From a hitting perspective, it's almost no contest. Look up the stats--Youk had a better, albeit somehow less memorable, year at the plate. There's probably something to be said for the fact that Pedroia's production was better compared to the average second baseman's than Youk's was for first base, which is much more of a traditional power spot. Indeed, Pedroia boasts a better WARP for the year (if you're into that kind of thing), which is probably for that very reason. But as someone who's inclined to think that a hit is a hit and a home run is a home run, I don't care very much about where on the diamond those hits come from. If a backup catcher has a tremendous year for a backup catcher, we don't hand them the MVP for that accomplishment.
So, if Youkilis (and maybe even Carlos Quentin) had a better year at the plate than Pedroia, then what was it that tipped things in Pedroia's favor? Was it defense? It only takes a few games watching Pedroia to see that he is a superb defender, but there's no way he's significantly better than Youkilis, he of the Gold Glove and record errorless streak. There has to be some reason that Pedroia beat out Youkilis and others for the MVP, but I just don't see how defense can be it.
Maybe it goes back to what I mentioned earlier--Pedroia is somehow a more memorable player than Youkilis. He swings his bat like a medieval battleaxe and makes ridiculous diving stops to save no-hitters. Youkilis, on the other hand, is a decidedly unsexy bearded bald man who excels with appropriately unsexy stats like pitches per plate appearance. Youkilis is an extremely valuable player, but Pedroia just plays more like an MVP.
Or maybe it's something as simple as this: Pedroia has 726 plate appearances last year, compared to 621 for Youkilis and just 569 for Carlos Quentin. Youkilis may have had the edge in rate-based stats like OBP, slugging, etc., but Pedroia kept his rates up over the course of many more games. To win the AL MVP award, the first thing you have to do is show up.
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