BtBWAA Awards: NL MVP: Matt Kemp

by Lewie Pollis on Nov 10, 2011 10:00 AM EST in Awards & Honors

We've named our Cy Youngs. We've covered the Rookies of the Year. For good measure, we even picked an Executive of the Year. Today, the BtBWAA awards results show finally comes to an end.

Earlier this week, we named Jose Bautista our AL Most Valuable Player. Today, we move to the NL MVP voting.

As with the real vote, ballots were scored using a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system. First-place votes are in parentheses.

1.	Matt Kemp, Dodgers — 149 (10)
2.	Ryan Braun, Brewers — 93
3.	Roy Halladay, Phillies — 82 (1)
4.	Joey Votto, Reds — 68
5.	Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers — 54

Full results after the jump.

6.	Justin Upton, Diamondbacks — 45
T7.	Jose Reyes, Mets — 35
T7.	Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies — 35
9.	Cliff Lee, Phillies — 32
10.	Andrew McCutchen, Pirates — 15
T11.	Prince Fielder, Brewers — 12
T11.	Shane Victorino, Phillies — 12
13.	Albert Pujols, Cardinals — 10
14.	Lance Berkman, Cardinals — 5
15.	Pablo Sandoval, Giants — 2

All in all, I think this is just about what I expected the results to be, and I don't think the real results will be too much different than this. I'd be surprised if these results differ more from the BBWAA's than those of our AL MVP.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was the one voter who picked Halladay over Kemp. They were essentially tied in fWAR (they were only 0.5 apart), and Kemp's value is largely contingent on a dramatic 21-run UZR improvement over last season, which I'm hesitant to take at face value (fWAR wasn't the only thing I looked at, it's just the easiest quick-look means of comparing them). I'm also a little bit biased towards pitchers as a reaction to the prejudice most analysts have against them. After those two, my ballot went: Braun, Votto, Kershaw, Lee, Reyes, Fielder, Sandoval, and Tulowitzki, in that order.

Thanks so much to JD, Julian, Bill, J-Doug, Jacob, Daniel, Adam, Satchel, Peter, and Matt for taking the time to vote for all seven awards. I'd say we did a pretty good job.

Poll

Who's your NL MVP?

Matt Kemp

72 votes

Ryan Braun

33 votes

Roy Halladay

6 votes

Bill Petti

15 votes

Someone else

9 votes

135 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 1 recs |

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Comments

Great to see Kemp getting so much support, it makes me think he might actually win

and Kemp’s value is largely contingent on a dramatic 21-run UZR improvement over last season, which I’m hesitant to take at face value

He also went from a positive WAR in 2009 to horrible negative in 2010, so shouldn’t that be considered as well? I would think a true talent lies in the middle of about -5 to 0 UZR, not that good, but not as horrible as 2010.

TBLA 2011 Postseason Prediction Champion

by Ivdown on Nov 10, 2011 12:05 PM EST reply actions

That's a fair point

I’m not saying Kemp is the wrong choice, I was just explaining why I chose Halladay instead. I have no problem with Kemp winning our vote, and I’d be very happy if he wins the real one

Contributor @ Beyond the Box Score. Editor @ Wahoo's on First. Sophomore @ Brown University. Twitter: @LewsOnFirst
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."—George Will

by Lewie Pollis on Nov 10, 2011 12:27 PM EST up reply actions

I think it’s personally super close between Kemp and Braun. The two most notable differences include Kemp’s 8.7 WAR to Braun’s 7.8 WAR and Kemp’s 23.1 % K% to Braun’s 14.8 % K%. Otherwise it’s really close.

by David Fung on Nov 10, 2011 12:50 PM EST reply actions