Fuck The Heck 101

Yeah, that's right, an FJM reference. Get used to it. The denial of them shutting down is not likely to cease in the near future. Anyways, this is somewhat old news, but I thought I'd point it out nonetheless. The results for the Hank Aaron Awards and the Silver Sluggers were recently announced this past month. Here's a quick look at how a few of them turned out. (Disclaimer: If you're a fan of reasoning, I suggest you refrain from reading the rest of the post). Enjoy.

Your 2008 AL Hank Award Winner











Your 2008 AL First Baseman
Silver Slugger Award Winner













Your 2008 NL Hank Aaron Award Winner
















Your 2008 NL Third Baseman
Silver Slugger Award Winner














So... Kevin Youkilis was deemed to be the best offensive player in the American League, but not the best offensive player at his position. Aramis Ramirez was deemed to be the best offensive player in the National League, but not the best offensive player at his position.

Phil Sheridan would've had a legitimate case if he did his bitching about this process. The Hank Aaron Award is seriously fucked up.

Jayson Stark Sums Up the Absurdity that is the MVP Award

"...Remember that this award is about "value," not numbers."

Interesting. And all this time I thought the numbers were the very thing representing that value. He also provided this valuable new age statistic for us:

My "runs produced" definition is RBIs plus runs scored, then subtract homers. Here's how they rank:
Hamilton 160
Kinsler 147
Morneau 142
Quentin 140
Youkilis 125

Sorry, Alex Rodriguez, Grady Sizemore, and Milton Bradley, you are not MVP-worthy. The reasons for this are three-fold: either A) the players in front of you don't get on base enough B) the players behind you don't hit good enough or C) you hit too many homeruns.
Now, I know that Stark didn't exactly use this to back up his stance on the MVP, but the fact that this type of statistic is being used in any context is cause for concern. This is essentially one of the worst ways to determine how well a player produces runs.
Let me show you why this "statistic" should never be used in any argument ever again.

Runs Produced-2008
Mark Reynolds
127
Albert Pujols
122

Thank you.