Twins Daily 2020 Awards: Most Valuable Player

Nelson Cruz looked like the runaway winner of this award for much of the season. In fact, at times he looked like a serious contender for AL MVP. Ultimately, he came up just short of Maeda, earning 95 points to Kenta's 99 in our balloting. Across 23 panelists, Cruz earned eight first-place votes compared to 13 for Maeda.

It was close, but the choice was clear. Maeda was not only the team's best pitcher (and, according to Twitter, also the pick for most improved). He was their best player.

Let's break down the numbers:

• According to FanGraphs' version of the Wins Above Replacement metric (fWAR), Maeda led all Twins players at 2.1, though Cruz narrowly trailed him at 2.0. Maeda's career-high for fWAR came as a rookie, when he put up a 2.9 mark over 32 starts. If you project this year's 2.1 over that many starts, you get 6.2, which would put full-season Maeda in the category of 2014 Phil Hughes and 2006 Johan Santana.
  
• According to Win Probability Added, Maeda was the greatest quantifiable single contributor in Minnesota's division-winning season. His WPA of 1.96 towers over all teammates (Max Kepler finished a distant second at 1.17). Only six MLB starting pitchers posted a higher WPA than Maeda.
  
• Baseball Reference's WAR measurement (bWAR) actually has Maeda tied with Cruz for second on the team at 1.6 – both behind the leader Byron Buxton (1.9). Buxton did finish third in our balloting with 77 points, and he received a couple of first-place votes.
  

Maeda only played every fifth game, which would be the knock against him in a Most Valuable Player context, but he rose to the occasion every single time out, making an outsized impact.

He never allowed more than three runs or six baserunners in a start, and the Twins went 8-3 in his 11 turns.

He set a new franchise record for consecutive strikeouts in a game, flirted with a no-hitter, and paced all of baseball in WHIP.

He led all Twins pitchers in innings but issued only 10 walks, and never hit a batter or uncorked a wild pitch.

He delivered bigtime in Game 1 of the playoffs with five shutout innings – the finest effort from a Twins pitcher in the postseason since Johan's departure.

If the argument against Maeda as team MVP is that his contribution was incomplete, compared to an "everyday player," then that same argument must be applied to his competition for the award. Cruz was a designated hitter who offered zero defensive value. Buxton missed more than a third of the team's games. While the bullpen was a crux of Minnesota's success, no reliever threw more than 26 innings.

The bottom line is that Maeda was everything the Twins needed: a bona fide ace, a successful Game 1 postseason starter, and a premium arm brandishing elite swing-and-miss stuff atop the rotation.

OTHER CANDIDATES

Cruz had a tremendous year and that cannot be downplayed. He was a very close second in our balloting after slashing .303/.397/.595 with 16 home runs in 53 games as Twins DH. Buxton checks in third – he was pretty clearly the biggest individual difference-maker on the team, pound for pound, but his season was once again defined by health impediments. Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario and Tyler Duffey were the others to receive double-digit points in the voting.

THE BALLOTS

Here’s a look at the ballots from our 23 voters.

Seth Stohs: 1) Byron Buxton, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Kenta Maeda

Nick Nelson: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Byron Buxton

John Bonnes: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Nelson Cruz

Tom Froemming: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Nelson Cruz

Andrew Gebo: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Kenta Maeda

AJ Condon: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Byron Buxton, 3) Nelson Cruz

Cody Christie: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Kenta Maeda

Cody Pirkl: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Kenta Maeda

Cooper Carlson: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Byron Buxton

Jeremy Nygaard: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Kenta Maeda

Lucas Seehafer: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Byron Buxton, 3) Nelson Cruz

Matt Braun: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Byron Buxton

Matt Lenz: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Byron Buxton 3) Nelson Cruz

Matthew Taylor: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Byron Buxton

Matthew Trueblood: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Tyler Duffey

Nash Walker: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Byron Buxton

Nate Palmer: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Byron Buxton

Patrick Wozniak: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Byron Buxton

Derek Wetmore: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Byron Buxton

Steve Lein: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Byron Buxton, 3) Nelson Cruz

Renabanena: 1) Kenta Maeda, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Matt Wisler

Ted Schwerzler: 1) Nelson Cruz, 2) Kenta Maeda, 3) Byron Buxton

Thiéres Rabelo: 1) Byron Buxton, 2) Nelson Cruz, 3) Kenta Maeda

POINTS

Kenta Maeda: 99

Nelson Cruz: 95

Byron Buxton: 77

Eddie Rosario: 24

Max Kepler: 16

Tyler Duffey: 14

Josh Donaldson: 5

José Berríos: 5

Matt Wisler: 4

Michael Pineda: 3

Ryan Jeffers: 2

Tyler Clippard: 1

Randy Dobnak: 1

Previous Twins Daily MVP Winners

2015: Brian Dozier

2016: Brian Dozier

2017: Brian Dozier

2018: Eddie Rosario

2019: Max Kepler

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