White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has won the American League Most Valuable Player Award for 2020, as voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez and Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu were the other finalists for the honor.
The 33-year-old Abreu has been an easily above-average hitter in the majors since he emigrated from Cuba before the 2014 season, though his contributions didn’t lead to much team success through the 2019 campaign. But the White Sox, knowing Abreu was a key piece of the puzzle, made the shrewd move to extend him for three years and $50MM last offseason, rather than let him depart in free agency.
Abreu repaid the White Sox in the first season of his new deal with a brilliant .317/.370/.617 line across 262 plate appearances. Among AL position players, he finished first in bWAR (2.8), second in home runs (19) and wRC+ (167), and third in fWAR (2.6). Abreu’s production helped the Sox to their first playoff berth since 2008, though the team fell to Oakland in the wild-card round. Beyond the bottom-line numbers, you can’t discount Abreu’s leadership, as he is regarded as one of the most respected clubhouse presences in baseball.
Abreu earned 21 of 30 first-place votes for the award. Ramirez came in second ahead of LeMahieu, while Indians right-hander Shane Bieber and three-time MVP-winning Angels center fielder Mike Trout rounded out the top five.
NOICE!! Well deserved
Always said he’s one of the best hitters in baseball.. Always.
Beast
DJ robbed
DJ had a great season but Abreu clearly had the better season.
Ah, again…..”Clearly had a better season”!….really…while a very good choice nobody can argue with, DJ”s .364 with an OPS of 1.011 isn’t anywhere “clearly inferior to Abreu’s season….the only thing Abreu had over DJ was power….which seems to be the alter all worship on these days in todays baseball.
Abreu has been a great hitter from 5 years in a row. Well deserved
He played 10 more games. He was consistent for 60 games, not 50. Twice as many HRs and RBIs. The differences in OPS wasn’t significant. The difference in AVG was. However, Abreu didn’t miss a game and he had 9 more HRs and 33 more RBIs. That is a significant difference in power,
Yea, I think you had better check the stats again, if you still think Abreu season was “clearly better” then DJ’s then you should probably switch over to tennis because you clearly don’t know how baseball works. Are you solely basing you evaluation off of RBI’s LOL?. DJ had a slightly better season offensively and is obviously more valuable on defense and baserunnung as well. I would say the only reason he didn’t win was because he played in 10 less games then Jose. In a 60 game season they clearly valued games played heavily this year. FYI I’m a die hard Jays fan and I can’t even believe I’m sticking up for a Yankee but numbers don’t lie.
Man, I really don’t think so.
Though a worthy candidate DJ missing time impacted his numbers.
Abreu played the entire year, put up slightly better stats, & was the unquestioned leader of a young team that made a playoff run.
I hate to say it, but Jose Abreu is a fine choice for MVP.
True Ducky…..good comment all around!
Great point, Ducky. DJ is the MVP in my opinion, because of the batting title, impact on team (also cited for Abreu), and his excellent D at multiple positions; but Abreu is a legit choice.
Congratulations to him and the ChiSox fans on a stellar season and pricing he is still a top-tier 1B.
As a Yankee fan, obviously, I wanted DJ to win.
But, I get it.
And, it’s not like this was Jeter/Morneau.
DJ wasn’t “excellent” at 3 positions. As a matter of fact, his overall WAR was impacted by his defense. He played 3 games at 1B (for the purposes of this argument the sample size was too small). At 2B he was under league average in that his UZR rating was negative (-0.4). At 3B he was under league average in that his UZR rating was negative (-1.2). At 3B his UZR/150 was -11.2. which is really bad. Please don’t attempt prop him up as a great defensive player without looking at the metrics.
Let me guess
They will pick Betts for the nl
Smh
Well deserved , this guy has been consistent as they come and although it was a short season, he raked!!!!!
So ill be prepared when freeman wins nl, because this is precursor to it. Overvaluing offense over defense again!
Freeman isn’t a bad defensive player..??
Plays first base just like abreu. -.3 according to espn. It should be betts as he won gold glove and has great offensive to top it off. Predicting freeman, with betts second and manny in 3rd.
Uhhhh, Abreu had a higher dWAR than LeMahieu this year???
According to Espn they both had .2 and dj had an 2.8 offensive war, 2.3 for abreu.
ESPN uses baseball reference. 1B always gets dumped on dwar. Look up the top 1Bs in all time fielding runs and then look up their career dwar.
Mookie and Freeman both deserve MVP, but to suggest in any way that one of them deserves it over the other like it’s a robbery is insane.
If you want to use those stats to compare players on different teams in different positions then you need to compare the trade off as well.
Would the Dodgers running Verdugo out there instead of Betts have created a production drop off that would affect the Dodger more than if the Braves replaces Freeman with the next option?
MVP is not highest war and the considerations go beyond such comparisons.
Yes 2.8
defense is overrated
Tell that to the dodgers. Without betts and bellinger in the outfield they don’t win ring.
It can be overvalued and still be a difference maker, one way or the other. I’m inclined to think it still isn’t measured as well as it will be. HD cameras tied to computers have helped in measuring but something still seems off. I could be wrong. I just keep seeing guys with gloves of stone, erratic arms, and little range valued not much less than guys with poor range but accurate arms and great hands. I could be overvaluing the ability to make every routing play cleanly. I don’t know if any of the defensive metrics take into account lost DPs or errors saved on the receiving end. I think it factors in at first.
Overrated? Chicks dig gold gloves.
Your right….why not just eliminate gloves and send players onto the field without gloves….why even try and catch the ball….defense is way overrated!
True, there’s certainly a lot of gold diggers out there.
That’s what Gold Gloves are for.
Offense has Silver Sluggers. MVP should be a combination of both.
No bias I’m sure…
baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_aver…
Among all qualified players playing 1B, Jose Abreu tied for second place in Outs Above Average (+2) and tied for first in Runs Prevented (+2).
Now, why do I use this single source instead of multiple ones when trying to evaluate how valuable a player is? It’s because baseballsavant is where MLB itself actually logs each players statcast information AND plugs that in for into formulas.
These formulas are designed specifically to equate the value of each MLB player based literally off what they did and didn’t do on the field as well as how that tallies up to the also equated league average.
I would hardly trust the top brass of Major League Baseball to be honest in MANY regards, but Statcast is certainly not one of them
2017 the riders voted for Jose Altuve the batting champion who played great defense over Aaron judge the homerun hitter who strikes out a lot. 2020 the riders voted for Jose Abreu the homerun hitter that strikes out a lot over the batting champion that played great defense. Anyone want to argue with me now that the riders have something against the Yankees?
Cry harder baby boy
Also “riders” lol
I am sure you mean writers right?
Agreed that there is a bias. Don’t forget about Matsui who writers did not consider a rookie or Jeter who was robbed in 2004. When people vote on things the best person doesn’t always win. It was still a great season for DJ
Uhm what was Jeter robbed of in 2004?
It was the 2006 AL MVP voting. 2004 sucked for a whole different reason
no
“2020 the riders voted for Jose Abreu the homerun hitter that strikes out a lot over the batting champion that played great defense.”
Incorrect on the “great defense” in 2020.
1B – 0 DRS, 0.0 UZR/150 in 24 innings
2B – 0 DRS, -1.0 UZR/150 in 271 innings
3B – 0 DRS, -11.2 UZR/150 in 87 innings
0.1 dWAR according to Baseball Reference.
At best, he played “average defense” in 2020. Yes, it was a shortened season and would be the equivalent of small sample size in other years, but still no “great defense” in 2020 for DJ, and the award is for 2020 only.
Abreu: .317/.370/.617 with 34 extra base hits, 60 RBIs and 2.8 WAR (my least favorite stat)
DJL: .364/.421/.590 with 22 extra base hits, 27 RBI and 2.8 WAR.
Clearly, Abreu was the more productive hitter and deserved the win. With just 10 doubles and 10 HRs, DJL was really just an amazing singles hitter this year, hence the higher batting average and OBP. His defense graded out at league average too, so Abreu deserved the win for sure.
Writers clearly hate the Yanks, which is why Phil Rizzuto is in the HOF, Jeter has six gold gloves……
Congrats, Jose!!!
Fantastic defensive improvement at 1B this year!
And, of course, the clutch BAT and 60 RBI’s!
All the nit-wits that ripped the White Sox last off-season for his new contract…..let’s hear ya!
amen
Bringing Jose back, another fine example of Reinsdorf’s loyalty to his players!
I do wonder if he was a free agent this season, at 33, does he get a $100 million contract?
Joins exclusive group that has won both Rookie of the Year and MVP in their career. Congrats.
Next stop, the HOF!
Boom…. Best hitter in 2020…. anyone calling for DJ Lame as MVP, well maybe he should get in the weight room
You know that homers aren’t the only part of the game that matters, right?
Dang, I thought it was Jose Abreu clear and away, but looking at their Baseball Reference pages, DJ was better than him in some surprising categories. DJ had the higher OPS, OPS+, and OBP by fairly wide margins. Though Jose had him beat in run scoring categories like HR, SLG, and RBI again by fairly wide margins. Surprisingly, they had equal WAR of 2.8 each. All I know is that DJ should’ve been 2nd at least. I know Ramirez was valuable to the tribe, but DJ’s numbers are ridiculous.
Not to mention BA which DJ won by a huge margin though I doubt people really care about that. Either way it’s almost a toss up.
You’re right…. when it comes to MVP it’s not just the numbers that matter… The intangible leadership that Jose Abreu brought to a young White Sox team should also count in his nomination… Did DJ Lame get promoted to team captain this year? Abreu has had that role on the White Sox for years, and nobody ever had to vote
Congratulations to Jose. I was personally hoping they would announce there was a mistake and they meant to nominate David Fletcher instead of DJ, but you gotta admit… Abreu went off this year
on all fairness, Jose not only came through when needed with the bat big time but he played excellent defense this year. I dogged him for his glove like many but this year he worked hard.
congratulations Jose, now here come the questions about your drunk manager.
Disagree about him coming through “when needed”. They got swept in a crucial 4 game series by the Indians late in the season. He went 2/13 with two walks. Jose Ramirez was far better than him that series.
Jose Ramirez also led the league in fWAR. Jose Ramirez should be the MVP.
nice to see him finally win one, but DJ shouldve won
I disagree. Abreu played in all 60 games. DJ only 50. They’re both about the same in terms of defense, relatively. Abreu had the better overall offensive numbers.
Jose MVP a “no brainer”!
Wow, the commenters here were way off, they were acting like DJ LeMahieu was going to be a unanimous winner or something.
Very happy for Abreu, he’s been so consistent for so long!
I would argue that Bieber deserved to be in the top 3; he had one of the best season’s by a pitcher in a while.
Had it been a 162 game season, Bieber absolutely would have been in the Top 3, but with only 12 starts, it would be really hard to include him here.
The voters have nailed all of the post season awards so far. ROY, Cy Young and now AL MVP. They’ve got them all right IMO. Let’s see if they do the right thing and name Freeman as the NL MVP later tonight. If so, job well done! Mookie might give Freddie a run for his money but Freddie certainly had the better season at the plate and was more clutch overall.
Freddie Freeman is a class act and I’ve loved watching him play for years, here’s to hoping he wins tonight!
Well deserved.
I remember before the season I said something about Abreu needing to stay in Chicago, and I applaud them for making that happen. Terrific hitter, terrific player, terrific guy. Well done Abreu! (I’ll try to find the comment too)
Here it is: “Abreu isn’t a generational talent, but chi-town loves him, nice to see him get what he deserves instead of ending his career elsewhere.”
Loser
I feel oh so bad that somebody named Chip just called me a loser on a website dedicated to baseball news and rumors! I bet my Daddy could kick your Daddy’s butt though! Imma go cry now. It hurts so bad… My poor soul…
…what’s up? Did I missing anything? I was just beating up the dad of some guy called “chip chipperson”.
Thanks Wark, I said Dad, but uncle works too. Though have you heard from my dad recently? He went out to get cigarettes a few years ago and I haven’t seen him since.
He had to drive a few states over because he couldn’t find his brand.
Dang… You have to drive pretty far to make it out of Texas. Tell him I said hi when you see him.
I’m kind of surprised to see all the comments here complaining that DJ Lemahieu should’ve won. I thought J-Ram was going to win and Abreu would take second.
You can
put it on the boooooaaaaarrrrd
YES! YES!!!! YES!!!!!!
Analytically…. and by WAR… you could argue that Ramirez kinda got snubbed.
However, I have no qualms against Abreu. A fantastic season and a leader for this emerging White Sox team.
As an Indians fan, I’m definitely okay with this. He had a great season.
I’m also enjoying seeing all the Stankees fans boo hoo-ing. 🙂
Good for him! He’s got a great reputation as a tremendous clubhouse leader and has been a very consistently good bat since coming over from Cuba. It’s a well deserve award for a guy who seems like he’s genuinely one of ‘the good ones’ congrats to Abreu.
The other races were pretty clear cut. This one was close. All three had great years in their own right. Congrats to Abreu.
Congrats to Abreu!
It wouldn’t have been a big deal to me if DJ or J-Ram got it over Abreu. You could easily make a strong case for any of those 3 (and even Beiber, for that matter).
Still, it’s nice to see Abreu get acknowledged. The average fan knows who Abreu is, but he doesn’t get talked about all that much. At least that 3 yr deal most ripped the Sox for giving Abreu this past Winter has paid off pretty well so far. I know, it was only 60 games, but still…
I am just waiting to hear a “Dogbone” comment from Dogbone!
All three of them deserved it in this short season. 60 RBI in 60 games is BEAST MODE
Not bad for a guy supposedly overpaid on his 3 year deal. Goes to show what giving a guy a little help in the lineup can do for you. Poor guy spent almost his entire career with the likes of Matt Davidson, Yonder Alonso, Todd Frazier and Dayan Viciedo batting around him.
Giving credit where credit is due, Dogdick did make a positive comment when the Sox first signed the Abreu extension. I remember it because my jaw is still sore from how hard it hit the floor, when I read an actual sensible comment from the doggy dick.
Jose’s mother is overjoyed.
Well-deserved by Abreu. I’m also glad to see Jose Ramirez finishing (a fairly close) 2nd. Ramirez has finished in the top-3 of AL MVP voting in three of the last four years and has also brought home three silver slugger awards. Plus, he is just a fun guy to watch.
60 Games is a college length season. Does Abreu win an MVP over 162 games? Probably not. Thought Bieber had the best season overall and surprised he wasn’t in the top 3. Late slump by Trout kept him out of the top 3.
Jose Abreu has Tegridy!
Abreu was an unbelievable RBI machine this year (esply late innings) after taking rbi title in ’19. As WSox fan, I eat crow. My wish was they go year to year higher contracts with him rather than 3/50 he got in case he falled off.
He and Robert will be traded within a few years. White Sox will go all in this winter. Somehow convince players to sign with them. Those players will be stuck in 6+ year deals when their window closes after 2022 and at the latest mid 2023
@wrek305
I take it the Sox trolls have invaded the Cubs’ message boards again because that was awful trolling on your part. After reading that post, I want to use a whole bottle of Visine to rinse my eyes out.
Dogbone would be envious of your troll comment.
Lettuce be honest. Mike Trout should be unanimously named mvp every year.
Who would’ve thought that the old boy had it in him? I’ll tell you that there were quite a few folks that thought we not only “overpaid” but “should’ve let him go, altogether.”
I am so proud of the season Abreu had — and really, our team as a whole — despite the early exit in the first round against The A’s.