With the start of the regular season a little over a week away, it is time to recognize each MLB team’s MVP, and LVP (Least Valuable Player) from the 2017 season before a new season begins, and all statistics are started fresh. Below is each team’s 2017 MVP and LVP measured by Baseball-Reference WAR. Any pitcher’s WAR total is their WAR for Pitchers in order to keep consistency between the American and National League, and at the end of each line is the difference between each team’s MVP and LVP’s WAR.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke 6.3 WAR + T.J. McFarland -0.9 WAR = 5.4 WAR
Atlanta Braves: Freddie Freeman 4.5 WAR + Bartolo Colon -2.1 WAR = 2.4 WAR
Baltimore Orioles: Jonathan Schoop 5.1 WAR + Chris Tillman -2.2 WAR = 2.9 WAR
Boston Red Sox: Mookie Betts 6.4 WAR + Pablo Sandoval -1.0 WAR = 5.4 WAR
Chicago Cubs: Kris Bryant 6.2 WAR + Brett Anderson -0.8 WAR = 5.4 WAR
Chicago White Sox: Jose Abreu 4.7 WAR + Derek Holland -1.6 WAR = 3.1 WAR
Cincinnati Reds: Joey Votto 7.5 WAR + Amir Garrett -1.6 WAR= 5.9 WAR
Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber 8.2 WAR + Giovanny Urshela -0.6 WAR = 7.6 WAR
Colorado Rockies: Nolan Arenado 7.2 WAR + Alexi Amarista -1.4 WAR = 5.8 WAR
Detroit Tigers: Justin Upton 5.2 WAR + Andrew Romine -1.2 WAR = 4.0 WAR
Houston Astros: Jose Altuve 8.3 WAR + Francis Martes -0.9 WAR = 7.4 WAR
Kansas City Royals: Lorenzo Cain 5.2 WAR + Jorge Soler -1.4 WAR = 3.8 WAR
Los Angeles Angels: Andrelton Simmons 7.0 WAR + Albert Pujols -1.8 WAR = 5.2 WAR
Los Angeles Dodgers: Justin Turner 5.8 WAR + Adrian Gonzalez -1.1 WAR = 5.7 WAR
Miami Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton 7.6 WAR + Adam Conley -1.3 WAR = 6.3 WAR
Milwaukee Brewers: Chase Anderson 4.1 WAR + Wily Peralta -1.5 WAR = 2.6 WAR
Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton 5.2 WAR + Nik Turley -0.9 WAR = 4.3 WAR
New York Mets: Jacob deGrom 4.8 WAR + Dominic Smith -1.2 WAR = 3.6 WAR
New York Yankees: Aaron Judge 8.9 WAR + Austin Romine -0.9 WAR = 8.0 WAR
Oakland Athletics: Jed Lowrie 4.0 WAR + Chris Smith, Mark Canha (Tie) -0.8 WAR = 3.2
WAR
Philadelphia Phillies: Aaron Nola 4.2 WAR + Tommy Joseph -1.2 WAR = 3.0 WAR
Pittsburgh Pirates: Josh Harrison 3.3 WAR + Tyler Glasnow -1.9 WAR = 1.4 WAR
San Diego Padres: Brad Hand 2.9 WAR + Jered Weaver -1.2 WAR = 1.7 WAR
San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey 4.0 WAR + Ryder Jones -1.3 WAR = 2.7 WAR
Seattle Mariners: Nelson Cruz 4.1 WAR + Chris Heston, Taylor Motter, Mike Freeman, Tuffy
Gosewisch (Tie) -0.6 WAR = 3.5 WAR
St. Louis Cardinals: Tommy Pham 6.2 WAR + Aledmys Diaz -0.7 WAR = 5.5 WAR
Tampa Bay Rays: Kevin Kiermaier 5.1 WAR + Austin Pruitt -0.9 WAR = 4.2 WAR
Texas Rangers: Elvis Andrus 4.7 WAR + Sam Dyson -1.2 WAR = 3.5 WAR
Toronto Blue Jays: Marcus Stroman 5.9 WAR + Jose Bautista -1.7 WAR = 4.2 WAR
Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer 7.4 WAR + Jose Lobaton -1.0 WAR = 6.4 WAR
Unsurprisingly, the three highest totals belong to the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Houston Astros, all of who were playoff teams, and had the MLB’s most valuable hitter (Aaron Judge) pitcher (Corey Kluber) and the AL MVP (Jose Altuve) respectively. At the bottom of the list are the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres, who had the least valuable MVPs (Josh Harrison and Brad Hand) of any team, which showed on the field as both teams failed to win over 75 games last season. A mention is also in order for the Indians for having the single (sorry Mariners fans) most valuable LVP, with Giovanny Urshela only being worth -0.6 WAR, a huge reason why the Indians were able to rattle off a 22-game winning streak en route to winning the AL with 102 wins.
