Performance vs. Value

Following either the '02 or '03 MLB season there was a significant debate over whether Alex Rodriguez, then of the Texas Rangers, was the appropriate choice for MVP. His (steroid-inflated) statistics were astounding: forty to fifty home runs, well over one-hundred RBIs, and a healthy .300+ batting average. Offensively he was without a doubt the American League's most proficient player and a Gold Glove shortstop to boot.

These august numbers were nevertheless insufficient to elevate the Texas Rangers out of the AL West cellar in any season of A-Rod's tenure there. Those opposed to designating Rodriguez as AL MVP simply pointed to the name of the award – Most Valuable Player – and argued that the Rangers could have finished in last place with or without his massive production. A value-based award by its very name ought to go to a player whose team succeeded and could not have done so without that player's contributions. Not to a player whose production was rendered superfluous by his team's failure in the standings.

If I remember correctly, A-Rod's gaudy statistics won the day and he was honored at least once in Texas with the MVP award.

The impending announcement of the 2010 Cy Young winner has introduced a very similar argument. C.C. Sabathia of the New York Yankees won the most games in the American League this past season but was surpassed in every other major statistical category by Felix Hernandez, whose win total was held at thirteen by an historically porous offense that failed to score more than one run in over ten of his starts.

There are those who, as before, make a value-based argument. Sabathia won the most games for a team that made it all the way to the ALCS, this contention goes, and therefore his performance was much more meaningful and valuable to his team than Felix's performance. As opposed to winning more games in the pressure of a pennant race, Felix was simply pitching out the schedule for the second-worst team in baseball.

The rebuttal to this, which I subscribe to, is that the award at issue is not "Most Valuable Pitcher," it is the Cy Young award for the best pitcher in the American League. The honor is entirely performance-based and Felix out-performed Sabathia in every category except wins, the statistic most out of a starting pitcher's direct control. Sabathia did not win more games because he out-pitched Felix, he won more games because the offensive support he received was exponentially better. To designate C.C. Sabathia as the AL's Cy Young would be to give the award not to the player who pitched the best but to the player who pitched for the team with the best offense.

The best pitcher in the American League was Felix Hernandez.

Felix Hernandez is the American League Cy Young.