Tex didn't deserve second, I agree (and I'm a Yankees fan), but his season was hardly purely RBI. He certainly deserved to finish top 5ish.
Top five... Maybe; I might have placed him 5-6-7. Certainly top ten and he does help a ballclub win games, even a $200 million one.
It's just remarkable that we live in an era of such advanced knowledge on how ballgames are won and lost. Yet context-specific counting stats like RBI still rule the day with luddite BBWAA voters. Joe Mauer was having the season of a lifetime yet Teixeria was already heralded by as the presumptive AL MVP by NY scribes after a game-winning HR in July. And that just bugs me as a MLB fan.
I guess we should be thankful that the correct selection at the top was made. But the other slots have merit as well. I would have placed Ben Zobrist of the Rays higher than Tex.
Well ignore the New York media, of course they'll love their home town boy. Mauer was winning the MVP, everyone knows that. And I <3 meeting another more statistically minded fan.
Zobrist is an interesting case. As is Jeter/Tex, for that matter. Lets look at some top 5s of better value measurements for the 09 AL:
Batting Runs and Batting Wins (linear weights measure of just offense):
1. Joe Mauer (57.0, 5.2)
2. Mark Teixeira (45.1, 4.2)
3. Miguel Cabrera (38.0, 3.5)
4. Adam Lind (37.9, 3.5)
5. Ben Zobrist (36.4, 3.4)
Those are counting stats, lets try some offensive rate stats.
OPS+:
1. Joe Mauer (170)
2. Mark Teixeira (149)
3. Alex Rodriguez (147)
4. Ben Zobrist (146)
5. Kevin Youkilis (145)
Total Average:
1. Joe Mauer (1.121)
2. Kevin Youkilis (1.043)
3. Ben Zobrist (1.030)
4. Alex Rodriguez (1.012)
5. Jason Bay (0.993)
[6. Mark Teixeira (0.989)]
Again, obviously Mauer is the MVP. But 1 of these metrics has Tex in the clear lead offensively (Batting Runs/Wins), one is close with Tex in the lead (OPS+, but Yankee Stadium is so new that park adjustment may not be reliable), and somewhat close with Zobrist in the lead. More importantly, these
only look at offense and
don't account for position (making Mauer's lead in every single one while playing good defense at the hardest position on the diamond even more impressive). Lets look at 2 position adjusted, all-inclusive numbers.
Fan Graphs Wins Above Replacement
1. Ben Zobrist (8.6)
2. Joe Mauer (8.2)
3. Derek Jeter (7.4)
4. Evan Longoria (7.2)
5. Chone Figgins (6.1)
Tex doesn't come in until 11th on this list. Two caveats: First, FanGraphs doesn't calculate a "Fielding" value for catchers, so Zobrist has a giant lead here of 26.4 to nothing. Giving Mauer reasonable fielding credit I'd say this is at least still a tie. Secondly, Fan Graphs evaluates Tex as a negative defensively, which is simply wrong IMO.
Baseball Prospectus WARP2, discounting pitchers:
1. Joe Mauer (9.0)
2. Ben Zobrist (7.6)
3. Evan Longoria (7.1)
4. Franklin Gutierrez (7.0)
5. Chone Figgins (6.3)
Interesting note, BP has Grienke as the MVP in terms of WARP by a full half win. Tex comes in at 9th under this measure (1 spot and 2 tenths of a win ahead of Jeter).
I would tend to agree Zobrist probably > Tex once you account for everything.