If the choice is between Votto and Howard, I take Votto every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
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If the choice is between Votto and Howard, I take Votto every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Howard as a 2013 MVP candidate is kinda silly, he wouldn't even be in my top ten. But it's not out of the realm of possibility. And to be honest, I can see him have a monster comeback year if he's healthy.
On a side note, I personally think that being a feared hitter is definitely one of the many criteria for being an MVP. But everyone has different ideas of what makes an MVP, so I understand those who disagree.
Arguably the best defensive player in the game was considered an overall 'below-average' player by WAR. Ryan Howard plays at a position where he is expected to hit a lot of home runs and get on base a lot. He has hit a lot of home runs. His OBP has been mostly run-of-the-mill for a first baseman over the last 5 years. And he is atrocious defensively at a position filled with other poor defenders. So, Howard is arguably one of the worst defenders in the game and his bat has been pretty good. That sounds like a guy who is roughly average overall. WAR reflects that.
Take out Howard and put in a defensive player and I highly doubt the Phillies win those 5 NL East titles. Just like they were 12 under .500 when he didn't start last year and then 12 over in his 66 starts when he did.
Power = Runs, Runs = Wins!
Joey has equal if not better bats behind him than Howard has if not they he would get so many IBB, Howard knocks himself in on a 162 game average 44 times, one year he did it 58 times. On 162 game average Joey does it 30 times so that OBP difference gets evened out by the extra HR that's why over that 162 average Howard scores 3 more runs and drives in 34 less.
Joey is no doubt a better hitter and puts up better Sabermetrics stats but Howard can completely change games from the box and makes then a good team despite no love from the overrated WAR stat.
No, it does not.
wOBA utilizes linear formulas to assign run values for every type of event, obviously going from weakest to strongest (walk, single, double, triple, HR, etc.), and tells you the overall run value produced by a player. Votto has a career .413 wOBA, Howard has a .381 wOBA. And before you cite his 292 PA's from last year (immaterial when looking at a sample of 4700 PA's over his career, let's address the fact that the last time that Howard put up an OPS over .900 was 2009. Since then, he's torn his achilles, and is now at the not so ripe age of 33.
Not only do you choose to ignore WAR without anything to back it up, you choose to get rid of basically EVERY stat except home runs, which is basically the definition of cherry picking. Counting stats don't really tell us anything about the player that the ratio stats don't already tell us, other than what kind of teammates he has.Quote:
Joey is no doubt a better hitter and puts up better Sabermetrics stats but Howard can completely change games from the box and makes then a good team despite no love from the overrated WAR stat.