Should the Blue Jays Have More AL-MVP Winners?

This past season, the Blue Jays had two players that had one of the best individual performances, which led to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien finishing second and third respectfully in the American League MVP voting.

Semien set the single season record for home runs (45) by a second basemen, while collecting 86 extra-base hits in total, 102 RBI, and taking home both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger for his position. Throughout 2021, there were many discussions that Guerrero Jr. would win the AL MVP, which was emphasized at the conclusion of the season as he finished with 20 more runs, 50 more hits and hit 54 points higher on his batting average than the eventual winner, Shohei Ohtani.

It is well known that George Bell and Josh Donaldson were previous AL MVP winners, but there were other seasons that Blue Jays players just missed out taking home the award.  Here is a look at which players came as close to winning the award as Semien and Guerrero Jr.

Carlos Delgado (2000) Fourth in AL MVP Voting
The steroid era of baseball has really put an interesting twist on the record books.  Many baseball fans remember the names of Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa who were all tied to the use of steroids.  But some of the names that are forgotten were the real superstars of that era that were never linked to having any suspicions of steroid use.  One of those players was, who I think is the greatest offensive player in team history, Carlos Delgado.

Delgado had his best season in 2000 when he slugged 41 home runs, to go with a league leading 57 doubles while posting a slash line of .344/.470/.664 and having an eye popping 1.134 slugging percentage.  Delgado took home his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award that season, but finished fourth in AL MVP voting and did not even receive any first place votes.  Giambi took home the award that year, despite having almost identical numbers to Delgado, while Rodriguez would finish third in voting.

It would be interesting if they re-did the voting for that season and eliminated the steroid players to see where Delgado would finish. Frank Thomas finished second in voting that season and collected 10 of 28 first place votes.  Both Thomas and Delgado have almost identical numbers across the board, however, Delgado finished with a higher WAR (7.3 to 6.0) and finished 16 points higher in batting average.  Delgado did win the Sporting News Player of the Year Award that season.

Carlos Delgado (2003) Second in AL MVP Voting
Four seasons after finishing fourth in AL MVP Voting, Delgado came his closest to winning the  award in 2003 in one of the tightest MVP votes to date.  Eight different players received first place votes that season, including teammates Vernon Wells and Shannon Stewart who was traded halfway through the season to the Minnesota Twins.

Delgado finished just one first place vote shy of the eventual winner Alex Rodriguez.  As discussed in the 2000 voting, I would be very curious to see how voting would go had steroids not played a part, as Rodriguez was one of the poster boys for enhancement use and was even suspended for a full season because of it.  Delgado led the league that season in Runs Batted In (145), which he had 27 more than Rodriguez; and Delgado was also the leader in OPS (1.019).

Delgado would finish the season with his third and final Silver Slugger Award.  The steroid era may not only have taken a couple of AL MVP awards from Delgado, but also a shot at the Hall of Fame, as he did not receive enough votes on his first ballot to earn a second opportunity.  You have to wonder if a pair of AL MVP titles to his repertoire would have made him an easy choice for Cooperstown.

Jose Bautista (2010) Fourth in AL MVP Voting
Heading into the 2010 season, Jose Bautista was a fringe Major League ball player at best, he had a career batting average of .238 and had collected 59 home runs over parts of six seasons.  However, by the end of the 2010 season Bautista would not just establish himself as an everyday player, but he was now a superstar as it would be the first of three Silver Slugger Awards and the first of six consecutive All-Star Game appearances

The season started out like many of his previous seasons with maybe a little more power.  Through his first 35 games he had a batting average of .211 and had seven home runs with 23 RBI.  The power numbers appeared a little bit better, but things weren’t looking like an MVP type player.  Something clicked in mid-May for Bautista as he would finish the final 18 games posting a slash line of .345/.486/.927 with nine more home runs and 18 RBI.

Bautista would finish the season with a club record of 54 home runs and 124 home runs, with at that time a career high slash line of .260/.378/.617.  Bautista would finish fourth in AL MVP voting and received one first place vote.  The winner of the award that year was Josh Hamilton who finished the season with a .359 batting average (almost 100 points higher than Bautista).  The question comes down to power over batting average as Bautista finished with 22 more home runs and was walked 100 times (57 more times than Hamilton).  This season was a tight race and in my opinion could have gone to any of Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera or Bautista.  I am a little curious how Robinson Cano finished third and ahead of Bautista in voting, but he was a New York Yankee, so there is that.