Baseball voting: Leftover No. 2

OK, I'll get into it the Joe Mauer-Frank Thomas thing that's been driving me crazy.

You see some bizarre anomalies when you look closely at baseball voting. All winter, I’ve been bothered by the American League MVP vote. Yes plenty was been written about Justin Morneau winning the award over Derek Jeter. I don’t think Morneau was the right choice (I was a rare Joe Mauer guy -- rare, I guess, because none of the voters picked Mauer even ahead of teammate Morneau. ZERO. NADA). But my point is something else.

Twenty of 28 voters selected Frank Thomas ahead of Joe Mauer in their MVP voting. Frank bleepin' Thomas. Even now, months later, my head is close to exploding when I consider this. Sure, I realize there are extenuating circumstances -- the big one being that voters fell in love with Morneau for whatever reason (and here are three: R and B and I) and were unwilling to vote TWO Minnesota Twins high on their ballot. So Mauer took the fall for that. And since Frank Thomas was the only "viable" MVP candidate on Oakland, he was high on a lot of ballots.

But that does not change the reality:
TWENTY PEOPLE DECIDED FRANK THOMAS WAS MORE VALUABLE TO HIS TEAM LAST YEAR THAN JOE MAUER.

This bothers me on so many levels. Look, I have a great deal of respect for baseball writers across America. I know many of them. I know how hard they work. Every one I know puts tremendous consideration and work into their award and Hall of Fame votes (Caveat: I don’t know the guy who voted A.J. Pierzynski 10th on his MVP ballot but left Mauer off).

Still, no matter what the reasons, the facts are that 20 bright and hard-working baseball writers looked at Frank Thomas who:
1. Is a designated hitter.
2. Was probably the FIFTH BEST designated hitter in the American League (possibly fourth depending on where you stand on Jason Giambi).
2. Is fat
3. Can’t run.
4. Missed 25 games.
5. Hit quite a few home runs – some which were undoubtedly important – but also hit just ELEVEN doubles all year (some, to be fair, which may have been important too).

Then then they looked at Joe Mauer who:
1. Is a catcher and a terrific one.
2. Became the first catcher in league history to lead the league in hitting.
3. Was (according to the Bill James Handbook) one of the league’s better base runners.
4. Had a higher OPS than, among others, Frank Thomas.
5. Played in MORE games than Thomas, even though he was a catcher.
6. Did we mention he is a catcher and a terrific one?
7. Was intentionally walked 21 times while Thomas drew three, suggesting that pitchers and managers, at least, felt Mauer was the more dangerous batter.

Then after looking at these and other bits of evidence (three of those being R and B and I), these 20 baseball writers decided: “Frank Thomas was clearly more valuable. If I wanted to win, I would rather have had Frank Thomas this year than Joe Mauer.”

It’s worth noting that five writers had Thomas on their ballot and left Joe Mauer completely off. I guess I don’t understand people.