Keidel: Yoenis Cespedes Should Be Your National League MVP
By Jason Keidel
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Over the last seven weeks, the Mets have become the core of Big Apple baseball. And while there are several reasons, we know the main reason.
Yoenis Cespedes.
The Mets were 53-50 on July 31, for a .515 winning percentage, and were two games behind the Washington Nationals.
Since then, the Mets are 30-11, winning 73 percent of their games -- easily the best mark in the National League. And they are 9 1/2 games ahead of the Nats, the largest lead in MLB.
Since he became a Met -- 41 games played -- Cespedes is batting .309 with 17 HRs and 42 RBIs. The Mets were dead last in runs scored on July 25, and are first in the NL since.
There's no doubt that other players sprinkled over the lineup have helped the Mets over the same span, but no one has been the behemoth that Cespedes has been. Tyler Clippard has been a nice bridge to the ninth inning. But only Cespedes can -- and he has -- singularly carry the Mets to the cusp of October baseball.
If he plays every game the rest of the way, he will total 59 in a Mets uniform. So it's ridiculous to suggest he's the NL MVP. Right?
Well, it would be an easier argument if they didn't vote for pitchers. Clayton Kershaw won it last year, and he participated in 27 games. In fact, baseball scribes have no problem bestowing the dual accolades of Cy Young and MVP upon the same guy.
Like Kershaw last year. Like Justin Verlander in 2011. Like Roger Clemens. Eleven pitchers have snagged both awards, dating back to Don Newcombe for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. Even relievers got in on the action, like Dennis Eckersley (1992), Willie Hernandez (1984) and Rollie Fingers (1981).
So you can pitch an inning or two and bag the MVP, but you can't carry a team for two months and earn it?
Opponents will point to Manny Ramirez. He brought a scalding bat to the Dodgers at the deadline in 2008 and made Hollywood morph into his own Mannywood fiefdom. Yet he finished fourth on the MVP ballot.
But one problem people have with baseball is its calcified, old-world ethos. If they are pliable enough to make a relief pitcher a league MVP and can add endless playoff berths for the postseason, then why limit the scope of the most valuable player?
Look at who's lit up the scoreboard all season in the National League. Paul Goldschmidt. Nolan Arenado. And, of course, Bryce Harper. What do they have in common? None are on a team that qualifies for the postseason.
Who has meant more to any National League club than Cespedes? If we agree on the twin virtues of the winning player on a winning team, you won't find anyone who has meant more to his team's ascent than Cespedes.
He won't win it, because there's some twisted omertà among sportswriters that says you must play over 120 games to be considered the best player. Unless you're a pitcher.
But ask the Mets' bejeweled pitching staff who has meant more to their team than Yoenis Cespedes.
