And the MVP is…

By: Robert | June 13th, 2007

At the end of every sports campaign writers get all up in a fuss about that season’s MVP debate, regardless of sport. Every year they bluster on and on about whether the award should go to the player with the best numbers or to the player most valuable to his team and every year they decide nothing, other than to have the same argument next year. Well, today that ends…sort of; today I present a rational, part scientific, part subjective analysis to prove to you that Juan Toja really is our MVP…at this point of the season (yeah, I kinda cheated in that subject line by implying all MLS, I know…now keep reading)

Soccer (or football for the English readers) is a sport without numbers. I mean sure, there are goals and assists and saves but a player can have a great game, be the most dominate figure on the field (or pitch) and not record a single stat. So what do we do, where do we go? We go to the only numbers we have available, and in fact the only numbers that truly matter, the salaries. It breaks down like this; we know how much each player makes a season, we know how many games have been played so far and we know how many minutes each player plays, from that we can figure out exactly how much each player makes per minute at that time (I can go into more detail later about the formula if you want, because it cant be a simple divide the salary by minutes thing but I’m sure you want to read about Juan Toja so I’ll get to that…who knew all this business analysis would come in handy someday) We can then compare that information subjectively (there’s no other way, I tried) and figure out who really is worth the money, and ladies and gentlemen Juan Toja really is worth the money.

Currently his $35.62 per minute salary (the salary will fluctuate, but explaining that requires a more in-depth formula analysis) places him in the middle of the team (and $30 less than the team average…wow more math), which is apropos because he controls the midfield like no one else. He always seems to be in the right place to make his dangerous, marauding runs at defenses that lead to goal scoring situations for him and others. He’s what you look for in an attacking midfielder, even if he normally only uses his left foot (please don’t comment about Saturday’s incredible goal with his right, there are always exceptions.)

To really get an idea of how valuable he is compare for a minute his season so far to that of Carlos Ruiz who is making the most on the team at $272.78 per min. While I’ve already written how important Carlos Ruiz is, ask yourself, at that cost is he really seven and half times more valuable than Juan Toja? Look at the salary figures here (okay, maybe not there, I cant get the upload to work), is there anybody? Take money out of the equation and there’s no exaggeration to say that Juan Toja produces more excitement, and more goal scoring opportunities than anyone else, add money in and this is no contest (though if Dominic Oduro keeps playing like he did on Saturday he may enter the argument.)

So how does this effect his contract situation? (He’s currently on loan from Colombian side Independiente de Santa Fe) Well that’s for another post, but right now let’s celebrate Juan Toja, the man the Dallas Morning News calls a “rising star” because this is Dallas, where the FC stands for “future champion.”

HOOPS PRIDE!

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