You Da Real MVP

So, elections have been a pretty hot topic for the past several months, huh?

However, let's not talk about a certain, specific election that involves a seditious, orange goblin trying to coup his way into an office he never should have occupied.  Instead of diving into that democracy-killing rabbit hole, let's discuss an infinitely less important, but no less argued vote - the MVP Awards in the American and National Leagues.  While this particular contest has no bearing on the future of our country, it sure does generate it's own fair share of controversy.  What's more important, a player's individual statistical performance or the relative effect that they have on the team around them?  Should players from losing teams be considered, even if their world-beating performances couldn't keep their teams out of the cellar?  Should the voters focus on the traditional, familiar stats like pitcher wins and batting average, or should they instead set their sights on geeky calculations like WAR and OPS+?  Should pitchers be considered for the trophy or should they be limited to the Cy Young Award only.  There's no right answer, but - of course - that doesn't keep the discourse from getting heated on Twitter.

While the 2020 season was shortened, that didn't keep the arguments from being long.  How could Freddie Freeman win over the World Series winning Mookie Betts?  Is there any player in the American League truly better than Mike Trout - how did he not win again?  That being said, there was one thing that everyone who parsed the MVP-voting results could truly agree with, no matter how they stood on any of the above arguments:  who the heck is Ryan Tepera?

Ryan Tepera, a former Blue Jays reliever who signed a split-contract with Chicago over the previous winter, didn't make the Cubs out of Summer Camp; but, he didn't have to wait long to get his call.  In fact, he probably didn't even make it to the alternate site in South Bend before his phone rang - just two days into the season, Brad Wieck was placed on the injured list and the Cubs found themselves a touch light in the bullpen.  In stepped a future MVP candidate to carry the load.

Okay, so that statement might just be a touch hyperbolic.  While Ryan Tepera was a perfectly adequate reliever (3.92 ERA in 20.2 IP) with sometimes eye-popping movement on his breaking pitches who managed to stay on the Big League roster for the rest of the year, he wasn't exactly making waves.  In fact, once the 2020 season concluded (with yet another embarrassing playoff exit), Tepera was non-tendered off of the roster.  While there's been rumors that the front office wants to bring Ryan back on another flier, how many times in baseball history has a player that received MVP consideration been booted from the roster is such an unceremonious way?

Okay, so, saying that Ryan honestly received MVP consideration might be another slightly hyperbolic statement.  Here's the deal - Ryan Tepera did, in fact, receive an MVP vote... one singular tally.  Obviously his middle of the road stats did not call for even one vote, so how did this happen?  Well, it's simple really - it was a typo.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Rick Hummel was trying to show some love towards the Washington Nationals sparkplug shortstop, Trea Turner.  As it turns out, while Hummel was filling out his ballot via the dropdown menu used in the online voting process, he erroneously clicked on the player alphabetically listed next to Turner, who just so happened to be, you guessed it, Ryan Tepera.  Apparently, it wasn't until the results were announced days later that Hummel realized his mistake.  Whoopsy daisy.  And so, that's how Tepera got just as many MVP votes as the most valuable Cubs player on the year, Ian Happ, breakout Brewers relief ace, Devin Williams, and Braves stars Dansby Swanson and Max Fried.

All in all, this misadventure turned out to be an entertaining and fun story in an otherwise dreary year, especially for North Side baseball.  Plus, Ryan will always have "MVP-18" attached to his name on Baseball Reference - how many players can say they got an MVP nod in their career?   Everybody wins!

Image courtesy of Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Thankfully, I purchased a Tepera card for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection before his "MVP-caliber" breakout season got underway.  Once the votes came in, his card prices would have probably shot through the roof!

I say that half-jokingly, considering the massive, real estate market-like bubble the trading card industry is under right now.  No matter, my local card shop kindly dug a 2015 Topps Update single - as seen at the top of this post - out of backroom storage for me.  Honestly the '15 design is my favorite from the previous decade and, when given the choice, I will always pick it's team color-coded borders for my most treasured collection.  That said, here's hoping the MVP candidate signs back with the team and get his own, proper Cubs card in the near future.

It does seem likely to me that Tepera could come back to Wrigley in 2021.  For one, the bullpen is once again wide-open, with only Craig Kimbrel and Rowan Wick as true locks at this point in the offseason.  Furthermore, Tepera - once again - represents the type of low risk/high reward flier that the Cubs organization tends to favor for bullpen construction.  Finally, Tepera represents the only "MVP level" player that this "impoverished" ownership group might allow for Jed Hoyer to open the purse strings.

At any rate, thanks for the fun story, Ryan Tepera and Rick Hummel!