From a pure value perspective, it’s a hard case to argue that he deserved that much. Austin Jackson and Alex Gordon were left completely out of the voting, averagish platoon-DH Raul Ibanez received a down-ballot vote, and Orioles closer Jim Johnson finished a spot ahead of Rios, and only needed to turn in 68.2 innings of work to do it. Trusting this system to nail much more than the top spot is a farce, and even that…well, there’s been some debate.

But Alex finished as high as he did because the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales voted him 5th. Since no one else had him higher than 9th, it could be fairly classified as a hometown vote. But Gonzales also had a better understanding of the context of Rios’ season than his fellow voters had, and it’s the context of his performance that was special

Alex Rios transformed himself. He overhauled his plate approach at the age of 31, became re-invested in his defense after retreating to a role of less responsibility, and was reborn as a trusted clutch performer. Nothing was more alarming, and emblematic than Rios’ double play break-up that keyed the decisive two-run rally in the final head-to-head matchup with Detroit.

Not only did the tenacity of Rios’ single play represent a sea change from when he could have served as a mascot of the 2011 White Sox–ineffectual and obstinate until their deservedly bitter end–but it spoke to the nature of his 2012 performance that by September, the notion of Rios racing in and sacrificing his body with little hope of affecting the play wasn’t shocking at all.

A .304/.334/.516 batting line in U.S. Cellular Field is good, but ultimately very forgettable in terms of great seasons. Rios got on base just as often as Adam Dunn, simply in a far more aesthetically pleasing fashion. The pure awfulness of Dunn’s 2011 gained so much national attention that his return to decency will actually sport some shelf life. Yet it will be a shame if a similar treatment isn’t given to Rios re-casting himself from a loathsome albatross, into not only a trade asset, but an asset that the White Sox have grown too fond of to actually use.

In the next few days, or perhaps still a few more weeks, the roster should be transformed, or at least altered to some degree, and 2012 will fade away as optimism/dread builds until it is acted upon in the form of what level of applause Rick Hahn receives at SoxFest. It’s the circle of life. But before we enter that transition, here’s one last call to remember what Alex Rios did in 2012. It was really enjoyable.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

If people cared about what I had to say I would give Adam Dunn my vote for Most Valuable Player. Not in the traditional sense that he carried the White Sox, was a team leader, and was just overall valuable to the South Side. No – Adam Dunn was the Most Valuable Player to every team the White Sox played against in 2011. Just think, if Dunn had clubbed forty-plus home runs and driven in somewhere in the area of one-hundred twenty the standings of the AL Central division would look a lot different.

Numerous times through the year Dunn was up to bat in a clutch situation and failed to deliver. Early in the season our excuse was that he was adjusting, towards the middle of the year we said he was slumping, into August we hoped that he would bust out and keep us in the race, then finally in September we admitted he sucked. But he was the one guy the other teams could count on to not do anything. That’s why he was the most valuable player.

From 2004 to 2010 he was one of the biggest threats in baseball. Even last year you knew that no matter how bad he looked he was still Adam Dunn and maybe – just maybe - he’d remind everyone of that. And occasionally, about twice a month, he would. But that isn’t frequent enough to get into the head of Bruce Chen much less Justin Verlander. (Congratulations to Verlander, by the way, for unanimously winning the 2011 AL Cy Young award. He definitely deserved it. Now maybe he’ll walk away with MVP as well? If Dunn doesn’t win, that is.)

Adam Dunn’s past offseason ritual has been to do nothing. He wouldn’t pick up a bat between the end of the season and Spring Training. It used to be that Mark Buehrle wouldn’t pitch in the offseason but the left-hander said it got to the point where he realized “Hey, I’m not as young as I used to be, I need to stay in shape.” If Dunn learned anything from his first year on the Sox it should be that maybe he needs to stop doing that. Ideally he’s somewhere in Texas or Chicago or Adam Dunn Land preparing for the 2012 season because we sure could use the guy we thought we were signing.

In all seriousness Dunn is probably a great guy. He knew that he was struggling, that he wasn’t living up to his contract, that he was letting his team down, that he was the bane of thousands of fantasy baseball players, that his mother turned off the games when she saw him in the on-deck circle, that he would be the punchline of White Sox jokes for years to come, and he knew that he would have to change. Will we get thirty home runs in 2012? Maybe. Forty? Who knows. Ten? We hope.

As we burn turn the pages of the 2011 season and gaze longingly towards 2012, I’m anxious to see what next year will bring for Adam “The Mystery” Dunn.

One thing is for sure – his Strat-O-Matic card will be a thing of beauty.

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My first-place vote went to Justin Verlander who won our Pitcher of the Year award. To me Verlander was more valuable to the Tigers than Ellsbury was to the Red Sox. Not to take anything away from Jacoby’ season, he was great, I just thought Verlander had a bigger impact on his team. Runs don’t mean anything if you have a pitcher who gives them right back. Ellsbury scored a lot of runs, Verlander barely allowed any.

Check out my post in that link to read my thoughts on Ellsbury.

Send Anders an email or follow him on Twitter for in-game World Series commentary and Tweets throughout the offseason.