A-Rod vs. Big Papi

Count me in the A-Rod column on the question of who should have been the American League MVP for 2005. I love to watch David Ortiz hit, and he has more big home runs the past two years than anyone, but if all you do is whack the ball you have to do it a whole lot better than anyone else by a very large margin to win the MVP trophy. Defense matters. It is one thing to be a lesser defensive player; it is another to rarely play the field at all. Given roughly equal offensive contributions, even an average defensive player -- and A-Rod is far from that -- is more valuable to his team than any DH. And remember, A-Rod's annual October vacation to the back of a milk carton plays no role for the voters, who have to submit their choices by the end of the regular season.

But my favorite part of this story is A-Rod's $1 million bonus for winning a second MVP. $25 million a year just doesn't buy what it used to.