From Yesterday's MVP to this year's MVP

Yesterday I featured a 2014 Andrew McCutchen Topps Series 2 Pink Parallel that highlighted Cutch's 2013 MVP season.  Cutch had another outstanding offensive season and could very well win his second MVP award in as many years.  However, this year a player emerged from what seamed like nowhere to become an All-Star and possibly get some MVP votes.  I purchased the card you see below for $10.  Normally I wouldn't spend that much for a JHey card, but did you not see the season he had????

Josh Harrison missed winning the batting title by just a few hits.  He played a variety of positions throughout the year (2B, SS, 3B, LF, RF) and still managed to post a .984 fielding percentage.  In early May it looked like the Pirates magical 2013 season was just a fluke as the Pirates quickly fell to almost 10 games under .500.

ENTER JOSH HARRISON!!!!

Harrison proved to be the spark plug the Pirates needed as they faced countless injuries and player problems.  When Starling Marte went down, Harrison was there.  When Walker went down, Harrison was there.  When Alvarez couldn't throw to 1B without giving the fans a souvenir, Harrison was there.  The 5ft8 Ohio native ended the season with an All-Star appearance, NL Player of the Month (August 2014), second in batting average, (.315), 9th in slugging (.490), 7th in doubles (38), and most impressive was that he had a .679 Offensive Win Percentage.  For those that don't know what offensive win % measures, it's if a team fielded 9 of that player to bat in a lineup, how he would do.  There's a lot more well known guys ahead of him on the list and that's it.

Thank you JHey AllDay for making the 2014 season so much fun to watch!!!! Let's do it again next year.  It's a shame you couldn't get the batting title.

Cutch wins the MVP

Everything I could say about why Cutch was more deserving to win the MVP over other players has already been send throughout a long 162 game season.  Congratulations Cutch!!!!

McCutchen Mondays: Throw up your rock fist...if you wish you had a card like this

My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen.  Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year.  Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together.  Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection.

To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.

When I think of Metal, I think of riffing guitars

2013 Topps Proven Mettle 89/99

In 2013 Topps produced cards called Proven Mettle.  These cards featured a large metal coin of the player's face, name and team on the front and the team logo on the back.  They were primarily used for current stars of the game along with Hall of Famers.

I'm not a huge fan of gimmicky cards like this, but if I can pick it up for less than the price of a Target blaster, I'll grab it.

Now that the regular sesaon is over, hopefully Cutch can add some metal hardware for his proven worth to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.  See what I did there?  I made a pun on the cards name.

Looking at the WAR stat for the front runners of the NL MVP, lets see how their teams would finish without them.
Clayton Kershaw 8.5WAR 
The Dodgers finished the regular season with a 92-70 record.  Take away 9 wins (for rounding purposes) and they are 83-79 and still win the division over the Diamondbacks (81-81).  Dodgers still make the postseason.

Andrew McCutchen 8.3WAR
The Pirates finished the regular season with a 94-68 record.  That was good enough to finish with the top Wild Card position.  Take away 8 wins and they are a 86-76 team which would have given them the same record as Washington for the second wild card.  They may not have made the post season.

Paul Goldschmidt 7.1WAR
The Diamondbacks finished the regular season with a 81-81 record.  That wasn't good enough for a post season appearance.  Take away Goldschmidt's 7WAR and they are a below .500 team and still don't make the playoffs.

Matt Carpentar 6.6WAR or Yadier Molina 5.7WAR
The St. Louis Cardinals had an amazing team this year.  They finished with the best record in the NL with a 97-65 record.  If you take away 7 or 6 wins from either player listed above, they don't win the divsion or best record but are still a powerhouse and coast to a Wild Card appearance in postseason.

Bottom line...Cutch did more for his team than any other one individual.  If you take him out of the equation, the team is not as successful and changes the entire post season landscape.  Thus, no player is more deserving of the MVP honors than Cutch this year.  

LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW WITH WHO YOU THINK THE NL MVP SHOULD BE