MVP: What does it mean anyway?

Over at FanGraphs, the debate is raging about the AL MVP race. The same question continues to come up every year. Who deserves the MVP award? The most valuable player or the best player on the best team?

Joe Mauer is having one of the best non-enhanced offensive years in recent memory. He's hitting right around .380 and despite missing a month, he's closing in on 30 home runs. The only chink in his armor is his somewhat low RBI total. But we all know that's a bit of an overrated statistic anyway. It really only measures opportunity, and the Twins haven't been getting guys on base in front of Mauer. In fact, the Twins number two hitter is last in the MLB in OPS.

The case for Mauer is simple. Despite the Twins pitching collapse, the Twins are only six games out of first. They're in the bottom half of MLB in terms of OPS by position at 5 out of the 9 offensive positions, but Mauer's OPS is nearly an astonishing 1.100 making the Twins 8th in MLB in overall OPS. Mauer is carrying the team.

Now, the case for Mark Teixiera. He's is having a good year, the Yankees are in first place and are a vastly improved team from last year. But they've also added A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia so it's debatable whether he's the best player on the Yankees.

So, there are two questions:

1. Mauer or Teixiera?

2. Most valuable or best player on the best team?

Since we're on the subject of Mauer, FanGraphs also has a post on how Mauer's having the best offensive season of any catcher. Ever.

Weigh in. What do you think?