Jeter vs. Cano — Who Ya Got?

Via Twitter on Sunday, fellow YGY scribe Matt Hunter posed the question, “If the season ended now, where would you place Derek Jeter in MVP voting? Why?” I responded, “Fourth or fifth.” He asked about Cano, which sparked an interesting debate.

I said that Cano is certainly in the discussion, but I think that Jeter has had the better season. Jeet has a higher average (.323 to .300), about the same OBP (.366 to .371) and over 30 more hits (199 to 167). But Cano clearly has more power (SLG is .540 to .444 with 30 homers to Jeet’s 15) and is much better in the field. Jeter’s fielding metrics are laughable

compared to Cano’s

, but I don’t think he’s as bad as UZR and whatnot say he is.

The Captain has higher RISP numbers (a .319/.407/.397 line to Cano’s .231/.366/.366) and higher two-out RISP numbers (.321/.410/.358 to Cano’s .185/.313/.352). His high leverage numbers (.337/.427/.393/.820) trump Cano’s (.266/.355/.459/.814) with a better sOPS+ and tOPS+ (I have no idea what these stats mean) in such situations.

Plus, Jeter’s lefty-righty splits aren’t as dramatic as Cano’s and he’s had a more consistent season than Robbie.

To paraphrase what I said to Matt to close out the argument: I’ll be happy as a pig in fecal matter if either of them win, but they won’t because Trout has been absolutely filthy this year. And for those of you scoring at home, here are the players I’d put ahead of Jeter if I had a vote: Trout, Miggy and Hamilton.

You can read Matt’s case for Cano here.

What say you, Yankee fans? Who has been more MVP-worthy this season?