[Hofcollector]

Agreed! Stanton was MVP and the Marlins were a wild card contender for most of the time prior to Stanton's injury.
Next year, (God willing) Stanton makes a full recovery from his horrendous injury.
Next year, Jose Fernandez is back to his dominant 2013 self.
Next year, The Marlins win the NL east. They have a great young team and could be very competitive in that division next year.

Thank you! That outfield of there's is going to be amazing as well. Marcel Ozuna is going to be a real nice player. Yelich is going to continue to get better. These guys upside is pretty impressive. BTW... if anyone has an Ozuna auto, I'm looking.

[DrMitchJ]

I have to argue on this. I think Mariano Rivera was a great closer and he'll go to the Hall of Fame but a pitcher is still a player and if he only plays in 60-80 innings a year, that's not very much when you consider that a team plays close to 1500 innings per year. If a player only plays in half of his team's games, then he's only playing 81 games. Not MVP worthy. Consider Mariano only played in 80 INNINGS, not even 80 games.

Just my thoughts.

And your thoughts are 'right on' as far as I'm concerned, except that in the last 20+ years there has been a slow decline in starting pitchers' pitch counts. Bullpens were used to help a starting pitcher that got into trouble. The emergence of "The Closer" as a Tool has been a significant mindset change for managing a pitching staff and the dominance of an effective Closer has become one of the most important positions to fill on a playoff contending team. Maybe there needs to be an award specifically for Closers ... I remember Sparky Lyle winning a 'Fireman' award for his work out of the bullpen back in the 1972. Maybe something more prestigious is needed to honor them separately and distinctively as not to take anything away from MVP or Cy Young awards?

[zeprock]

Maybe there needs to be an award specifically for Closers ... I remember Sparky Lyle winning a 'Fireman' award for his work out of the bullpen back in the 1972. Maybe something more prestigious is needed to honor them separately and distinctively as not to take anything away from MVP or Cy Young awards?

The Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award (1960-2000)
The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award (2001-2010)
Rolaids Relief Man Award (1976–2012)
Delivery Man Award (2005–2013)
Reliever of the Year Award (2014–present)

[piyn]

They now have the Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman Award for the best reliever in each league.

[DrMitchJ]

They now have the Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman Award for the best reliever in each league.

Well, that settles that, doesn't it?

[jacobystealshome]

kershaw for mvp. for those that say he only pitches 5 days, lets talk about effects on the field: a batter gets about 4-5 PA per game. if you want to throw in defensive plays, besides first base, maybe another 4-5 per game on average. maybe you can say as a runner a player might effect a play either via sb or making defense shade. but that effect is minimal

so, over a 5 games span, an offensive player effects about 50 plays, to be generous

how many plays per game does kershaw affect? if he pitches a perfect game, at a minimum 27, though even with his prowess, obviously it's much more. on average, kershaw effects about 35-40 plays a game. not including the occasional homer he hits. in addition, because he throws deep into the game, it saves the bullpen, which affects the 4 games he doesnt pitch in

so take the every 5 days argument and stick it

and pedro martinez should have won in 2000, save for two new york writers

[Hofcollector]

They dont bat in the AL and pretty poorly in the NL. You may get one that's pretty good for the year (Bumgarner), but they very rarely affect the outcome of a game from the plate. They dont really have to field their position and when they do, a fan in the tenth row usually gets a souvenir. In order for them to win they need their gold glovers to field and their silver sluggers to hit. How many times have you seen a no hitter kept intact by one or more jaw dropping catches by an outfielder? No matter how well two pitchers may pitch in a game against each other there will still be a winner because runs will be scored. The same can be said for a pitcher that pitches poorly but his team scored a ton of runs. Is that win his even though he let in 8 but his team scored 10? The pitcher has to rely on his team on every single play. If he pitches poorly, he'll probably loose. Maybe his team still pulls it out because of a good number or runs scored. If he pitches well, it gives the team a better shot at turning the plays necessary to win. I dont know what Kershaw's run support was. If it were a run and a half, yeah, guve him

---

If it were a run and a half, yeah, give him the MVP.

[renfrow831]

If a pitcher throws a shutout into the 9th and one of their " everyday players " hits the home run to win the game..... Runs wins game argument isn't anything to me, without the shutdown pitching your run or runs won't win anything, you need the pitcher to keep the other team from scoring. If starting pitchers weren't valuable to their teams, Why do they have such big contacts? I agree with everyone who thinks a pitcher should be able to win MVP as long as it is warranted. The only point I discredit the pitcher has already been mentioned by somebody on this thread, a pitcher that wins 30 games but their team averaged 6 runs a game for them when they were on the mound, then that becomes a factor along with a few other things you have to factor in.

[Hofcollector]

That was me who brought that up. The only way a pitcher is throwing a shutout into the 9th is if his team has an exceptional day in the field. Once again, the pitcher relies on his team on every single play for his stats. Even the catcher has to catch or block that nasty curve for a 3rd strike. My point is this: When king Felix won the cy young, his win/loss record was average at best. The rest of his stats were off the charts,phenomenal. But because he had such a lousy team, and didnt have the run support, his record looked average. Why wasn't he MVP? If he had the run support and went 25-4, would you have given it to him even though his stats were exactly the same? If you say yes, your giving it to him based on what the rest of his team did, not him. As for the large contracts, that's completely irrelevant. The market is so over inflated right now due to club revenues (merchandising, sponsorship, endorsements and HUGE tv contracts), that everyone who can throw to home is cashing in big. How many guys with an era over 3.50 are getting over 10 million a year? Quite a few. How many over 4? The league is polluted with bad pitching contracts. Jubaldo Jimenez, Justin Verlander, Strasburg, C.C. Cabathia and anyone else on the Yankees...