Yankees: The case for Brett Gardner as team MVP

The Yankees have at least three legitimate candidates who qualify for the team’s MVP if the season were to end today. But only one has been in there battling and producing every day.

The Yankees have three position players who made the All-Star Team. Starlin Castro (on the DL), Aaron Judge (slumping since the break), and Gary Sanchez (benched for his defensive woes), have for one reason or another, not been able to carry the momentum generated from the first half into the second.

Conversely, Brett Gardner, soon to be 34, has been in there all year battling game in and game out both on and off the field, with stats that don’t light up the scoreboard, all they do is consistently contribute to team wins.

First, a disclosure is in order. I am not one of those who selects the Player of the Year when they should be voting for the Most “Valuable” Player. Giancarlo Stanton, for instance, is on a tear and has 37 home runs for the Marlins. Good for him, but his team is six games under .500 and 14.5 games out of first place, with no chance of scoring a Wild Card spot.

Similarly, the Yankees have both Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge with stats that outweigh Gardner, but is either more valuable to the team than Gardner? Obviously, the question is open to debate. But, here’s the case I make for the Yankees left fielder.

Intangibles Count

From the first day of Spring Training when the Baby Bombers first assembled, Brett Gardner, realized he needed to move to the forefront of the team to lead and guide these young, but very impressionable, players who were not yet familiar with the Yankees brand.

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CC Sabathia realized the same thing and immediately stepped into the same role with the pitching staff. Matt Holliday helped too with the position players, but injuries have kept him away from the team, leaving only Gardner around on a consistent basis.

All of which has been sanctioned and encouraged by Yankees manager, Joe Girardi.

In fact, consistency is the primary word with Gardner. He’s played in all but six of the Yankees 110 games, managing to stay healthy with no trips to the DL. He’s fielded his position flawlessly, with two assists and has yet to make an error this season. With Aaron Hicks out injured and Jacoby Ellsbury benched, Gardner has also played center eighteen times.

His batting average (.261), as mentioned before, is nothing to write home about, but it hasn’t wavered from his career average of .263. What has wavered though, are the nineteen home runs he’s hit and the uncanny ability he’s shown to hit them when they count most, as with this one against the Rays in late July his eighth career walk-off.

The thing about Brett Gardner is that he’s never changed from the hard-charging spirited ballplayer I remember seeing when he was with the Yankees Triple-A Scranton Railriders in 2008, his final season in the minors before he became a regular in the Yankees lineup, just in time to win a World Championship.

Check that, he does look a bit grittier and even more determined now. His speed on the bases has slowed with age, but he is still the Yankees best threat to steal a base when it’s needed.

Perhaps Clint Frazier said it best, though, telling Newsday, ““He’s our captain, he’s got the clutch gene, man.”

Next: The word demotion does not apply to Montgomery

The subject of incessant trade talk during the past offseason, Brian Cashman, probably at the behest of Girardi, did not seriously entertain the idea. The reason nobody supposedly wanted him? He’s making more money than he’s worth and he’s probably “washed up” to boot.

Well, send in the clowns.

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