FanNation - The Republic of Sport

thejetstolehome: hiatus? said 12/18, 02:23 PM
As a Yankee fan, it pains me to say this but, Manny Ramirez is the best player currently in baseball to have never won an MVP award, though he should've won in 1999, the year he drove in 165.

Manny is a career .319/.409/.593 hitter--that's excellent. Over his 15 year career, he's belted out 490 homers and driven in 1604 runs (averages out to about 33/107 per year), good for 5th amongst active players and 28th all time.

He has finished in the top ten in MVP voting 8 times, and in the top five 3 of those times.

He is simply an amazing hitter and one of this generation's best and is definitely the best to have not won an MVP award.

thejetstolehome: hiatus? said 12/18, 05:35 PM
Not a bad choice at all but I do have two small issues to start with: 1. playoff numbers do not count toward career stats so that argument is null and void. 2. playing first base is A LOT easier than playing outfield. Yes, Todd Helton is a great fielder but to compare playing 1B to OF is, cliche as it might sound, like comparing apples and oranges; the only thing they have in common is that they're both fruits.

While I hate bringing this up, it must be discussed. Manny's home/away splits are pretty much equal. Helton's are not. His BA drops from .367 at home to .295 away. His OBP drops from a crazy .465 to (still great but substantially less) .394 away. His slugging goes from .663 to .502 and his OPS goes from 1.128 to .896. His away slg/OPS are still good but that drop off is hard to ignore.

Now let's go a little head to head: Manny has won 9 Silver Slugger awards (8 of which since Todd Helton has been in the league) compared to 4 for Todd Helton. In 11 of his 15 seasons, Manny has driven in over 100. Helton has only done it five times, and none since 2003. Helton has also only finished in the top ten for MVP voting 3 times, compared to Manny's 8.

cont. in comments.

thejetstolehome: hiatus? said 12/18, 07:34 PM
Yes Manny's numbers drop a bit but their still a little more reasonable. Helton's average drops 72 points, his BOP 71, his slugging 161, and his OPS 232 points! Manny's only drop 14 points, 30 points, 13 points, and 20 points respectively. While it's still a drop, it's MUCH more manageable than the crazy dives that Helton's numbers take.

As for the teams they've played for, Manny may've been on better teams but if you're really good enough, you'll still win--take A-Rod winning MVP on a last place team, for example.

Another astounding thing is that ten times in his career, Manny has gone at least .300/.400/.500. That is absolutely incredible. Helton has done it a great six times, but again he falls short of Manny.

Last but not least, we come to their 162 game averages. Per 162, Manny puts up: .313/.409/.593/1.002, 41 HR, 133 RBI. Helton does: .332/.430/.583/1.013, 31 HR, 112 RBI. Each win three, with Manny taking homers, RBI, and SLG. I'll sacrafice 21 points of OBP for the extra power. Also, Manny wins the tiebreaker of TB/162 348 to 339.

Manny is a phenom. The fact that he hasn't won an MVP as one of the game's best hitters is almost criminal.