Most Valuable Pitcher?

Major League Baseball has been awarding regular season honors for Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner since 1931 and 1956, respectively. The definitions and requirements for both awards are typically unwritten since there are years where players may win because of their contribution to their team's overall performance or may win because of their overall statistics amassed during that particular season. Yet, that is not the issue. In recent years, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) has come very close and in some cases even chosen a pitcher to win the MVP award when clearly they should merely qualify for the Cy Young Award. Here is the underlying issue with that: The Cy Young Award was created to award the most valuable pitcher who again may win either based on their contribution to the team's overall performance or may win based on their overall statistics. The same is true of the MVP award. Now obviously, there is no clear definition written within the rules of the MVP award that states that a pitcher is not eligible to win. In fact, 23 pitchers have won the award since its inception 80 years ago.

This may seem like a radical argument but think about it this way. Offensive and defensive awards are separated because they comprise different elements of the game. Likewise, pitching is an entirely different element of the game from hitting. The MVP award sometimes throws stellar fielding into the equation if applicable but is more commonly used to award offensively significant seasons. When Barry Bonds was slugging monster home runs under the influence of PEDs, his fielding was never considered. He simply won because his home run rate was historic for its time. Which leads me to the next point. In the steroid era, hitting records were bound to be broken. Players were juicing at significantly higher rates than in previous years and the statistics of those seasons affirmed that. Now, in a more pitcher friendly type of ball game, offensive numbers have slowly decreased overall. Yet, pitchers remain the same. Statistics have not wavered in excess numbers in that span and even in the steroid era when pitchers like Andy Pettitte were surely juicing too. No one's come close to 300 strikeouts. 30 wins seems near impossible. ERAs below 2.00 do occasionally occur but that is more likely to happen during a pitcher friendly era.

So what's the point of all this drivel? The MVP belongs to the hitter and the Cy Young belongs to the pitcher. Even though the last time a pitcher won the MVP was in 1992 when Dennis Eckersley saved games for the Oakland A's, the BBWAA has come notoriously close to putting pitchers first on their ballot. I'll compromise. The next time a pitcher throws 300 Ks in a season or eclipses 30 wins or has an era under 1.50, which I'm sure is not bound to happen for quite some time, give them the MVP. Until then, let pitchers have their own award show and leave the MVP to players who provide the most impact for their teams. A pitcher, at least a starting pitcher, throws once every 5 days. A reliever, specifically a closer, depends on the situation, but regardless of that, they do not play as often and as regularly as an everyday player. My suggestion? Let's rewrite the rules and split the awards down the middle. Pitchers can keep their Cy Young Glory and everyone else can look up to the MVP.