A little more than three weeks remain. Who's going to be cashing those bonus cheques, and scooping up some hardware to put on the shelf? They don't let me vote, which is just as well. But if I could...
AL MVP
I generally believe the most valuable player is the player who has the most value - not the guy who represents the greatest portion of what is valuable on his own team. (By that criteria, Paul Konerko and Ryan Zimmerman are our MVPszin 2010, and while they've both been outstanding, other people have been better.) What makes the AL race tricky this year is the fact that one of the top contenders plays a key defensive position and plays it well. Whereas Cabrera, Konerko, and Hamilton (who's been in LF most of this season) generate most of their value with their bat. Cabrera has quite likely been the best hitter in the AL this season, but Robinson Cano plays a very nice second base and he can hit a little too. And hey - the best player on the best team deserves a little respect, and it would be kind of cool to see Cano with one of these awards while his DP partner is still going without. So...
1. Robinson Cano, New York
2. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit
3. Josh Hamilton, Texas
4. Paul Konerko, Chicago
5. Adrian Beltre, Boston
Honourable mention: Evan Longoria, Jose Bautista, Joe Mauer
NL MVP
Trying to make the distinction between Votto and Pujols, at this point in the season...to hell with it. Let's vote for the new guy. As for Carlos Gonzalez - he has been outstanding, but he is also hitting .100 points higher in Coors Field - I thought the humidor put an end to this sort of thing.
1. Joey Votto, Cincinnati
2. Albert Pujols, St.Louis
3. Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego
4. Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado
5. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington
Honourable mention: Brian McCann, Scott Rolen, Roy Halladay
AL Cy Young
Hernandez can settle this quite easily by going 5-0 the rest of the way. If he doesn't - well, some people will have trouble voting for a guy with a 13-12 record, when there's another viable candidate who went 23-6 (or whatever.) These two have pitched far more innings than the other contenders, which is a big deal with me. Sabathia has just 2 Cheap Wins (Game Score below 50) and 1 Tough Loss (Game Score above 50). But Felix the King has no Cheap Wins, and 5 Tough Losses. He's pitched more than Sabathia, and he's pitched better than Sabathia.
1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle
2. C.C. Sabathia, New York
3. Clay Buchholz, Boston
Honourable Mention: David Price, C.J. Wilson
NL Cy Young
There were contenders, and there were pretenders, but in the end all of them have fallen away. And Doc stands alone. Halladay may end up leading NL pitchers in quite literally everything - everything but Saves, I suppose. The easiest choice for any award this season, and probably the one predicted by more people than any other before the season started. Everyone saw this coming....
1. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia
2. Tim Hudson, Atlanta
3. Josh Johnson, Florida
Honourable mention: Ubaldo Jiminez, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright
AL Rookie of the Year
Not really a bumper crop. The batch of rookies in the NL this year inspires awe. In the AL, we've got a closer and a guy who's played barely half his team's games among the top contenders. We'll take the everyday player. He has been pretty good.
1. Austin Jackson, Detroit
2. Neftali Feliz, Texas
3. John Jaso, Tampa Bay
Honourable Mention: Wade Davis, Brennan Bosesch
NL Rookie of the Year
Just a fabulous rookie crop - without looking it up, these might be the most impressive rookie batch in years. As rookies anyway, because as Paulie Walnuts reminds us, no one knows what the future holds, my friend. At least five of these guys could a:) win the award in some other year, or b) win the award in the AL this year.
1. Buster Posey, San Francisco
2. Jason Heyward, Atlanta
3. Jaime Garcia, St.Louis
Honourable mention:
Jonny Venters, Gaby Sanchez, Starlin Castro, Jonathan Niese, Chris Johnson, Neil Walker and a bunch of other guys, too (Ike Davis, Jon Jay, Stephen Strasburg...)
AL Manager of the Year
If the Red Sox somehow sneak into the post-season. this goes to Tito, hands down. It's not a very likely prospect now, but how Francona has managed to hold that group together, while the bodies were falling all around him, still demands a great deal of respect. And so does Cito Gaston's work this year. I gave Gaston an E grade for his 2009 season. Not this time around. It's not just that so many observers expected his team to lose at least 90 games, although that is pretty impressive. And never mind his role in Jose Bautista's season. Gaston's most important contribution by far, which the team may be benefiting from for years down the road, has been his work in turning young arms into front-line starters. He has a long history of doing this very thing, of course.
Ron Washington is going to get a lot of votes for a:) just keeping his job as well as b:) running away with his division. But Ron Gardenhire has been without Joe Nathan all year long. His best hitter went down just before the All-Star Break and hasn't been back since. Joe Mauer is having a down year by his own awesome standards (he's still been one of the best players in the league, of course). He's got just two decent starting pitchers. I am impressed. As for Ozzie - while Paul Konerko has meant more to his team than any player has meant to any team - it's still a deep, deep mystery to me that the White Sox are still in the hunt. Ozzie's playing Omar Freakin' Vizquel at third base, for heaven's sake....
1. Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota
2. Ron Washington, Texas
3. Ozzie Guillen, Chicago
Honourable mention: Cito Gaston, Terry Francona
NL manager of the Year
I can't believe I'm doing this. I've mocked Dusty myself over the years. Haven't we all? And if you look at how he's used his young pitchers this season, it's possible Baker himself learned something from the Wood-Prior experience. I really liked the way they got their butts kicked by the Cardinals in the big showdown a month ago, and didn't even let it break their stride. They just went right back to winning, while the Cardinals puffed out their chests and promptly imploded. Charlie Manuel has kept his gang on Atlanta's heels despite the mysterious disappearance of his offense. Bobby Cox is a placeholder for the moment, although he's done a very nice job in his swan song, patching for Chipper and Heyward. If Bud Black and his Padres can stop the bleeding and hold off the Giants, the Padres will have had a wonderful season, quite out of the blue. But if they throw it all away at this late date, no one will care at all.
1. Dusty Baker, Cincinnati
2. Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia
3. Bobby Cox, Atlanta
Honourable mention (for now!): Bud Black, Bruce Bochy
Naturally, all of this is merely meant to... what's the word I want? - provoke the lot of you...
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2010090522473873