AL Awards

[sk7326]

Regular season in the bag - so why not?

 

Cy Young (5 man ballot):

 

Really only 2 legitimate choices - Scherzer or King Felix. Anibal Sanchez had a remarkable season, but the 182 IP does not stack up with the others even the WAR did. Scherzer had some tremendous BABIP which was not in line with his career norms (enough to say that this is him). Verlander, Darvish, Sale, Fister, Shields, Lester, Iwakuma all have reasonable claims for the bronze medal here. Koji Uehara by FWAR was one of the 20 best pitchers in the AL, which is pretty amazing. No modern-use closer can do enough to match the value an elite starter provides, but Uehara came about as close as you can -enough to get a spot on my ballot as a hat tip.

 

1. Scherzer

2. Hernandez

3. Darvish

4. Sale

5. Uehara

 

Rookie of the Year (3 man ballot)

 

Pretty thin crop this year. I have no strong conviction here, although Iglesias is a worthy name

 

Manager of the Year (3 man)

 

The choice ends up being on the "team we were most wrong about". Farrell is definitely on the podium, as is Francona. The latter is one of the best in the league and Farrell helped bring order to a wild situation. Bob Melvin has consistently been one of the best at maximizing talent and Joe Maddon doesn't need me to write an ode to him. Even Joe Girardi should (barf) get some credit for squeezing a wild card contender out of a team with so few good players available on a night to night basis.

 

1. Farrell

2. Francona

3. Melvin

 

MVP

 

Let's get this out of the way. If you are a Cabrera guy in the Trout-Cabrera debate, I am not going to change your mind. To me, "value" has to be about the player ... to me getting too wrapped up in team success means I am voting on the dude's 24 teammates, not him. I also have no qualms about adding pitchers in - it is about "players", not "position players". As such:

 

1. Mike Trout - easy choice again, what an amazing first two seasons

2. Miguel Cabrera - the best hitter alive. Better than he was last season

3. Chris Davis - always had the power, the development completed this season. Wow Koji Uehara is more valuable than I thought!

4. Josh Donaldson - 2nd in fWAR, but this is such an outlier for him, enough that the .333 BABIP has to get some scrutiny.

5. Evan Longoria - every year "imagine if he was healthy", this year didn't have to

6. Max Scherzer - Detroit's best pitcher this season

7. Felix Hernandez - toils in a bad situation, but what an amazing career he has going, and 2 years younger than Lester

8. Robinson Cano - going to break the bank as he should. Best middle infielder in the game.

9. Manny Machado - off the charts defense at 3rd, and a doubles machine. Not an on-base machine, but is not bad enough to detract from all the good. And so young.

10. Jacoby Ellsbury - the Sox MVP. Really can put Victorino or Pedroia here and not be wrong.

[VA Sox Fan]

In the NL, the Cincinnati Reds were awarded today by the firing of Dusty Baker.

[sk7326]

In the NL, the Cincinnati Reds were awarded today by the firing of Dusty Baker.

 

Dusty knew how to get his guys to play - but his tactical managing was ... not good.

[User Name]

He was also notorious for overworking pitchers, especially young ones. I bet that Cueto's (and basically the entire BP's sans Chapman) arm troubles had to do with his firing.

[sk7326]

He was also notorious for overworking pitchers, especially young ones. I bet that Cueto's (and basically the entire BP's sans Chapman) arm troubles had to do with his firing.

 

and blatantly ignoring things like "On Base %" which most baseball fans have already figured out.