Most Valuable Individual Baseball Player?

Bonds '01-'05

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But a guy like Kershaw only pitches every four or five days.

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while I think Bryce harper is the most valuable player in baseball, I think this talking point is a little overrated when pitchers have so much more control over the game they play in. I think Kershaw will face as many batters as the majority of positional players have at bats

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What is considered the most valuable?

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What kind of value are we talking about?


From an everyday play standpoint, marketability?

I'd argue (pretty easily) it's Bryce Harper. He's young, dominant, good looking (no homo), plays every day at an MVP level for a competing team.

Very very valuable for the Nationals. He helps them win games. But he also gives legitimacy to the franchise whos brief history in Washington is rooted in mediocrity. He puts the team on national media, he sells tickets, he sells jerseys.

Seth Beer

I think it depends on the teams need at that position, but like a poster above said, if I need to win one game, give me kershaw. If I need to win a division, give me Harper/Trout/Posey.

threads like this make me miss Pudge so much

I'd go with a dominant pitcher in the playoffs. Very valuable to have a guy who is essentially a lock to win 2 games in a 7 game series

A great position player is more valuable than a great pitcher... especially if that position player plays a position where there are so few good ones.

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Harper is going to get a 450 million dollar contract from the Yankees

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And it will be the first time they offer a mega deal to a player who won't eventually be too old during the contract.

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I think Kershaw will face as many batters as the majority of positional players have at bats

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A pitcher will face more batters than a batter gets plate appearances. In 2015, Manny Machado led baseball with 713 plate appearances and Dallas Keuchel faced 911 hitters. To say that batters are automatically more valuable than hitters is a myth. Hitters spread their offensive impact out while pitchers bunch theirs every fifth game. You could easily argue that a pitcher has more situations (batter vs. pitcher) where they are one of the two primary factors in the plate appearance.