Baggs' NL MVP Award ballot

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SAN FRANCISCOBuster Posey had the stats, he had the narrative and he led his team to a division title. He was the NL batting champion and the Giants defensive captain on the field.It added up to an Ivy League-quality application for the Most Valuable Player Award, and it didnt hurt that Posey aced the character test, too. So it wasnt a surprise to anyone when he was named a runaway winner of the award on Thursday.NEWS: Buster Posey honored with NL MVP Award
I was among the 32 members of the BBWAA who held an MVP vote this season. Here is the ballot I turned in on Oct. 4, along with comments on each selection:1. Buster PoseyThe Giants only got better in August after Melky Cabrera went down, and while Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro deserve their share of credit for that, Posey was the one who led the uphill charge. The previous August, the defending champs crashed and burned. The obvious difference: That team didnt have Posey, who was unable to walk for four months because of that horrific collision at the plate. The Giants had him in 2012, and in every respect, he was their most valuable difference maker. Others had more impressive counting stats, but no player meant more to his team than Posey meant to the Giants.RATTO: Posey takes fun out of NL MVP race
2. Ryan BraunTake away the names on the stat sheet and Braun probably wins the award. The Brewers left fielder led the NL with 41 homers, 108 runs scored and a .987 OPS, while finishing second in RBIs and third in OBP behind Posey and Andrew McCutchen. And Braun compiled those numbers without Prince Fielder hitting alongside him in Milwaukees lineup. The only reason anyone would vote Braun lower than No.2 or No.3 on their ballot is to penalize him for last years positive testosterone test, which was thrown out on a technicality. Even if Braun knowingly cheated, Im not a moralist when it comes to voting for postseason awards. That happened in 2011, and Im voting on the 2012 season. So theres no need to do anything punitive like leave Braun off my ballot, or rank him below others who had inferior seasons.3. Andrew McCutchenOne of these days, the Pirates will see a season through all 162 games. Like his team, McCutchen tailed off badly in the second halfand thats not how you win an MVP award. But while it might be a tiebreaker for me when a player has a strong finishing kick, I tend to look more at the entirety of the season. And for the first four months, nobody was more valuable than McCutchen. Almost any way you parse the numbers, Posey, Braun and McCutchen were the three best players in the league. I do think the advanced metrics overrate him a bit in center field, though.4. Yadier MolinaThe Cardinals lost Albert Pujols to free agency and Lance Berkman to the knee gremlin, but they still found a way to play baseball deep into October. Thats more a reflection on Molina than anyone else. Even though he struggled to hit in the postseason, he had his best offensive season when the Cardinals needed it most. Behind the plate, he has no peerand that includes Posey. Molina shuts down an opponents running game, he buys strikes for his pitchers with the way his magic glove almost seems to never leave the zone and hes valuable in the best sense of the word: He makes everyone around him better. I was tempted to rank him higher, and perhaps I should have.GALLERY: Posey joins rare company5. Craig Kimbrel
6. Aroldis Chapman
Im going to get some disagreement here, and that's perfectly OK. I believe the MVP is meant for everyday players, and yes, I see closers as everyday players. Even if Kimbrel or Chapman pitches three innings a week, theyre a threat every day they arrive at the ballpark. They govern an opposing managers decisions, they get in the head of hitters and they effectively shorten the game. I wont even spout off all the statistics. You can find them, and theyre devastating. Kimbrel and Chapman had two of the most dominant, strikeout-filled seasons by a closer in major league history, and that makes them among the most valuable players in the NL.7. Chase HeadleyNo, Headley doesnt make my ballot because he led the NL with 115 RBIs. We all realize, or should, that RBIs are heavily context-dependent. (That doesnt make them meaningless, though.) Headley appears here because he was a breakout star who finished top-10 in OPS despite playing in a non-threatening lineup in the worst hitters park in the league. So yes, context matters. Headley had a truly outstanding season, hes a good defensive third baseman, and every time I watched him, he did something to help the Padres win. He could even steal his way into scoring position. The Pads knew what they were doing when they resisted trade overtures for him.8. Ian DesmondThe bottom of the ballot is always hard. Seems like every year, youre trying to cram 10 worthy players into the last two or three spots. You also face the best team dilemma every once in awhile, and that definitely came into play in 2012. The Washington Nationals had the best record in the league, but they had no clear-cut top-5 MVP candidate. I really felt their best player was Ryan Zimmerman, but Adam LaRoche had more impressive statistics. I was trying to decide which of the two to put on my ballot. So I was surprised when I asked my Nationals beat colleagues for their thoughts and they said Desmond was their most worthy candidate. The anecdotal evidence agreed with them; Desmond was a wrecking crew when I saw him play against the Giants. Even though he ended up missing some time with injury, his defense at shortstop was impressive to those who saw him play every day. So his positional value earned him the nod on my ballot. The difference between Desmond, Zimmerman and LaRoche was not huge, though.9. David WrightHe didnt play for a contender, but theres no way I could leave Wright off my ballot entirely. His overall numbers were too good to ignore. Whens the last time you could call a New York ballplayer underrated?10. Angel PaganI usually allow myself some leeway for a prerogative vote with the 10th spot on the ballot. Ive used it in the past to vote for setup men, who are becoming more valuable every year but dont have an award of their own. I voted for Scott Eyre and Jeremy Affeldt in the past, and I nearly voted for Jonny Venters last year. I really wanted to throw Sergio Romo a vote this time around. Obviously, there was no way for me to know that hed throw the last pitch of the seasona ballsy, 89 mph fastball down the middle that froze Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to clinch the World Series. But when I filled out my ballot, there were too many solid position players to justify a prerogative vote. I left off Aramis Ramirez, who hit 50 doubles, and Aaron Hill, who pretty much had Chase Headleys season except in a more lively home ballpark. Matt Holliday was the other near-miss for me. Instead, I decided to vote for Pagan, who was emblematic of the improvement in a Giants offense that went from 570 runs in 2011, the fewest by an NL team in 19 years, to a better-than-average total of 718. The Giants hit the fewest homers in the majors, but had the most triplesand Pagan hit 14 of them to lead MLB while breaking the San Francisco-era franchise record held by Willie Mays and Steve Finley. He did what so many mid-career newcomers at AT&T Park could not: He didnt curse the ballpark but instead made it work for him and used it to his advantage. Pagan took off after he was moved back to the leadoff spot on Aug. 3, and his constant presence on base is what allowed Marco Scutaro to put his considerable skills to work in the No. 2 spot. Pagan ended up being a defensive asset in center field, too, even if his routes didnt always inspire confidence. It turns out Carlos Beltran was right when he told me down the stretch in 2011 that the Giants needed a leadoff hitter above all. Pagan was that man. His overall numbers might grade lower than some of those omitted from my ballot, but I think Pagan was one of the leagues biggest difference makersand Im happy to recognize him with a 10th-place vote.

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