Upon Jimmy Rollins, MVP?

After several weeks of debate on the MVP candidacy of David Wright vs Matt Holliday, the NL MVP was announced today. The winner...... Jimmy Rollins. I know playoffs are not taken into account in the regular season awards (which is why Josh Beckett and Troy Tulowitzki didn't win at CY Young and NL ROY). However, I STILL think that Matt Holliday was clearly the most valuable player in the National League, which was borne out as they rode to the World Series, ans crushed Rollins' Phillies in the process. So why was Rollins the MVP? Lets go to the stats( both real and made up):

Who had more, and by how much-

Runs: +19 Rollins
Hits: +4 Holliday
Doubles: +12 Holliday
3b: +14 Rollins
HR: + 6 Holliday
BB: +14 Holliday
SB: +30 Rollins
Total Bases: +6 Holliday
Wins Shares: +2 Holliday

Pretty close race so far, right? rollins has the edge in the speed categories, and Holliday in hitting. With total bases and win shares favoring Holliday, I'd probably vote for him by a nose strictly on these numbers. But what about the production numbers you ask? Let's continue....

RBI: +43 Holliday
Avg: +.44 points Holliday
SLG%: + .76 Holliday
OPS: +.136 Holliday

Well, that seems to be a pretty decided advantage statistically, wouldn't you say? Even if you factor in Rollins lead in runs scored, Holliday still accounted for 24 more runs than Rollins.
Also, Rollins recorded 80 more at-bats than Holliday.

Much has been made of the home and away splits for Holliday. He was by all statistical accounts a better offensive player at home than on the road. However, his extrapolated road numbers would still have constituted a good season. In fact, lets look at some simple numbers for Rollins vs Holliday if their home park numbers were removed and they played an entire season with their road numbers


Holliday- .301 23 HR 117 RBI 198 Runs
Rollins- .293 24 HR 94 RBI 140 Runs

Thats a runaway for Holliday. 58 more runs!!! 23 more RBI!! Where's your Coors effect now?

You want more splits, let's look at the playoff run (September and October):

Holliday- 30 runs, 12 HR, 32 RBI
Rollins- 22 Runs, 6 HR, 18 RBI

So who helped their team more down the stretch, when every game counted?


So Jimmy Rollins is the NL MVP. That Gold Glove must count for a hell of a lot.

Upon some more Joe Torre perspective

As Joe Torre inherits the job of manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one wonders how his team can hope to fare in the upcoming years. Torre had great success in his first year as manager with the Yankees, and won the World Series.

Courtesy of ESPN:
"Opening Day lineup (in 1996) at Cleveland featured Wade Boggs, Mariano Duncan , Paul O'Neill, Ruben Sierra, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Gerald Williams, Jeter and the man who just replaced him in New York, Joe Girardi"

In addition, his starting pitchers included:
David Cone
Jimmy Key
Andy Pettitte
Kenny Rodgers
Doc Gooden

In the Pen:
John Wetteland
Jeff Nelson
Mariano Rivera
Bob Wickman

The team acquired supertars and legends each year thereafter, but the common thread in the championship years was outstanding pitching.