Angels center fielder Mike Trout will not get to defend his 2019 American League Most Valuable player honors in this year’s balloting. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America released its AL MVP finalists Monday, and despite another brilliant year, Trout didn’t make the cut. Instead, the voters will decide among Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez, Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu and White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu.
Ramirez didn’t look like a contender for the award heading into the season’s final month, but the tear he went on in September put him on the map and may make him the favorite. The 28-year-old posted a video game-like 1.294 OPS with 10 home runs in 82 at-bats in the year’s last few weeks to help the Indians to the playoffs. He ended the regular season with a .292/.386/.607 line (good for a 163 wRC+), 17 homers, 10 steals, an AL-leading 3.4 fWAR and 2.2 bWAR over 254 plate appearances.
The only two AL position players who beat out Ramirez in bWAR were LeMahieu and Abreu, who tied for a league-high 2.8. It was a dream contract year showing for LeMahieu, who’s now a free agent. Once he turns down the Yankees’ qualifying offer, he’ll hit the market fresh off a season as arguably the most productive hitter in his league. The 32-year-old won a batting title, paced the AL in wRC+ (177), slashed .364/.421/.590 with 10 HRs, and finished fifth among AL position players in fWAR (2.5) across 216 trips to the plate.
Meanwhile, the White Sox’s decision to re-sign Abreu last offseason couldn’t have paid off much more than it did in 2020. Abreu was instrumental in the White Sox’s first playoff berth since 2008, as the franchise icon batted .317/.370/.617 (167 wRC+) in 262 PA. He also ended up second in the AL in homers (19) and third in fWAR (2.6).
After digesting all of those numbers, which of the three do you think deserves this year’s MVP honors? Cast your vote below …
(Poll link for app users)
id love to see Abreu get it, but DJ just had an absolutely monster season
My vote is for Chris “Crush” Davis..
Speaking of “valuable”, Abreu really had an impact on his young teammates, in addition to his significant on field contributions. Hard to argue against that. Abreu was most “valuable” as I see it.
Angels center fielder Mike Trout will not get to defend his 2019 American League Most Valuable player honors in this year’s balloting
Well Praise God for this, about time someone else gets a day in the sun
I will go with DJL! I saw him play too much and the heck of it is, the O’s could have signed him for a reasonable amount before the Yankees did
Anyway, he had the best year because he had to help carry the Yankees because of all their injuries!
Miggy was given two undeserved days in the sun and Mookie won it in 2018 on a team that was cracked for sign stealing.
No problem with Trout not making the final 3 this year, but he’s been hardly given any undue awards. If anything, he should clearly have 2 more.
I could hear an argument for one of Cabrera’s MVPs being “undeserved”, but his 2012 Triple Crown year is obviously an MVP season, no matter how you slice it
Winning a triple crown is a novelty. So if Hamilton or E.E. hits two more HRs Miggy is not the MVP?
Trout was much better than Miggy that year. Trout not only had a better wRC+ but played CF stole 49 bases.
If it was just hitting, it would have been close, but baseball is more than just hitting.
In 1932 the Triple Crown wins the MVP, definitely. But we have far, far better metrics than RBI to evaluate players nowadays. Not that you even need them.
Both men were great in the batter’s box. Trout was also great in CF and led the league in stolen bases. Miggy was the worst defender at his position and hit into the most double plays.
Literally every single GM in the league valued Trout more than Miggy that year. Only a handful of dinosaurs in the BBWAA disagreed.
Remember, Hamilton had a comfortable lead prior to hurting his arm tagging from third and trying to score. He stays healthy and there’s almost assuredly no Triple Crown.
Stripped of the novelty, no way Miggy wins MVP.
All I got to say about 2012 and 2013 Cabrera is steroids….
Oh I don’t really begrudge Trout winning, it it just that he is made out to be Super Man and I never bought into that
compared to anyone playing for the orioles he is the baseball god himself!
Well the O’s are stylish, so there is that
Stylish?
They’re not even the best looking team with their color scheme
DJL has had to carry the Yankees the past 2 seasons because of all of the Yankee player injuries. Hope he gets it.
Has to be LeMahieu. Just an absolute monster year. Should get a serious payday.
DJ all the way!
All had great seasons, but Abreu’s impact and leadership with that young and crazy-talented squad on the Southside pushes him to the top as most valuable (his monster numbers speak as loud, too!)
This is a tough one. Ramirez had a career year, but wasn’t as good defensively compared to years past. Abreu flatout mashed and was a solid defender at first. LeMahieu was arguably the bester AL hitter last year, but was overall average defensively, which is surprising for him. Really can’t go wrong here.
I went with Ramirez because unlike his fellow nominees, he had no help in the lineup and still produced. Santana and Lindor had bad years. White Sox and Yankees had plenty of offense without DJ and Abreu. MVP is not who had the best year, it is who was most valuable to their team. Ramirez stands apart. Abreu and DJ can take solace in Player of the year voting.
@styme
But most of that help was hurt during the Yankee regular season
Count the days DJ had help in the line up, and then count the days Ramirez had help in his. No contest.
Ramirez hit in the least friendly home ballpark of the three as well. I give him the nod.
Ramirez was also terrible up until the last 2.5 weeks of the season. I think that matters
I think Bieber deserves it, obviously not a finalist but I think he was the most impactful and valuable for his club. And this is coming from an unbiased A’s fan
It will be DJ. I can argue Ramirez but it takes work. DJ simply had a monster year from bell to bell.
I know pitchers aren’t generally considered for this award but Shane Bieber deserves some mention in this race.
60 games? No awards as it simply symbolizes a hot streak.
While I love DJL and the season he had, I think he is 3rd on this list. Abreu had a monster season all around, including a very solid defensive year at 1B. He absolutely mashed this year, with a great balance between average, OBP and power. I put Ramirez as #2 because he did not have nearly the same level of protection in the lineup that both Abreu and DJL did. Lindor batted in front of Ramirez most of the season so that makes what he did even more impressive, especially down the stretch when they were fighting for a playoff spot. DJL was also great too but his season accomplishments feel to be slightly below both of the other candidates. You can really make a case for all 3 of these guys to win it so it should be very close.
Did the voters just get bored of Trout?
Giving out awards for 60 game seasons is no fun, anyway. It’s so far off a regular baseball season that it is apples and oranges.
Trout missed seven games and DJ was a better hitter.
Trout was clearly 4th. DJ, because-he missed ten games, is clearly 3rd.
Trout is not clearly 4th
My heart says LeMahieu.
My brain says Ramirez.
Which sucks.
If you don’t think it’s Abreu then you are either idiotic or extremely biased. 1st in hits, 1st in RBI, 1st in total bases, 1st in extra base hits, 1st in slugging, 2nd in HR’s , 4th in average, and 5th in OPS… not to mention the leadership he brings to that young team … if that’s not MVP then scrap the award entirely
Because everything else a player does in unimportant?
DJ was a better hitter than Abreu. But the ten extra games is relevant. The ten extra games is enough for me to put Abreu ahead of him…. but.
Ramirez was more valuable. Defense and baserunning count. And a 3rd baseman is more valuable than a first baseman, Abreu wasn’t so much better of a hitter than Ramirez. Ramirez had a higher OBP and only trailed Abreu by 3 on OPS+
Exactly! Abreu!
I’m biased as a White Sox fan, but Abreu is the only one of the three who played all 60 games — DJLM only played 50 (83% of his teams games) –, and with comparable rate stats, he led the league in hits, RBIs, extra-base hits (tied with Ramirez), and total bases, and was 2nd in HRs. His Statcast numbers (exit velocity, hard hit %, barrels) are all also better than Ramirez and DJLM.
And as mentioned by someone else above, he was a leader and mentor for the rest of the young White Sox roster that really came into its own this year.
The one negative is that he only played the less defensively valuable 1B position (and occassionally DH), but he did have a solid year defensively, so it’s not much of a negative.
Yep!
It’s Abreu’s turn!!
Back to back RBI leader.
DJ. I’m glad he is finally getting the respect that he has deserved for years.
I’m also biased but Ramirez is my choice since he was on fire during the remaining weeks of the shortened season. DJ and Abreu had stellar seasons as well. Let the best player win.
I’m not biased. Ramirez. I’m not so sure Abreu was a better hitter. OBP is the most important offensive stat and Ramirez was better. Abreu’s small lead in slugging isn’t that much of a difference, and if you add the ten SBs as bases, it’s actually less.
Defense counts, position counts, baserunning counts. It’s not even a hard choice. Ramirez is just a little better, but obviously better.
C’mon, it’s not close. DJ by a mile.
Those ten fewer games are significant.
Crazy beiber isn’t top 3
DJL Easy. Mookie in NL
You are obviously a Yankee fan. A player that misses 10 games in a 60 games season is not the MVP unless he’s far and away the best player in the league.
DJL was not.
Why not? Kershaw won MVP when he played 27 out of his team’s 162 games. Voters don’t care about games played.
Um, Halo11Fan? Tatsumaki is NOT a NYY fan. He’s a Dodgers fan and his father’s an Angels fan. There are plenty of non-NYY fans on this board alone who feel DJL deserves the MVP. The batting title and league-leading 177 wRC+ mean something, too.
Aubreu is the best power hitter of the three. LeMahieu is the best ‘pure’ hitter of the three. Ramirez is the best all-round hitter of the three.
These observations are based off their offensive percentile ratings per statcast (link:baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/percentile-rank…)
This is my final deciding factor after looking at the offensive numbers:
Outs Above Average Percentile Ratings
Jose Abreu (1B) -82-
Jose Ramirez (3B) -69-
DJ LeMahieu (2B) -20-
Even if one were to play off the importance of defense at first base, value gained or lost from defense are tallied towards a players overall value.
So in this hypothetical vote, I choose Jose Abreu.
Agreed!
Was Abreu’s defense that good?
Executes best 3-6-3 DP.
Catches more foul popups than most.
Defense improving every year!
D……J…….L
Abreu had a great 1/3 season, no doubt, but I surmise DJ wil come away with the award because of his defensive prowess at multiple positions, including Abreu’s. Nonetheless, we shall see in a about a week
LeMahieu was overall average defensively at second, third and first base. But can we even take LeMahieu’s innings at first with more than a glance? He played 11 games and started just one of them. He had 24 innings. That’d be like saying that Freddie Freeman should’ve been an MVP finalist because not only was he a great hitter, but he played 136 innings at third base and was a good defender there as well as at first base. At both second base and third base, he had no DRS, and was in the negatives in terms of UZR and range runs.
3. DJ LeMahieu
I’d put him higher, but he only played in 50 games, which is around only 83% of the total games in a season. The sample size just isn’t enough for him to win MVP.
2. Jose Abreu
This was very, very, tough. Abreu had a monster season, and led the AL in OPS+. An incredible year, but he just misses out.
1. Jose Ramirez
J-Ram takes the prize for me. He was remarkably consistent most of the year and while not as valuable as Abreu as a hitter, the position factor (along with speed and defense) nudges him into the top spot. As a bonus, he easily tops the field in WAR with an MLB-leading 3.4.
J-Ram’s batting line for August 2020: 202/296/404. He ranked 52nd in OPS among qualified players in the AL for the month. He had an amazing September (and for the few games in July). But he was most definitely not remarkably consistent throughout the season.
Jose’’……..Jose’ Jose’ Jose’!!
Well, Willie Stargell & Keith Hernandez tied in 1979 if you see where I’m going with this…
Um, no. Are you saying a tie? If so, that was kind of a convoluted way to say it.
Once again a 40% season. NOBODY HAD A “ MONSTER YEAR.” In 60 games come on people. It was a tournament and that is all.
Your team must not have done well. I’m not saying you have no point at all, I’m saying give it a rest. Plenty of people got some enjoyment from and saw some value in the season. Your harping won’t change their minds.
My fellow writers and I voted on all award winners. We ended up with Jose Ramirez winning AL MVP. Full results: maxsportingstudio.com/maxs-sporting-studio-award-v…
Abreu’s clutch hits dwindled the last week and during Game 3.
So went the Sox…
Shows how valuable Abreu is to Sox!!
Abreu carried Sox all season long.
MVP!
DJ. Amazing year
It’s somewhat silly because this is the equivalent of giving awards out on the first week of June. But, it is what it is… whatever that saying even means anymore.
I went Ramirez but I think it’s a toss up with DJ, good case to be made for both. Abreu not far behind, great season for him, but, still just behind.