True Value

Lest unanimity get a bad name, let us forget the myopic groupthink that infected 30 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America and let us all instead commit to a Metsiastically agreeable concept:

No Met was more valuable in 2024 than Francisco Lindor.

Perhaps you have an opposing viewpoint. It takes all kinds, one supposes. In this forum, however, we’re not hearing it. Francisco Lindor is clearly Faith and Fear in Flushing’s Richie Ashburn Most Valuable Met. The vote is by acclamation.

It’s the least we can do for our most valuable player, a Met who received 23 second-place and seven third-place votes in the BBWAA National League MVP voting, a robust showing until you remember first place votes were theoretically available to him, and none of the writers thought what Lindor did was worthy of being considered most Most Valuable in the senior circuit.

Shohei Ohtani posted an offensive season for the ages. Hit 54 home runs. Stole 59 bases. Drove in 130 runs. Prevented no runs. Ohtani wasn’t available to pitch, something he did in the course of winning two American League MVPs, which is what made him a legend the likes of which no living fan had ever watched and what made him so attractive for the long term when he reached the free agent market last winter. Recovery from Tommy John surgery meant all we got in his first year in the NL was Ohtani the DH. And what a DH! Those numbers and plenty of others attest to his otherworldly productivity.

Yet he never put on a glove in a game as a Dodger in 2024. Never saw the field when L.A. was on defense except from the dugout. Didn’t contribute whatsoever to half of every game.

Lindor? He went out to shortstop every day until his back wouldn’t allow him, and then worked it into shape to make sure it would. Played the position brilliantly. Ran the infield. Guided his teammates in the midst of patrolling the busiest of positions. And when not doing so, got better and better at the plate as the season went along, leading a team that needed him in every way and delivering in every way until his ninth-inning home run lifted them to the lip of the postseason.

Two different kinds of value between Ohtani and Lindor, to be sure. An absolutely reasonable case to be made for Shohei the hitter who didn’t pitch and didn’t field on his star-studded squad, just as there was an absolutely reasonable case to be made for Francisco the shortstop who hit and did most everything else for a team he practically willed into the playoffs.

Somehow not one of thirty voting BBWAA members found Lindor’s case more compelling than Ohtani’s. Perhaps Ohtani’s stats short-circuited a system that’s traditionally allowed for interpretation that wasn’t 100% digitally driven. Shortstops who fueled their teams, like Barry Larkin and Jimmy Rollins. Gritty, gutty guys who made a tangible difference like Kirk Gibson and Terry Pendleton. Francisco Lindor’s season was the stuff of a classic MVP choice: 33 homers, 91 RBIs, 107 runs scored, a batting average that soared from nowhere (.190) to beyond respectable (.273) once he took over the leadoff spot. The consistent, stellar defense. The well-documented clubhouse leadership. The clutch — yes, clutch — performances every time you turned around every time you needed it.

Yet not one first-place vote for NL MVP. Go figure.

But all the votes for MVM, we figure. All the votes because we remember that Lindor’s back ached mostly from carrying a team that needed to hop on his shoulders as it ascended the Wild Card standings. Francisco didn’t rest until he absolutely had to, and even then it wasn’t rest so much as rehabilitation so he could return to the field and get the Mets where they needed to go. He’d been there for them despite a miserable slump that could have buried a lesser player early. He’d been there for them day-in, day-out, flu-ridden one afternoon when he won them a game in extras. He was there ensuring a summer of climbing didn’t go to waste at the end of August. This was at Arizona, against a primary rival that was poised to oust them from realistic contention. Lindor homered to tie that one, less than 24 hours after a debacle of a Met ending. Francisco got the Mets all even in the sixth with a leadoff homer, changing their trajectory so they could prevail in the ninth and keep going into September. And speaking of September, how about that no-hitter he ended in the ninth inning in Toronto? Another leadoff homer, another altering of direction, another huge win with his signature all over it.

Then he goes down for more than a week; gets back up; gives everything he has on the final scheduled Sunday in Milwaukee from the literal get-go (leads off; walks; steals second; scores two batters later); eventually homers to put a must-win out of reach; and sets the stage for, the more I think about it, the biggest regular-season home run any Met has ever hit. On the Monday that extended the schedule, in the ballpark where no Mets fan could imagine anything turning out for the best, the club put six on the board in the eighth — Francisco was in the middle of that rally — only to drop behind the Braves in the succeeding half-inning. Lindor is due up third in the ninth with the season as on the line as it could be. With one out, Marte singles…and Lindor homers. Like Ohtani, Lindor doesn’t pitch. But I swear the bottom of the ninth, when he reels in a pop fly for the first out and fields the grounder that becomes the third out minutes after that two-run bomb…give him the save, too.

MVP voting doesn’t take into account the postseason. MVM selection takes into account everything. The grand slam to seal the NLDS triumph over the Phillies therefore gets the credit it deserves. So cool, so calm, so Francisco. Bases loaded, one out, Mets down by a run in the sixth and Lindor up. What’s gonna happen? Something Lindor makes happen. It was obvious he’d drive home at least one Met. Four was an ideal total, accented by the way he rounded the bases — head down, no frills. The game wasn’t over yet. The series wasn’t over yet. The goal Lindor had in mind wasn’t yet reached. All business in an OMG frenzy was the way to go.

Anywhere this man went was the way to follow. We follow him to a second consecutive MVM presentation. In grim 2023, Francisco shared the honor. In celebratory 2024, the honor is all his. Also, ours.

FAITH AND FEAR’S PREVIOUS RICHIE ASHBURN MOST VALUABLE METS
2005: Pedro Martinez (original recording)
2005: Pedro Martinez (deluxe reissue)
2006: Carlos Beltran
2007: David Wright
2008: Johan Santana
2009: Pedro Feliciano
2010: R.A. Dickey
2011: Jose Reyes
2012: R.A. Dickey
2013: Daniel Murphy, Dillon Gee and LaTroy Hawkins
2014: Jacob deGrom
2015: Yoenis Cespedes
2016: Asdrubal Cabrera
2017: Jacob deGrom
2018: Jacob deGrom
2019: Pete Alonso
2020: Michael Conforto and Dom Smith (the RichAshes)
2021: Aaron Loup and the One-Third Troupe
2022: Starling Marte
2023: Francisco Lindor and Kodai Senga

Still to come: The Nikon Camera Player of the Year for 2024.