Being decades older than Yoenis Cespedes would ordinarily mean that, if I met him, I would call him by his first name.
But now, now, after I finish dropping to my knees in awe, I could only call him something ordinarily reserved for my elders.
Mister Cespedes. Think of the indignant Sidney Poitier with that iconic Mister Tibbs utterance from the movie In the Heat of the Night (go to :55 on the video), demanding the respect he deserves.
So allow me to make the case for Mr. Cespedes as MVP – this is a not a prediction that he will win, but rather an argument that he should win – by presenting all the arguments against it. And then blowing them up.
Yes, Bryce Harper has had an excellent year. No one can argue with a 1.118 OPS, and I could drown you in other metrics. But why bother? We all know Harper has been a numbers guy, an accumulator in the tradition of A-Rod. I will, however, point to one number: 85 RBI’s. Hardly extraordinary, especially for a guy with 36 HR’s, and just 18th best in the majors (Cespedes has driven in 102 between NY and Detroit, ranking fifth, though his exploits with the Tigers will of course not be counted in MVP consideration).
But part of what makes an MVP is what effect, if any, he has on the rest of his team (and yes, I will stipulate again that this is not one of the listed criteria for the award, but should it not be implicit in the word “valuable”?). Does the guy makes those around him better?
Virtually every player around Cespedes has upped their game – in many cases, by a lot – from the moment his name was first written into the lineup card. Or in the case of a Wright or d’Arnaud, returned from long stints on the DL and excelled in an environment with far less pressure – because of Mr. Cespedes.
You would be hard pressed to make that case for Harper (yes, I know, the Nats had a lot of injuries (as if the Mets didn’t) and I kept hearing that mantra from Nationals fans all year) But young Bryce has been more like Harper Island – a player standing all by himself – than anything approaching a leader of one of the most disappointing teams in recent memory. This was perfectly exemplified in Wednesday’s concluding game of the Mets’ unforgettable sweep in DC. Two solo homers and a double for an otherwise barren offense, scoring all three runs in a third consecutive crushing defeat.
This brings to mind the story Ralph Kiner used to tell about when Branch Rickey, then the General Manager of an awful Pirates team. traded him out of Pittsburgh. Despite Kiner’s prolific power numbers – 7 straight home run titles – Rickey told Ralphie, “we can finish last without you.”
The Nats could finish second without Harper.
The Mets would not finish first without Cespedes. Does that not define valuable?
Now, let’s get the “he hasn’t played enough games” argument out of the way. Just one year ago, Clayton Kershaw won the NL MVP after playing in a grand total of 27 games (less than 20% of his team’s games). When Justin Verlander won the AL MVP in 2011, he played in 34 games. And those were pitchers, who many argue should not even be eligible for the MVP because they’ve got their own Cy Young Award. Assuming he stays healthy, Cespedes will play in more than 55 games.
With fear and trembling, let me also cite the case of 2007, when the reviled Jimmy Rollins won the MVP. Did he win it because of his .296 average, 30 HR’s and 96 RBI’s? Or more precisely, would he have won the MVP if the Phillies had not run the table in the last three weeks while the Mets were collapsing? Of course not. His numbers were nice, but he won in large part because he went all in by declaring the Phillies as the team to beat, and then went out and backed up his words.
So let’s trash this idea that the MVP is all about, or exclusively about, numbers.
It’s not even necessary to spout Mr. Cespedes’ numbers, gaudy and incredible as they are. Everyone, and I mean everyone in the baseball world knows what he has meant to this team. And it goes well beyond what Rollins meant to the ‘07 Phillies.
There is a difference, however it is defined or argued, between an MVP and an MOP, as it is called in the NCAA basketball tournament. The V in MVP stands for valuable. The O in MOP means outstanding. If there was not a distinction between the two, the two institutions would not employ different verbiage. We can argue endlessly, as perhaps Bill Clinton would, about what the meaning of “valuable” is, but it is clearly a far deeper and richer word than “outstanding.”
Harper has perhaps been the most outstanding because he has done it for his team all year, but Cespedes has been the most valuable, regardless of the games played statistics. Tell me I’m wrong.
It has been argued that it was only Harper who has prevented the Nats from being even worse, but the same could be said of almost any legitimate MVP candidate. Where would the Diamondbacks be without Paul Goldschmidt and his 99 RBI’s, .984 OPS and gold glove play at 1B? Maybe they’d be 73-68 instead of 68-73. But that is hardly the stuff of MVP’s. Players are penalized for their team’s failures. It may not be fair, but this game is all about winning,.
Let me embellish the case by citing a couple of our MMO commenters on a recent piece by my colleague Satish Ram:
somedude718: My case for Cespedes is he is the only player in which you can see the difference he made, BECAUSE he wasn’t here all year.
Hotstreak: My contention is throw everything out except HOW MUCH not HOW LONG a player helped his team. Not only in wins but crucial wins during crunch time.
Those of a religious bent (and even minimally educated non-believers) could perhaps best understand it this way: The Mets season has had perhaps the clearest point of demarcation anyone can remember: BC (Before Cespedes) and AD (After his arrival). The Mets offense was so bad BC that it was a trending topic and a major source of embarrassment. It is now an AD juggernaut. To say the difference has been night and day is not an exaggeration.
Let me finish by going even further to say that, from here on out – barring a team collapse or an injury to him – Mr. Cespedes needs only to be very good, but not the otherworldly presence he has been since August 1, to be the MVP.
His damage is done. The rest is icing on the cake. Mister Cespedes is the MVP…and it’s not even close.
