But Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily
News got it right. He placed Jeter third on his ballot, behind Triple Crown
winner Miguel Cabrera first and Rookie of the Year Mike Trout second. Cabrera helped
the eventual American League champion Detroit Tigers during some very rough
patches this year and Trout saved the floundering Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
(that name really annoys me, should just call them Anaheim Angels) and made
them competitive again. As for the Yankees, they wouldn’t have survived a tough
battle with the surprisingly scrappy Baltimore Orioles for division supremacy if
it wasn’t for Derek Jeter. He carried the Yankees on his back this year,
especially during times when the rest of the lineup, Cano included,
disappeared.
Perhaps the voters rewarded Cano over
Jeter because of his late-season surge or his sexier power numbers. But I think
Feinsand got it right because he covers the team every day and could see how
Jeter dragged his bruised and battered body out to shortstop every day. Cano,
as great a player as he is, simply doesn’t have those leadership skills that
make teammates want to follow him into battle. No one has ever questioned Jeter’s
work ethic or his desire (except for George Steinbrenner, of course, who picked
on everyone). Cano still regularly faces those questions despite years of
putting up great numbers. Not really the definition of a most valuable player.
If you catch a Yankee player in an
honest moment, I bet every single one of them would say that Jeter was more
valuable than anyone on the team this year, including Cano. It’s too bad the
MVP voters missed the boat on this one so badly. Not that Jeter needs to add to
his Hall of Fame resume. It just would have been nice if most of the voters had
gotten this one right.
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