+
McCutchen, A. 2013 R 674 .317 38 5 21 .404 .508 C+/B
McCutchen as a hitter merits the edge on the basis of only OBP and SLG.
So the BBWAA voters think that limited offensive edge is more important than Molina's defense and field generalship?
McCutchen won on underdog sentiment for the Pirates, and the writers proved once again that they would rather be sentimental snobs than intellectual ones.
...And it will always be that way.
These guys make their living being sentimental about baseball. The stories they write come out of the storyteller's view of the game - it's what has made baseball so successful for so long.
If you keep that in mind, you can almost always guess the MVP correctly. Not the best player, necessarily, but the best story.
For instance, the first triple crown in over 40 years was a better story than the unknown rookie coming up and winning an MVP. Even though both those stories are exciting, the first one was more compelling, so Cabrera won MVP last year.