About the Batter's Box 2003 Least Valuable Player Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Mismanagers of the Year
2003 BBLVPAs : The Batter's Box Schadenfreude Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Allan Travers Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Rookie Hype of the Year Awards
In the interest of clearing a backlog of articles I have to write, I am going to make this discussion of the BBLVPAs centerpiece awards, the Least Valuable Players, a short one. But that should not detract from the prestige of the award, or from the skills of the winners, which were considerable. There was heavy competition this year, as large numbers of players in both leagues found new and exciting ways to lose games for their teams. So without further ado, our 2003 Batter's Box Least Valuable Players are...
Jeff Cirillo in the American League, and Tony Womack in the National League.
The voting in both leagues was extraordinarily close, as several players vied for the honours. In such a field, it is an honour just to be named on a ballot, and a complete breakdown of voting is available below.
National League Least Valuable Player - Tony Womack, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies & Chicago Cubs
Tony Womack applied his unique lack of skill to three clubs this year, as he was shipped in a deal from the D-Backs to Rockies at midyear, then on to the Cubs after the trade deadline. After being passed around like a social disease, Womack's (partially Coors-inflated) combined line for the year was:
364 PA, .226 BA, .251 SLG, .307 SLG, -34 RCAA (Runs Created Above Average), .180 OWP (Offensive Winning Percentage)
Interestingly, Womack managed to be equally unimpressive at all three of his stops, posting a .221 OWP in Arizona, a .054 OWP in the Mile High City, and a .239 OWP on the South Side of Chicago.
Womack has been widely known as a defensive zero in an important defensive position for a few years now, and had the dubious honour of being the third-worst defensive shortstop in baseball over the 1999-2002 seasons by both Zone Rating and MGL's Ultimate Zone Rating. This year, though, while still costing his team games with the glove, he added a new and potent weapon to his LVP candidacy : a truly horrible bat. Womack, normally a passable middle infielder with the stick, was surpassingly bad at the plate this year.
In fact, given his constant and well-established defensive woes, Womack may have been (with Derek Jeter injured for a good part of the season) the least valuable shortstop in baseball with both glove *and* bat this year, a unique and noteworthy accomplishment. It didn't stop him from chewing out D-Backs' manager Bob Brenly in May; when Brenly passed Womack over in favour of Alex Cintron to start at short when Craig Counsell was hurt, Womack said "I don't know what my role is here. That's all I can say."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Tony.
Womack beat back several challengers for the NL crown, including the New York Mets' designated hitter Mo Vaughn (who came second - it would be totally against character for Vaughn to actually win anything) and the Phillies' David Bell, the only player to receive more than one first-place vote. Houston's Brad Ausmus, the very first plywood cutout of a catcher ever to receive a multi-million dollar contract, finished fourth.
American League Least Valuable Player - Jeff Cirillo, Seattle Mariners
There is something uniquely comforting about Jeff Cirillo's futility. When Cirillo struggled badly in Colorado when he signed with the Rockies in 2000 after an outstanding career with Milwaukee, it was thought that the thin air of Denver had somehow unnerved a promising player, and that the notorious "Coors Effect" on road hitting was having a disproportionate effect on the unfortunate Cirillo's offensive production. However, after a move to the sea-level Pacific salt air of Seattle, it was revealed for all to see that Cirillo just plain sucks rocks. Cirillo's batting stats (can't call them "hitting" stats) for 2003:
293 PA, .205 BA, .284 OBP, .271 SLG, -19 RCAA, .224 OWP
Cirillo's problems, though, extend further than the chalk lines of the batter's box. Despite having been a poor performer for four years now and a hopeless one for two, he has managed to feud with former Mariner skipper Lou Piniella over playing time and commitment issues, and now has developed a running feud with Mariner management, the Seattle press, and the very notion of batting competence. Instead of responding to his struggles with good humour or redoubled vigor, he has fouled the waters around him. As such, there could not be a more worthy recipient of the American League LVP. Congratulations, Jeff.
Cirillo beat out an impressive array of candidates in the AL, including Rookie Hype of the Year Brandon Phillips, Oakland stationary target Jermaine Dye, and several Detroit Tigers, who managed to avoid having the LVP among their ranks by confusing the voters, employing dozens of nearly identical crappy players. Like an undercoached grade school choral society, the Tigers blended a plethora of ugly performances into a whole so hideous, that it resisted further analysis on an individual level.
BBLVPA Voting (Voters were asked to rank five players per league; points awarded on 1 10-7-4-2-1 basis)
2003 BBLVPAs : Mismanagers of the Year
2003 BBLVPAs : The Batter's Box Schadenfreude Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Allan Travers Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Rookie Hype of the Year Awards
In the interest of clearing a backlog of articles I have to write, I am going to make this discussion of the BBLVPAs centerpiece awards, the Least Valuable Players, a short one. But that should not detract from the prestige of the award, or from the skills of the winners, which were considerable. There was heavy competition this year, as large numbers of players in both leagues found new and exciting ways to lose games for their teams. So without further ado, our 2003 Batter's Box Least Valuable Players are...
Jeff Cirillo in the American League, and Tony Womack in the National League.
The voting in both leagues was extraordinarily close, as several players vied for the honours. In such a field, it is an honour just to be named on a ballot, and a complete breakdown of voting is available below.
National League Least Valuable Player - Tony Womack, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies & Chicago Cubs
Tony Womack applied his unique lack of skill to three clubs this year, as he was shipped in a deal from the D-Backs to Rockies at midyear, then on to the Cubs after the trade deadline. After being passed around like a social disease, Womack's (partially Coors-inflated) combined line for the year was:
364 PA, .226 BA, .251 SLG, .307 SLG, -34 RCAA (Runs Created Above Average), .180 OWP (Offensive Winning Percentage)
Interestingly, Womack managed to be equally unimpressive at all three of his stops, posting a .221 OWP in Arizona, a .054 OWP in the Mile High City, and a .239 OWP on the South Side of Chicago.
Womack has been widely known as a defensive zero in an important defensive position for a few years now, and had the dubious honour of being the third-worst defensive shortstop in baseball over the 1999-2002 seasons by both Zone Rating and MGL's Ultimate Zone Rating. This year, though, while still costing his team games with the glove, he added a new and potent weapon to his LVP candidacy : a truly horrible bat. Womack, normally a passable middle infielder with the stick, was surpassingly bad at the plate this year.
In fact, given his constant and well-established defensive woes, Womack may have been (with Derek Jeter injured for a good part of the season) the least valuable shortstop in baseball with both glove *and* bat this year, a unique and noteworthy accomplishment. It didn't stop him from chewing out D-Backs' manager Bob Brenly in May; when Brenly passed Womack over in favour of Alex Cintron to start at short when Craig Counsell was hurt, Womack said "I don't know what my role is here. That's all I can say."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Tony.
Womack beat back several challengers for the NL crown, including the New York Mets' designated hitter Mo Vaughn (who came second - it would be totally against character for Vaughn to actually win anything) and the Phillies' David Bell, the only player to receive more than one first-place vote. Houston's Brad Ausmus, the very first plywood cutout of a catcher ever to receive a multi-million dollar contract, finished fourth.
American League Least Valuable Player - Jeff Cirillo, Seattle Mariners
There is something uniquely comforting about Jeff Cirillo's futility. When Cirillo struggled badly in Colorado when he signed with the Rockies in 2000 after an outstanding career with Milwaukee, it was thought that the thin air of Denver had somehow unnerved a promising player, and that the notorious "Coors Effect" on road hitting was having a disproportionate effect on the unfortunate Cirillo's offensive production. However, after a move to the sea-level Pacific salt air of Seattle, it was revealed for all to see that Cirillo just plain sucks rocks. Cirillo's batting stats (can't call them "hitting" stats) for 2003:
293 PA, .205 BA, .284 OBP, .271 SLG, -19 RCAA, .224 OWP
Cirillo's problems, though, extend further than the chalk lines of the batter's box. Despite having been a poor performer for four years now and a hopeless one for two, he has managed to feud with former Mariner skipper Lou Piniella over playing time and commitment issues, and now has developed a running feud with Mariner management, the Seattle press, and the very notion of batting competence. Instead of responding to his struggles with good humour or redoubled vigor, he has fouled the waters around him. As such, there could not be a more worthy recipient of the American League LVP. Congratulations, Jeff.
Cirillo beat out an impressive array of candidates in the AL, including Rookie Hype of the Year Brandon Phillips, Oakland stationary target Jermaine Dye, and several Detroit Tigers, who managed to avoid having the LVP among their ranks by confusing the voters, employing dozens of nearly identical crappy players. Like an undercoached grade school choral society, the Tigers blended a plethora of ugly performances into a whole so hideous, that it resisted further analysis on an individual level.
BBLVPA Voting (Voters were asked to rank five players per league; points awarded on 1 10-7-4-2-1 basis)
AL LVP
Cirillo 30
Phillips 28
Halter 23
Dye 22
Santiago 18
Long 12
Walbeck 12
Inge 10
Giambi 10
Konerko 7
B Williams 7
Rios 7
Christensen 4
Batista 4
Alomar 4
Molina 4
Palmer 4
Higginson 2
Gil 2
Matthews, Jr 1
Febles 1
Guzman 1
Mondesi 1
Borchard 1
Infante 1
NL LVP
Womack 24
Vaughn 21
David Bell 20
Ausmus 18
Burrell 18
Tatis 16
Hernandez 14
Ward 11
Olmedo 9
Matheny 7
Alfonzo 7
Jay Bell 7
Sanchez 7
McCracken 4
Bellhorn 4
Green 4
Blanco 4
Manzanillo 2
Griffey 2
Chavez 2
Grace 2
Hundley 2
Lopez 2
Izturis 2
Mondesi 1
Mesa 1
Larkin 1
Shinjo 1
Macias 1
Counsell 1
Cora 1
