| Why the Lew Ford hate? His stat line in 2004 was a .299 BA, 15 HR, 72 RBI and 20 SB. He led the Twins in hits, runs, batting average and total bases. He was essentially the most productive hitter on a 92-70 division championship team. Certainly he didn't deserve the award, but remember, he only received a single 9th-place vote, which hardly seems an injustice. The real headscratcher here is Jason Bartlett, whose gaudy .286 BA, .690 OPS, 48 runs scored, 1 HR and 37 RBI were enough to earn him 6(!) vote points in 2008. Bartlett was so valuable to his team that his Wins Above Replacement score (according to Baseball Reference) was a 0.3. To put that into perspective, a second-string player averages about a 1. Give Lew a break. |