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So he plays for the Rangers? A-Rod deserves the MVP

It's hard sometimes to get a feel for just how good Alex Rodriguez is when his team is so painfully bad.

Honestly, the guy could win baseball's Triple Crown -- he's not that far off -- balance the game's books, give away $200 million, single-handedly get Don Fehr and Bud Selig in the same room to kiss and make up and you know what?

Wouldn't matter. Yeah, sure, he's good, they'd say. But he plays for the gawdawful Texas Rangers.

Alex Rodriguez may be the best player in baseball, or at least in the American League, but when it comes down to recognizing that, when it comes down to voting time, he gets blown away like some Texas tumbleweed. When it comes down to laying a little hardware on a deserving young man -- when it comes down to the MVP -- A-Rod gets The Shaft.

It's flat-out wrong.

"He's the best player in the game," Texas manager Jerry Narron says, "whether they vote for him or not."

A-Rod's statistics, once again this year, are staggering. At this point of the season, with either a little over a month or a little over a week left to play, he clearly is having the best season of any hitter in the league.

We don't want to get bogged down in numbers, so here's a one-paragraph rundown: Leads the league in homers (44) and RBIs (110), is fifth in average (.321), has more total bases than anyone in baseball, has scored more runs and carries the highest slugging percentage of anyone in the AL. He's in the Top 10 in a whole lot of other categories, too, and if we listed them all, this would be the Mother of All Stats Paragraphs.

What a Waste Alex Rodriguez is not the first superstar to be stuck on a terrible ballclub. In fact, he has plenty of company, like Steve Carlton of the 1972 Phillies and Jimmie Foxx of the 1935 Athletics. Click here for full story.

Every week he does something amazing. Last weekend, he hit six homers in nine at-bats to push him over 40 for the season. It was his fifth straight 40-homer season. Only five others have done that: Babe Ruth, Ralph Kiner, Duke Snider, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa.

He's also driven in at least 100 runs in five straight seasons, tying Joe Cronin for the most consecutive 100-RBI seasons by a shortstop. But that's history.

Did we mention he hits better in the clutch -- with men in scoring position -- than anyone in baseball? He does, at .397.

Ask players, ask executives, ask just about anyone in baseball who the best all-around player in the American League is and, usually without hesitation, A-Rod's name pops out.

"He's the best player in baseball," teammate Rafael Palmeiro told the Dallas Morning News. "He's having the best year."

But is it enough to get the 27-year-old Rodriguez -- yeah, he's only 27 -- the MVP award?

Maybe not. A lot of people would say probably not. And there's one big reason for that. That "T" on his hat.

The august members of the Baseball Writers Association of America vote on the MVP. Though there are no strict guidelines set forth as to what an MVP is, a lot of voters think this way:

How good can A-Rod be -- how valuable -- if his team is in last place?

The Rangers, headed inexorably toward their third straight last-place finish in the American League West, are absolutely killing A-Rod's chances for an MVP. They killed him last year when, after setting a record for shortstops with an AL-leading 52 home runs, he ended up a distant sixth in the MVP voting.

This year, the Rangers are the only team in the West with a losing record. They are nearly 20 games out of first place. Their pitching is the worst in the majors, with a 5.21 ERA.

Evidently, this is all A-Rod's fault.

But, wait, here's another stat: Rodriguez is second in the AL with 26 go-ahead RBIs. Which means he often gets his team the lead. Maybe it's not his fault after all.

Hey, watch out, another one: Rodriguez is second among AL shortstops in fielding percentage. He's doing all he can in the field, too.

An MVP from a last-place team is rare -- really rare -- but it's not unprecedented. In 1987 the Cubs' Andre Dawson slipped past St. Louis shortstop Ozzie Smith to claim the MVP award. Dawson is the only player from a last-place team to ever win an MVP. ( Steve Carlton won the NL Cy Young in 1972 on a team that finished last with 97 losses.)

Dawson won in '87 in what was considered a scattered field of candidates. He led the league in homers and RBIs (49 and 137), though he hit only .287. Smith, never a power hitter, hit .303 and was his usual superb self at shortstop.

If Rodriguez is to pull a Dawson this year, he'll have to hope for a splintered vote. His main competition seems to be among Yankees second baseman Alfonso Soriano, Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi, Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (last year's winner), Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada and Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Some might also throw either, or both, of the two Boston starters, Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez, into the mix.

"It would be a great privilege," Rodriguez told the Morning News. "I think this is the year that anything's possible, because I don't think there's one runaway guy."

Soriano has become the first second baseman to steal 30 bases and hit 30 homers in a season, and he could end up with a 40/40 season if a strike is averted. But he trails A-Rod in many of the major offensive categories, and Soriano also is second in the league in striking out (at 122).

All the candidates are having good, solid seasons. All of them have their drawbacks. And all of them have something Rodriguez does not -- they play on winning teams.

If Rodriguez played for a playoff-bound team, there is little question that his numbers would make him the front-runner for the MVP. But he doesn't.

The MVP voters will have to overlook that this year.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

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