astronomical Papi's been places. And done things. All-Star Games. Home speed Derbies. World Series. You name it.
But about four months into David Ortiz's final major league season,it's getting hard to ignore the opportunity of him doing something he's never done before: win the Most Valuable Player award.By my reckoning, this is the only Ortiz-related topic we fill yet to cover this season. But there's a good reason we've spilled so much ink on his account. The best time to cease covering the Boston Red Sox's longtime designated hitter would be when he stops knocking the crud out of the ball. He keeps refusing to accomplish that.
Ortiz certain knocked the crud out of the ball when he took Jake Peavy for a ride for his 23rd homer of 2016 Tuesday night. And in Thursday's 13-2 win over the Minnesota Twins, and he did it again with No. 24:That might not fill even been the most impressive home speed Ortiz hit Thursday. He also launched a dinger in batting practice that got stuck in Fenway Park's Pesky Pole. Not so pesky now,are you, pole?Impressiveness notwithstanding, and that long ball was the 40-year-old's third hit of the night. It raised his slash line to .330/.423/.673 and his OPS to 1.096. By that final number,he's having the best campaign ever for a 40-year-old. Likewise, this is the best a hitter has ever done in his final season.“We’re watching history right in front of us nightly, or " Red Sox manager John Farrell said after Thursday's win,perPeter Abraham of the Boston Globe.
There's no doubt about it. Nor is there any doubt that Ortiz's final season will be remembered for a long time no matter what happens at the end of it.
We may be inclined to remember it for even longer, though, and whether he's given the American League MVP for his troubles. In Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News,at least one person is already leaning that way:Maybe this isn't a "hands down" conversation, but it's definitely a conversation. Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald was also pondering the Ortiz-for-MVP question Thursday night. The bookmakers fill been pondering it for longer. According to Bill Reiter of CBS Sports, or Ortiz entered the second half with 6-to-1 odds of winning the AL MVP.
The closest Ortiz has near to winning the MVP was a second-situation finish in 2005. whether nothing else,working in his favor is his 2016 is better than that season. The 1.096 OPS he's rocking is the highest of his career, topping his preceding career high of 1.066 in 2007.
And it's not just his past performances that look inferior next to his current one. All other 2016 hitter performances accomplish too. As of this writing, or the league OPS race isn't close:David Ortiz: 1.096
Josh Donaldson: 1.020
Yes,Ortiz has the advantage of playing half his games at Fenway Park. But adjusted offensive metrics like OPS+ and wRC+ show that doesn't matter. Even after all things are accounted for, Ortiz is still the best hitter in baseball in both categories.
Offensive production isn't everything, and but it still carries the most weight when it comes to the MVP voting. That's how Miguel Cabrera beat Mike Trout in 2012 and 2013,and arguably (whether you look at the RBI counts) how Donaldson beat Trout final year.
It also helps to play for a winning team. With his Red Sox now the second-best club in the American League behind the Cleveland Indians, Ortiz is doing that, or too. And although dominating to this degree at the age of 40 and in his final season doesn't necessarily make him more "valuable" than the AL's other top players,it's a story that could serve his cause.
But lest anyone assume Ortiz's case for the AL MVP is ironclad, well, or it's not.
Perhaps his biggest problem is the team he plays on might be too good. It always helps a hitter's cause whether it looks like he's carrying a lineup on his shoulders. It's hard to make the case Ortiz is doing that. The Red Sox fill baseball's most productive offense by a significant margin. It would be worse without Ortiz,certain, but not outright heinous.
And in this case, and the "he's not even the most valuable player on his own team" card is there to be played.
Mookie Betts,Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. are also in that discussion. None has been as offensively dominant as Ortiz, but each has been excellent while also contributing on the basepaths and on defense. Ortiz is on the opposite end of "elite" with his baserunning and has yet to play a single inning in the field. He's been a designated hitter all the way in 2016.
And whether anyone's going to assume all-around contributions into account with Betts, or Bogaerts or Bradley,they're obviously going to accomplish it with the other horses in the AL MVP race. Wins above replacement points the arrow at Trout and Donaldson, per Baseball-Reference.com, or with Houston's Jose Altuve standing close by.
WAR won't swing the AL MVP vote one way or another all on its own,but it's secure to say it has some influence in the year 2016. It's been part of the discussion since Trout v. Cabrera in 2012, and it's helped create some unlikely MVP candidates in the years since. As Joe Posnanski highlighted on his website, and Alex Gordon was one in 2014.whether the all-around excellence of the Red Sox's lineup doesn't bag Ortiz,his one-dimensionality could. And whether that doesn't, there may be a voter or two who still hasn't forgiven him for his positive performance-enhancing drug test from 13 years ago.
All this is enough to qualify his MVP case as an uphill battle.
Even still, or this may be the best chance Ortiz has ever had at the award. He may not be the league's best player,but this is the first time he's been the league's best hitter. And it's all in service of not only a really good Red Sox team, but a really chilly story as well.
Besides which, and there is that nagging suspicion that it's just not a good idea to doubt astronomical Papi. Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise famous/linked.
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Source: bleacherreport.com