Sam Blum somehow missed this.

.....

Sam Blum on Why I Voted Shohei Ohtani for AL MVP, posted now at The Athletic:

There are a lot of numbers that could back up my argument, or the argument of the voters that picked Judge. Let me first state the very basic reason I picked Ohtani to win. He hit at a very high level. He pitched at an extremely high level. He had the best season of all time.

Just because we all oohed and ahhed at his breakout 2021 season (when Ohtani was unanimous), does not mean we should take it for granted a year later. The novelty might not be the same, but the reasons we were enamored with him have only been maintained or improved upon.

There are those who feel that another award should exist for what Ohtani does. Reasonable people could disagree. But there is no other award at the moment.

... Ohtani had a significantly better season in 2022 than he had in 2021, particularly as a pitcher. He threw 35 2/3 more innings. At one point in the middle of the season, he added a sinker that touched 101 mph.

People might look at his home run or RBI totals being down from 2021 and think he regressed. But he struck out 28 fewer times, despite having 27 more plate appearances. He had 22 more hits. Translation: He was less all-or-nothing. He was probably a more complete hitter, as evidenced by an 18-game hit streak in the final month of the season.

The Angels’ season was a punchline, and Ohtani had an unfortunate and undeserved role in that. There was a stretch from June 27 to July 24 where the Angels went 0-15 in games not started by Ohtani on the mound, and 3-1 when he did pitch.

The team was just 3-3 in games in which he hit two home runs. He had eight RBIs against the Royals and the Angels still lost 11-10. It was a “Tungsten Arm” O’Doyle type of season. Ohtani does this, that and the other in an Angels loss. The story repeated itself over and over.

But the MVP award, in my view, is not a reflection of the ineptitude or strength of a surrounding roster. Judge should not get points for having better teammates. Ohtani should not get dinged for the long-running nightmare that is Angels baseball.

... I fault no one for criticizing my vote. It’s what comes with having one. I fault no other voter for their choice. They earned the right to make their selection.

It comes down to your definition of value. Who is the best? Who is the most outstanding? Who would you want on your team above anyone else that year? The answer for me, in 2022, was Ohtani.

If the Japanese squad weren't already the WBC favourites, they will be now. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-wants-to-play-for-japan-in-world-baseball-classic

Jarred Kelenic	Marcus Semien	Mitch Haniger	Shohei Ohtani	Carlos Rodon

Sep 29, 2022 Top Performers

Pitchers:

Shohei Ohtani (LAA): 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K, 87 GmSc

Carlos Rodon (SFG): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 10 K, 78 GmSc

Eric Lauer (MIL): 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 9 K, 74 GmSc

Jeffrey Springs (TBR): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 71 GmSc

Cal Quantrill (CLE): 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 66 GmSc

View All of Yesterday's Pitchers at Baseball-Reference.com

With regard to the Angels, a rebuild is tough because they have Trout and it just resets the possibility to get him into the playoffs. I think the Blue Jays offer you described is interesting b/c Moreno and Tiedemann are both ready for the Majors next year. They should probably throw in Nate Pearson too as a lottery ticket if he's healthy. Martinez has major contact problems at the upper levels.  I think he's going to fall on prospect lists for next season, despite his age.  Zuleta might be interesting as well instead of Martinez. He's closer to the majors and the Angels have no history of success developing pitchers, so getting 3 from the Blue Jays might be their best hope. Robberse might be a good option too.

I think he's getting negative dWAR because of the weighting against DHs in the WAR defense formula.

Seems like Ohtani should also be listed under "AL Pitchers" instead of Verlander

5.5 > 5.3

The breakdown for Ohtani: oWAR 3.8, dWAR -1.4, pWAR 5.5.

For Judge: oWAR 9.9, dWAR -0.2.

Surprising Judge comes out negative in the outfield. Unless Ohtani is a really bad fielding pitcher (I suspect he's not), his dWAR is completely unwarranted.

Be that as it may, with ten days to go in the season...

WAR Leaders

New York Post:

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Aaron Judge made history on Monday night, becoming just the third Yankee to reach the 50-homer milestone multiple times in his career. 

But it was his main challenger for AL MVP — Shohei Ohtani — who had the biggest blast of the night, as Ohtani’s two-run homer in the fifth put the Angels ahead for good in their 4-3 win at Angel Stadium. 

Josh Donaldson’s pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth gave the Yankees some life before Oswaldo Cabrera flied out to deep center to end it. 

It sent the Yankees to their third straight loss after a five-game winning streak that now seems a distant memory. 

“I don’t get caught up in individual numbers, good or bad,’’ Judge said. “It’s great, but I’m kind of upset about the loss. We’ll talk about how this feels once the season is over.” 

Asked what he’ll remember about the momentous night, Judge said, “I’ll be thinking about a 4-3 loss we had in Anaheim. I wish it could have been a little sweeter with a victory.”