Exactly. That then means actual performance doesn't matter to many fans, which is unfortunate considering how interesting this kind of data is and how players use it to improve their game.
Of course performance matters, just not for voting for a meaningless game (that was stupidly given meaning). Schwarber isn't going to be suddenly become thrilled with how well his season is going just because he finishes fifth in ASG voting.
> That then means actual performance doesn't matter to many fans
of course performance matters, but you missed my point: a large amount of fans completely ignore statistical performance. This is most evident with Giants fans in particular this season who absolutely despise Hunter Strickland and say he should be kicked from the team when he's been pitching at least league average, if not better, and has been the best relief pitcher on the team. Not to mention they call him a "home run vending machine" when he's only given up 4 in the past 1.5 seasons.
I think Giants fans would treat their players better if the team was 11 games over .500 instead of under and if their best reliever wasn't league average. I'm not saying all fans are rational, many are emotional/ignorant and act on perceived performance rather than real performance. Don't know much about Strickland's career, but if he was perfect with a 3 run lead but awful with a 1 run lead, it makes sense why fans wouldn't be thrilled despite the underlying stats. But most do care about performance, and they won't pretend like Schwarber has been good this year. His popularity is heavily reliant on his past performance, including the World Series.
Other examples are Carlos Santana, George Springer, etc
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/79308/leadoff-h...