Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Robinson Cano will get another shot at MVP


Robinson Cano will have to be content with his Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards, at least for now.

In what seemed like a foregone conclusion, Josh Hamilton won the American League Most Valuable Player award by a pretty hefty margin over Cano and the other candidates. Despite missing 28 games at the end of the season, Hamilton put up strong enough numbers to clearly convince the writers of his value to the Texas Rangers. It must feel like a particularly gratifying achievement after all the troubles Hamilton has endured.

But I must admit to being very surprised by the lack of first-place votes for Cano considering the New York Yankees actually made it to the playoffs while the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays both watched from home. Ever since Alex Rodriguez started winning MVP awards during his time with the Rangers, it has become clear that some writers will cast their votes for the players with the gaudiest numbers rather than the players who are actually most valuable to their teams in helping them get into postseason play. I have no problem with Hamilton winning, but the writers who put Miguel Cabrera and Jose Bautista ahead of Cano really missed the boat. Granted, those guys put up fantastic numbers this year, but Cano kept the Yankees in contention when ARod went down and other big-time players such as Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter struggled.

But Cano’s MVP loss doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. And Cano is young and has become one of the best players in baseball. He will get another shot at an MVP award eventually.

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