Can a closer be the MVP?

There has been much debate over the years of whether a pitcher could be the MVP or whether the MVP should be more for everyday players. This went into really high gear during Pedro's phenominal 1999 season when a couple of asshats in NY left him off their ballots. It was later shown at least one of these "principled" guys had included pitchers in previous years. I can understand hometown bias but it was all a bit silly. And I say all of that as a Yankee fan.

Now to the matter at hand, if Mariano continues to do what he is doing(not a big if but an if nonetheless) given how absolutely pathetic the rest of the Yankees staff has been (save for Flash) and the Yanks make the playoffs, do you think he has any shot at the MVP or CY Young for that matter?

Stats so far,

5-2, 32 SV(incl 30 in a row, last night's was a beauty 7 pitches, 7 strikes), an ERA of 0.92 (that's 5 earned runs all year, 11 runs overall) , a WHIP (waving to Dave) of 0.755, almost a 5 to 1 ratio of K to BB and 48 appearances in 110 games.

I throw in appearances because one of the strikes against pitchers (forgive the pun) for MVP voting at least for starters is that they only play every 5 days, and appear in perhaps 35 games to 40 games.

Oh an before a Dodger fan opens their mouth, fuck that steroid user Gagne! Sorry just channeling certain sox fans(you know who you are) mentality there ;-)

Willie Hernandez, Detroit Tigers 1984

...but I was thinking right now during this time.

With a steroid stained landscape for hitters, will writers turn to the lithe man from Panama whose name translates to "he who breaks the bats"*?

*Sorry just saw Anchorman and I was only trying to impress ;-)

1950, Jim Konstanty, Philadelphia Phillies,,,the 'SAVE' wasn't a statistic then, but he was a relief pitcher

Dennis Eckersly

and I would expect Rivera to get some votes, but even as valuable as he has been to the Yankees this year, I don't think he'll win it. I think you'll probably see Sheffield, A-Rod, Ortiz, Ramirez, and possibly Guerrero all getting more votes then him, but I don't think being a pitcher should automatically disqualify him. Over in the national league, though, I wouldn't be suprised if Clemens or Carpenter had a very good showing in the MVP balloting based on their impressive numbers, but right now it looks like Derrick Lee and Pujols have to be the frontrunners and if either wins the triple crown, they'd be almost a lock for it (especially if their team makes the playoffs).

At least, not until exceptional defenders are eligible for the Cy Young.

In my mind, anyone ought to be eligible, especially for the MVP award. The Brewers would not have been battling for a pennant without Rollie that year, and the Yanks would be nowhere without Mariano this year. Their value was/is huge, IMHO.

Personally, I think yes he deserves serious consideration. He's been flat out incredible since April. Will the writers vote for him? We'll see. I'll be very curious to see how Peter King votes after he screwed over Pedro Martinez in what may have been the best ever single season performance by a pitcher.

...King was even more galling since he had Boomer listed on his ballot two years before.