And generally the only way writers can figure that is by going with the guys whose teams had the biggest improvement in wins.
When Tito was with the Red Sox I think the highest he finished in the voting was 3rd or 4th. But he had a big handicap because he inherited a 95-win team - tough to improve on. With Cleveland he inherits a 68-win team and bingo, wins the award.
Silly IMO.
Well, Cleveland did it with about half the payroll we did, so Francona is probably getting credit for that.
Personally I don't care about any of the awards, but MOTY I especially don't care about.
More like 60% about pitching. The KC Royals had the best ERA and ERA+ in the league. And they're not the first team to lead the league in pitching and miss the playoffs.
Latest payroll projections from Alex Speier:
Guaranteed deals
David Ortiz 17.00
John Lackey 16.50
Jake Peavy 16.50
Dustin Pedroia 13.30
Ryan Dempster 13.25
Shane Victorino 13.00
Jon Lester 9.37
Clay Buchholz 7.75
Jonny Gomes 5.00
Koji Uehara 4.25
Craig Breslow 3.13
David Ross 3.10
TOTAL GUARANTEED 122.15
Arbitration eligible
Junichi Tazawa 2.00 Estimated
Andrew Miller 1.75 Estimated
Franklin Morales 1.75 Estimated
Mike Carp 1.20 Estimated
Team control
Felix Doubront 0.58 Estimated
Daniel Nava 0.57 Estimated
Will Middlebrooks 0.55 Estimated
Brandon Workman 0.50 Estimated
Xander Bogaerts 0.50 Estimated
Summary
Guaranteed deals 122.15
Arbitration eligible 7.00 Estimated
Team control 2.70 Estimated
Depth callups 4.00 Estimated
Trades 5.00 Estimated
40-man roster 1.20 Estimated
Dodger subsidy 3.90
Medical benefits etc.10.80 Estimated
Total 156.75
Notes: Bailey not included, projected as non-tender.
They may be a little strapped in the sense of staying under the $189 million. It all depends, of course, what they do about catcher/first base/shortstop.
My preference would be Dempster. But if they can't move him maybe trade Peavy. Reasoning:
Both are signed for only one year.
Frees up $10 million or so for other needs.
2014 rotation still has Lester/Lackey/Buchholz/Doubront/Peavy or Dempster + prospects.
I think they should make a serious effort to trade either Dempster or Peavy. It it's Dempster and they don't have to pay more a third of his salary, or if it's Peavy and they don't have to pay more than a couple million. Something like that. Then instead of $32 million they've got $40 million plus to spend.
I have a strong feeling Dempster or Peavy will be moved.
Jeez Dojji, you're killing me with this dump Nava stuff. You were his biggest booster and he had a great season and you want to dump him. WTF?
His OPS of .831 was 3rd highest for Sox regulars after Ortiz and Napoli.
I'd like to know where the 75-80 million posting fee estimate comes from. That just seems wrong. It'd be 50% more than the fee for Darvish, and by all accounts Tanaka is not as good as Darvish.