It's Groundhog Day, and you know what that means ... it's time for 2004 pre-season nominations for the Annual Batter's Box Joaquin Andujar Award. The player who will eventually be awarded the 2004 Andujar will be the epitome, in retrospect, of a low-risk, high-reward transaction. (If those two sentences sound Bill Murray-esque Groundhog Day familiar, well they should.)
Batter's Box authors and readers are invited to cast their ballots for the top five pre-season candidates for the 2004 Andujar. Points will be tabulated on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis and balloting will close at midnight on Monday, February 23, at which time the pre-season list will be published.
To win an Andujar ...
... a player must have signed as a free agent -- either a major or minor league contract is acceptable -- with a new team in the previous off-season. Players acquired via trade are not eligible. Players are also not eligible to win an Andujar if they have ever been named to a Major League All-Star Game roster or if they have never appeared in a major league game. Players signed as free agents from foreign professional leagues are also ineligible.
Looking back at last year's process, which resulted in former Jay Esteban Loaiza edging Brewers' outfielder Scott Podsednik for the inaugural award:
2/2/03: Original Announcement & Rules
3/10/03: Preseason Nominations
7/23/03: Midseason Update
12/1/03: 2003 Andujar Finalists
12/26/03: Loaiza Wins Inaugural Andujar
As always, updates will come throughout the year and the results of balloting for the winner will be announced in a press release on Dec. 26 -- Boxing Day. Because ... YouNeverKnow.
Okay, so ...
That "never been named to a Major League All-Star Game roster" rule is a tricky one ... sure, it means Pudge Rodriguez in Detroit and Vlad Guerrero in Anaheim aren't eligible. But did you realize that it also excludes, among others, Jeromy Burnitz, Jose Lima, Jose Hernandez and Tony Womack?
And while you might know that J.D. Drew has never been named to an All-Star Game roster, he was traded. So like Ted Lilly and others, he ain't eligible.
With "Rookie of the Year argument" apologies all around, the "players signed as free agents from foreign professional leagues are also ineligible" excludes Kaz Matsui of the New York Mets and Akinori Otsuka of the Chicago White Sox, among others.
Do you really believe that Otsuka will close for the Pale Hose anyway? I mean, with ex-Jay Billy Koch around ... or, wait ... maybe Cliff Politte will follow the Toronto-to-Comiskey-to-Andujar trail Loiaza blazed in 2003? Or maybe you have a thing for lefty Scott Schoeneweis, also new to the Chicago staff.
And if Politte is Loiaza, is Chris Magruder the new Scott Podsednik in the Milwaukee outfield?
You don't need to bemoan the ineligibility of the "other" Matsui to pick a Met in the pre-season Andujars -- what about Todd Zeile, now with his seventy-third team, or Shane Spencer? Can Chris Singleton score some runs and Daryle Ward drive them in for Pittsburgh? Will Rey Ordonez or Jay Payton light it up in San Diego? Can Danys Baez or Mike Williams seize the closer's role in Tampa and make roto owners everywhere giddy with 40 saves?
Speaking of former closers, how long before Dave Veres takes over for an imploded Octavio Dotel in Houston? Will Eric Karros make Bay area fans forget, well, Erubiel Durazo if not Jason Giambi? Will Darren Oliver be one of many players to sneak into the Andujar finalists discussion for the second consecutive year? Is Russell Branyan the answer at the Atlanta hot corner? Is Glendon Rusch already the best starting picher the Rangers have?
Some Boxers have already weighed in ...
Mike Moffatt likes new Detroit SP Esteban Yan, along with Red sox 2B Mark Bellhorn and SFG SP (say that three times fast) Brett Tomko ... Scott Lucas points to another ChiSoxer in Robert Person and another Devil Ray in Todd Ritchie (who also showed up in 2003 pre-season predictions), and also mentions C Todd Greene taking his big bat to Coors Field ... Gerry McDonald thinks Tyler Houston will take Aaron "I Wanna Be Like Bill Walton" Boone's job in the Bronx and that Damian Moss might just out-pitch Ritchie in Tampa ... then again, maybe it will be John Halama.
The inimitable Coach points to expensive-but-qualified ex-Jay Kelvim Escobar and also rolls out a list of possible candidates including Miguel Batista, Jose Guillen, Sidney Ponson, Braden Looper, LaTroy Hawkins, John Thomson, Cory Lidle, Sterling Hitchcock, Ismael Valdes, and new Cardinal leadoff man Marlon Anderson.
And that's less than half of the guys eligible.
Who's missing? And who gets your top five vote(s)?
Just for the record, my own 2003 pre-season ballot included four guys already mentioned here again -- Spencer, Houston, Halama and Ritchie.
But for starters, and with apologies to Jeff Weaver who is the most talented guy mentioned here but has "11-14" written all over him, here's my ballot for 2004:
1. Todd Greene, COL
2. Brett Tomko, SFG
3. Rick Helling, MIN
4. Sterling Hitchcock, SDP
5. Eric Karros, OAK
Fire away ...
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