뼈속까지 SF기자

오늘 발표된 NL MVP투표에서 특이한게 있어 제 관심을 끌었습니다.

바로 10위표에 SF의 릴리프인 제레미 아펠트(Jeremy Affeldt)가 있었기 때문이죠.

누가 아펠트에게 표을 던졌는지 찾던 도중 재미있는 자료를 찾았습니다.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2009/11/24/breaking-down-my-nl-mvp-ballot/

아펠트에게 표를 던진 인물은 산호세 머큐리 신문의 Andrew Baggarly라는 기자라는군요.

이 기자는 자신이 투표한 순위를 위의 사이트에 공개했는데,

1. Albert Pujols
2. Prince Fielder
3. Troy Tulowitzki
4. Adrian Gonzalez
5. Ryan Howard
6. Ryan Braun
7. Pablo Sandoval
8. Hanley Ramirez
9. Chase Utley
10. Jeremy Affeldt

이렇게 투표했다고 합니다. 조금 공정치 못하다는 생각이 드네요. 그러면서 10위에 아펠트를 지목한 이유에 대해 나열하고 추가적인  말을 덧붙였습니다.

Wait, what? OK, OK, this is my “sore thumb” vote. And no, I can’t really make an airtight case for Affeldt, a middle reliever, as the 10th most valuable player in the league. Especially when I don’t have Tim Lincecum, or any other pitcher for that matter, on my ballot. (Without glancing at Win Shares, I’d have to believe there are many pitchers who rank way above Affeldt.) In choosing Affeldt, I also bypassed several other worthy candidates. For instance, have you noticed there isn’t a single Dodger on my ballot? But hey, this is my “prerogative” vote. If it were a three- or even five-slot ballot, I wouldn’t dream of making a “statement” with my final selection. But this is a ballot that goes 10-deep, we all knew Pujols would win in a landslide, and there’s really no impact anyone can make with their final selection. So I think it’s completely harmless to give a tip of the cap to the relief pitcher who had the lowest ERA in the league while appearing almost exclusively in highly leveraged situations. Affeldt was an MVP in the bullpen, all right. He didn’t allow a run from May 8 to July 24 — posting 27 scoreless innings over 28 games. He did his job — a job of ever-increasing dependency — better than anyone else in the NL, and given all the close games the Giants played, he made a huge impact in their final 88-win record.

Omissions? Sure, I’ve got ‘em. The Dodgers won the most regular-season games in the league, and in early drafts, I had Andre Ethier as high as fourth. But then I realized I was overvaluing his six walk-off hits. Sure, they were huge, and his four walk-off homers were the most in the majors since Roy Sievers in 1957 … but they tend to puff up what otherwise wasn’t a season that compares with the other offensive players on my ballot. It seems a little silly to call a guy an MVP based on six at-bats. Did you realize Ethier hit .218 with two outs and RISP? A much better candidate from the Dodgers would’ve been Matt Kemp, who was more consistent and played stellar defense in center field. If I had an 11th-place vote he’d be the guy.
웃긴게 자신의 투표에 대해 이띠어의 walk-off는 너무 과대포장(overvalue)되었다는군요. 그러면서 그의 2사 후 득점권 타율이 .218밖에 되질 않는다면서 내리까고 있네요. 좀 객관성이 없다는 생각이 듭니다. walk-off에 너무 매달릴 필요는 없겠지만, 그렇다고 2사 후 득점권만을 가지고 깎아내리는 것도 너무 한쪽으로만 치우친 생각이 아닌가 싶네요. 그렇다면, 이띠어의 타점에서 많은 부분을 차지하는게 7회 이후의 타점인데, 그 부분에 대해서는 기자는 알면서도 모른척하는게 아닌가 하는 (확장된) 의혹까지 제 머릿속을 맴도네요.

그냥 이러이러해서 아펠트를 지목했다고 하면되는데, 굳이 말하지않아도 될 이띠어를 배제시킨 이유가 너무나도 옹졸하게 느껴지네요.

그러면서 변명조로 한다는 말이, 캠프는 필드에서 아주 유능한 선수였고, 타석에서는 꾸준했기때문에 11위표가 있었다면 자신은 응당 캠프를 11위에 표를 던질거라고 했다네요.

억지 해석이지만, 경기중에 딴 생각을 가지고 소위 말하는 "경기를 존중할 줄 모르는 플레이"를 한 이 행동은 무시되고 자신이 7위표를 던진건 옮은 행위일까?