Brewers Team MVP, Cy Young and MIP

[jjfanec]

It has been a really fun year but with the talk of Cain and Yelich for league MVP I was wondering who people thought was the team MVP, Cy Young and then the team MIP - most important player. I think these could be the same our different depending on your criteria. MVP usually just means the best player on the team. That seems to probably be a two horse race with Cain and Yelich. Team Cy Young could be really interesting. I would guess it is between Hader and Jeffress. Chacin just isnt quite top end enough but I do think an argument could be made for him as Most Important Player. There was a part of the season where it felt like the rotation would have imploded without Chacin. Miley too but he missed a chunk of the year.

 

Here is how I would go

MVP - Yelich - his line has just been really really good. I am surprised defensive metrics are down on him because outside of his arm I think he is a good OF defender when I have watched.

Cy Young - Jeffress - Hader has been great but Jeffress can go out almost every day and with Knebel's struggles I hate to think where we have been.

MIP - Cain. I almost put Chacin here. I think Cain's presence plays a huge role on the team and he is really stinking good too.

[dlk9s]

MVP - Yelich - his line has just been really really good. I am surprised defensive metrics are down on him because outside of his arm I think he is a good OF defender when I have watched.

 

I haven't gotten to watch a ton of games, so maybe I'm wrong, but from what I've seen of Yelich, his arm isn't that bad. It's not great, but it seems adequate. What I've noticed is that it takes him a long time to windup and throw the ball. I doubt anyone will work with him on it, but I would be interested to see if he could speed up his delivery to improve this throwing.

 

Then again, maybe his windup is so long because his arm is so weak and he needs to rear back a ton.

[brewmann04]

MVP Yelich

cy young Starter Chacin

Reliever Tie Josh and JJ

[pacopete4]

It’s so close in a lot of ways that I’ll wait out the last 15 games before I’ll chime in.

[rickh150]

Best Player Yelich

Cy Young Hader

[dlk9s]

It’s so close in a lot of ways that I’ll wait out the last 15 games before I’ll chime in.

Let's see who makes the playoffs.

[Bombers]

MVP - Yellich

MIP - Cain

Cy Young - Hader

[SRB]

MVP - Cain

 

Obviously can't go wrong picking Yelich, but I'm truly convinced that Cain is the most talented overall baseball player to play for the Brewers in my memory. Elite defense and fundamentals with a .400+ OBP at the top of the order.

 

Cy Young - Hader

 

I can see the argument for Jeffress, but overall Hader has been otherworldly. Watching him pitch when he is firing on all cylinders (as he frequently is) has been the highlight of a very entertaining season so far.

 

MIP - Shaw

 

In all honesty, Aguilar is probably a better pick here because he carried the offense in the first half when our #1 and #2 options at 1B (Thames and Braun) were injured or ineffective. But I'm going to pick Shaw because he doesn't get enough credit for being consistently great all season, even after being asked to play a difficult up-the-middle position he had NEVER played before and more or less flourishing there.

[young guns]

Mvp- yelich

Cy- hader

Mip could go a lot of ways. So many players have had a huge impact for the team, aguilar carrying the team in the first half, Cain and yelich being consistent all season, hader and jefress shutting down the end of games, and chachin pitching wonderfully, but I want to go Miley. He came in and really solidified the rotation when we needed it and kept it from falling apart.

[FVBrewerFan]

I don't know how the MVP wouldn't be the MIP? Usually when you see MIP it refers to Most Improved Player?

[tmwiese55]

I see a lot of different arguments and am not going to call anyone crazy. But I really think think Jeffress should be the Cy Young choice and i don't think it's close. As KD says, he's the real MVP. You can make an honest argument that JJ has been the best reliever in the whole league. I know Hader has been great too and stands out more due to the ridiculousness of his stuff, but really Jeffress has been better than him plus he's so durable, doesn't need the multiple days off and goes multiple days in a row. Basically, if you're just going who was our best relief pitcher I think it should be JJ and I think he's been a bit overlooked all year. He's truly been incredible all year.

 

MVP: Yelich

Cy: JJ

MIP: either of those two is fine but I go JJ. Then I think for a minute and think how important it is to play every day like a position player so...

[ThisIsMyCrew]

MVP - Cain

 

Obviously can't go wrong picking Yelich, but I'm truly convinced that Cain is the most talented overall baseball player to play for the Brewers in my memory. Elite defense and fundamentals with a .400+ OBP at the top of the order.

 

Cy Young - Hader

 

I can see the argument for Jeffress, but overall Hader has been otherworldly. Watching him pitch when he is firing on all cylinders (as he frequently is) has been the highlight of a very entertaining season so far.

 

MIP - Shaw

 

In all honesty, Aguilar is probably a better pick here because he carried the offense in the first half when our #1 and #2 options at 1B (Thames and Braun) were injured or ineffective. But I'm going to pick Shaw because he doesn't get enough credit for being consistently great all season, even after being asked to play a difficult up-the-middle position he had NEVER played before and more or less flourishing there.

 

 

Yeah...I don’t think I’d ever call someone batting 240 “consistently great”. But that’s just me.

[djd1228]

MVP - Cain

 

Cy Young - Hader

 

MIP - Wade Miley, basing this strictly off what everyone did last year compared to this year.

[brewcrewdue80]

Yelich MVP

Hader-cy young

Cain 1st half Mip Yelich 2nd half Mip.

 

Cain seemed to step in leader of the team chip on his shoulder take off. Yelich has just been a consistent improving part of this team every month to overtake Cain.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm going to go old school to explain my choice of Yelich over Cain as MVP.

 

Combining runs scored and RBI, Yelich has 190 to Cain's 118. That's primarily a result of Yelich outslugging Cain .560 to .429. Cain has saved a bunch of runs with his defense but not enough to overcome the offensive production edge Yelich has.

 

I'll take Hader over Jeffress for Brewer Cy Young. That was very close as well, but I'm giving the edge to Hader based on his WHIP edge of 0.750 to 1.037.

 

MIP? Miley is a no-brainer. 5.61 ERA in 2017. 2.23 in 2018.

[JosephC]

I don't know how the MVP wouldn't be the MIP? Usually when you see MIP it refers to Most Improved Player?

 

Having a "most valuable players" and a "most important player" is simply a nice little gimmick to honor two players instead of one.

 

People shouldn't forget about Aguilar's contributions in the first half. It's easy to look at Cain's WAR or Yelich's slash line now, but Aguilar's bat may have been the biggest difference-maker for this team because he was the one guy hitting the cover off the ball during all those early stretches where the Brewers were getting absolutely nothing out of half of the lineup.

[TURBO]

In all other awards settings, MIP = Most IMPROVED Player.

 

There are 2 ways to take that.

 

Most improved from the 1st half to the end of the season, or most improved from last season to this one.

[SRB]

Yeah...I don’t think I’d ever call someone batting 240 “consistently great”. But that’s just me.

 

He had a .349 OBP last season, he has a .340 OBP this season, and he's going to hit 30 HR again too while holding down 3B and now 2B. He was the best player on the team last year and he would have been again this year if we didn't have two MVP-caliber additions at the top of the order.

 

Yelich and Cain are more valuable obviously, but Shaw repeating his 2017 breakout is one of the most important reasons we are where we are.

 

If Shaw had regressed like Santana and Arcia we might have Sogard starting at 3B right now. (Only half joking.) That's why I give him the nod over Aguilar, since even if Aguilar had stumbled we had other adequate replacements at 1B.

[TURBO]

...but that .240 average isn't enough for him to be in the running for any award.

[coolhandluke121]

Cain is an easy choice as MVP for me. It's like Molitor and Yount; the guy playing gold glove defense at a premium position is a cut above. Yelich would have to have much better offensive stats than Cain to be the MVP, but SLG is less important than OBP so it's actually fairly close. Yelich has the "hot at the right time" narrative argument, but Cain has been arguably the best position player in the NL all year along and he's also playing very well during the pennant chase himself.

 

Aguilar is the most improved. His OPS and his splits last year were not impressive at all for a lumbering 1B. He got a lot of starts against LHP's and hit 3 of his HR's at Coors. This is a dramatic improvement. Jeffress isn't that much better than he was before the Brewers traded him to Texas. That's a Comeback POTY award, not an MIP.

 

Hader is the Cy Young. It's kind of crazy but the way they've been able to use him and all but guarantee wins in close games is incredible. Some of the credit goes to how they've used him to maximize "Win Probability Added", but he's an incredible weapon. A reliever has to be ridiculously valuable for me to even consider him (I wouldn't have even had Knebel ahead of Nelson last year, for example) but Hader has been.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

Well, people have started to take "MIP" to mean most improved player. At least that makes a lot more sense than trying to say there's a difference between most valuable and most important.

[jjfanec]

Well, people have started to take "MIP" to mean most improved player. At least that makes a lot more sense than trying to say there's a difference between most valuable and most important.

 

Fine by me but I think it is easy to see the difference. MVP as I described it is simply the best player. Most important would be the one who had the most important to have on the team. I don't always think that is the best player but could be a guy who we would be lost without. Chacin and Jeffrey's wouldn't be the best players on the team but I shudder to think where we would be without them.

[MrTPlush]

Christian Yelich is MIP by a mile then. If we don’t get him it is very likely Brinson or Phillips was roaming the OF.

[TURBO]

I'm telling you, there is no such award as Most Important Player. lol

 

MIP means Most Improved Player.

[SRB]

...but that .240 average isn't enough for him to be in the running for any award.

 

What are we back in the 1920s and only looking at AVG?

 

 

He has a solid OBP and contributes defensively at a position that would otherwise be a black hole.