The Football Fan Spot

AL MVP: OF Josh Hamilton- Texas

This is an interesting race. The two best statistical players in the AL were Josh Hamilton (.359/32/100/91/8 ) and Miguel Cabrera (.328/38/126/111/3). However, Miguel Cabrera hasn’t played a meaningful game since the beginning of September as the Tigers finished the season 81-81, 13 games out of first place. Josh Hamilton, meanwhile, hasn’t played a game since the beginning of September. Period. He ran into a wall in the first week of September and didn’t play the rest of the way, with the exception of some tune up at bats for the playoffs late in the season. You may here other candidates here, Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, Paul Konerko, Adrian Beltre. However, Hamilton (.359/.411/.633) and Cabrera (.328/.420/.622), in terms of the important stats, AVG, OBP, SLG, were so much better statistically than Cano (.319/.381/.534) Bautista (.260/.378/.617) Konerko (.312/.393/.584) and Beltre (.321/.365/.553). I think it has to gone down to those two. I’m taking Hamilton because he did get his team to the playoffs. The Rangers were 9 games up when he went down. He already did his work. They were going to the playoffs. They sat him for rest reasons. Some teams need 6 months to get to the playoffs. The Rangers needed 5. Hamilton didn’t need to play that last month. Joe Mauer missed a month last year and still won the MVP, granted it was April and not September. In fact, Hamilton only had 30 fewer at bats than Hamilton.

NL MVP: 1B Joey Votto- Cincinnati

I think this is a no brainer. Votto led the Reds to the playoffs. He ranks in the top 3 in the NL in HRs and RBI, top 2 in AVG, and leads the NL in OBP, SLG, and OPS. No one has the MVP resume he has.

AL Cy Young: SP Felix Hernandez- Seattle

The last time a pitcher led the league in ERA, Ks, and innings and didn’t win the Cy Young…er well that’s never happened. The last time a pitcher won 13 games and won the Cy Young…er well that’s never happened either. One of those things will happen this year, but I’m going with the former. It’s not his fault his team couldn’t score runs for him. He did everything he could to help his team win every given week. He had 30 quality starts in 34 starts, the best ratio in the league and that’s what matters here. He gave his team a chance to win almost every week. Not his fault they didn’t.

NL Cy Young: SP Roy Halladay- Philadelphia

He didn’t led the NL in ERA. That would be Josh Johnson, who only won 11 games and he only made 28 starts. He didn’t lead the NL in WHIP. That would be his teammate Roy Oswalt. He didn’t lead the NL in Ks. That would be The Freak, Tim Lincecum. But he was top 3 in all of those categories and he did also win 21 games. He also led the NL in innings, with 250.2, 15.2 more than anyone else. That has such a value. You know, when you give him the ball, you’re getting into the late innings and your bullpen is getting a rest. He had 9 complete games, 4 more than anyone else. He was almost as good as any pitcher in the league and he was far more durable and far more active than any other pitcher. He only had one start of fewer than 6 innings all season.

AL Rookie of the Year: RP Neftali Feliz- Texas

No rookie hitters stood out. Brennan Boesch looked like a lock for this award at the all-star break, until he batted.165 in 218 post all-star at bats. Austin Jackson had a decent line, but is there anything that impressive about .293/4/41/103/27. Is there anything not impressive about what Neftali Feliz did this year? He had 40 saves, not only a rookie record, but 3rd most in the AL. His batting average against of .176 is 3rd in the league out of all pitchers that have thrown more than 60 innings. His WHIP of 0.89, 4 best out of all pitchers that have thrown more than 60 innings. Only two other pitchers who had more than 30 save opportunities blew 3 saves or fewer. And he’s a rookie.

NL Rookie if the year: C Buster Posey- San Francisco

As few offensive rookies as there were in the AL, there were many in the NL. Gaby Sanchez, Mike Stanton, Buster Posey, Starlin Castro, Ike Davis, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Chris Johnson, Jason Heyward. And some of the pitchers were pretty good too, most notably Jaime Garcia, who had a sub-3 ERA. However, of those names, only one sparked his team’s playoff run. The Giants don’t make the playoffs without Posey. This team was 40-38 on July 1st, the day Bengie Molina was traded to Texas and Buster Posey was given a starting job. 3 months later, the Giants are 92-70 (52-32 since Posey was given a starting job) and going to the playoffs. Since that day, Posey has 17 homeruns, 57 RBIs and is batting .345. Those stats rank him against the best in the league since that day, veteran or rookie. Posey ranked in the top 2 (of all rookies with 400 PA of more) in BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS, leading all 4 of those except OBP. He also ranked in the top 7 in HRs, RBIs, and runs out of all rookies. Oh, and he’s a catcher, which makes all that stuff even more impressive, and he did it all in San Francisco, a true pitcher’s park. He did phenomenal work behind the plate and off the field with the pitching staff, something you don’t hear often about rookies. He’s also a very good defensive catcher.

AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire- Minnesota

Who are these Twins? Didn’t they trade Johan Santana away for prospects that didn’t pan out a few years ago? Didn’t Torii Hunter leave as a free agent? Didn’t Justin Morneau go out with a concussion around the All-Star Break? Didn’t Joe Nathan miss the entire season with Tommy John surgery? The point is, the big names weren’t there, but like always, Gardy found a way to win, and not just win, but 94 games, the first team to clinch a playoff spot, winning the division by 6 games despite resting their starters for the last week of the season, and finishing 2 games out of the best record in the AL.

NL Manager of the Year: Bud Black- San Diego

Raise your hand if you had the Padres making the playoffs at the beginning of the season? Hmm, no hands. Well the Padres didn’t make the playoffs, but it did come down to the last day. With a record of 90-72, the Padres had a one game lead over the Red Sox for best record out of all non-playoff teams in the majors. They led the division for most of the season, before collapsing in early September and relinquishing a 6.5 game lead to the Giants. However, they still well exceeded expectations and their manager deserves a ton of credit for that.

MLB Playoffs

ALDS:

Rays over Rangers in 4

Twins over Yankees in 5

NLDS: 

Phillies over Reds in 4

Giants over Braves in 5

ALCS:

Rays over Twins in 6

NLCS:

Phillies over Giants in 5

World Series:

Phillies over Rays in 7

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera- Detroit

He leads the AL in OPS right now with an OPS of 1.066. He also leads or is tied for the lead in homeruns, RBIs, slugging, batting average, doubles, and he’s 2nd in on base percentage, 3rd in runs, oh, and his team’s in first place in their division.

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee- Seattle

He’s got a few things working against him. He’s only got 8 wins, but a lot of that has to do with his team, but as Zach Grienke showed last year, wins aren’t the most important thing. Also, if he gets traded, he’ll go somewhere where he will get better run support. He missed a few starts with injury, but in the grand scheme of things, those few starts won’t matter if he stays healthy the rest of the way. He's also on a bad team, but again I don't think that matters as much. Cliff Lee has been the type of pitcher this year who has thrown it in the strike zone and still gotten guys out. Despite his amazing 89 strikeout to 6 walk ratio, opposing batters are still hitting .231 against him. His WHIP and ERA lead the league and despite a few missed starts, he still has 103.2 inning pitched thanks to 5 complete games. That may not look terribly impressive now, as he ranks 26th in the league with that number, but that’s about 8 innings per starts given his 13 starts. If he keeps that up, he’ll be in the top ten in innings pitched by the end of the year.

AL Rookie of the Year: Brennan Boesch- Detroit

Out of everyone in the AL with a minimum 250 plate appearances, Boesch ranks 5th in OPS, 4th in batting average (trailing by 2 points), 7th in on base percentage, 4th in slugging, and he’s also got 12 homeruns and 47 RBIs and could finish the year with 20+ homeruns and 90+ RBIs. Oh yeah, and he’s a rookie.

NL MVP: Joey Votto- Cincinnati

He leads the NL in OPS with an OPS of 1.014, good for 28 points more than 2nd place Albert Pujols. He has 21 homeruns, could for 1 more than 2nd place Albert Pujols. He has a batting average of .316, good for 5th in the league and 8 points higher than 6th place, Albert Pujols. In terms of runs + RBIs, he leads the league with 115, 4 more than 2nd place, Albert Pujols. He’s slugging 25 points higher than 2nd place Pujols, his on base percentage is 3 points higher than 2nd place Albert Pujols. To bust out a fancy stat, he leads the NL in runs created with 70.2, that’s 2.8 than the man in 2nd place. Can you guess who that is? It’s Albert Pujols. Oh, and his team currently leads the division over the 2nd place St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols.

NL Cy Young: Josh Johnson- Florida

I know what you’re thinking. Not Ubaldo Jimenez? Yep, though most baseball fans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, Johnson has been the best pitcher in the NL this year. He leads the NL in ERA with 1.82 and he’s tied for the lead in WHIP with 0.96. Opposing batters are batting .203 against him. Those 3 numbers I listed are all either the same or better than Ubaldo Jimenez. Ubaldo has more wins, but also more run support and as Tim Lincecum showed last year, it’s not all about wins. Out of all players with more than 1 start, he leads in quality start percentage. As far as just pitching is concerned, a pitcher does a better job when he throws a quality start than when he throws a win. A win is a team effort. A quality start is almost all on the pitcher. His on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS against are also all better than Ubaldo’s.

NL Rookie of the Year: Stephen Strasburg- Washington

He wouldn’t deserve it as of now, but since these are award predictions and not awards based on the first half, I’m giving it to Strasburg. What I’ve seen of him in limited action definitely suggests that he can finish this season with a sub 3 era, amazing strikeout ratios, strikeout to walk ratios, and maybe even some wins if his team can get them for him. 

AL Rookie of the year

March prediction: Matt Wieters

July prediction: Andrew Bailey

October pick: Gordon Beckham- Chicago White Sox

Beckham didn’t even play in a game until June 4th, but he batted .270 with 43 extra base hits in 378 at bats this season. He hit 14 homeruns and drove in 63 men, to go with 58 runs scored, despite batting from the #2 whole for most of the season. He played great defense at 3rd and really established himself as one of the game’s best young players. He showed surprising plate discipline for a 23-year-old rookie with 41 walks to 67 strikeouts and also stole 7 bases.

NL Rookie of the year

March prediction: Andrew McCutchen

July prediction: Colby Ramsus

October pick: Tommy Hanson- Atlanta Braves

Tommy Hanson did what highly hyped pitching prospect rarely do, he fulfilled every last bit of that potential. He won 11 games to 4 losses and had an ERA under 3. His WHIP was 1.18 and he held batters to a batting average of .225. He showed great command for a rookie with 116 strikeouts to 46 walks in 127 and 2/3 innings pitched. He looks like a future ace if he isn’t already one at the moment.

AL Comeback player of the year

March prediction: Ken Griffey Jr.

July prediction: Brandon Inge

October pick: Aaron Hill- Toronto Blue Jays

This is not a prediction because this award was already announced today, but just a pick if I had a vote. I think the voters got it right picking Aaron Hill. Not only did Hill come back, he exceeded anything he had every done. After only playing 55 games in 2008, Hill had a career high 36 homeruns, 108 RBIs, 103 runs, and 6 stolen bases. And it wasn’t even close. He had 19 more homeruns this year than ever before, 30 more RBIs, and more 16 runs. Oh, and he’s a 2nd basemen. 2nd basemen just aren’t supposed to put up those numbers, especially after a major injury.

NL Comeback player of the year

March prediction: Chris Carpenter

July prediction: Chris Carpenter

October pick: Chris Carpenter- St. Louis Cardinals

Carpenter also won this award today and I really feel the voters got it right. He hasn’t pitched more than 16 innings in a season since 2006, yet this year he has pitched 192 and 2/3 innings, and ranks 2nd in the NL in wins, WHIP, and ranks first in ERA and winning percentage. That is beyond amazing.

AL Coach of the year

October pick: Ron Gardenhire- Minnesota Twins

No one, year in and year out, does more than less. This year, he took a young patchwork team that lost its best power hitter late in the season, and turned it into a team that is playing for a playoff spot tomorrow. Some have said that he needs to make the playoffs to get this award, but to those people I say this. Should we really judge him on one game? Does one loss make him a less impressive candidate? No. No of course not.

NL Coach of the year

October pick: Jim Tracy- Colorado Rockies

The Rockies simply became a different team when he took over. He took over a 18-28 team in late May and turned it into a 93 win playoff team. Yes, he hasn’t been there all year, but it shouldn’t matter. His presence for 4 months as head coach was enough to make this team a playoff team. Its not his fault he wasn’t head coach to start the season.

AL MVP

March pick: Grady Sizemore (Yikes!)

July pick: Mark Teixiera

October pick: Mark Teixiera- New York Yankees

This may come as a surprise because I don’t like the Yankees and because everyone and their dog is picking Joe Mauer of the Twins. Any argument you can make for Mauer, I can make for Teixiera. Mauer drives in runs. Mauer, because he was hurt for a month, doesn’t even have 100 RBIs. Teixiera has 122. Some might say that Mauer’s injury has made his season that much more impressive, but I say that missing a month of the season really hurts one’s MVP case simply because they weren’t playing for a 1/6 of the season. Teixiera has more homeruns. Mauer does have the better batting average, but in terms of total offense, runs scored and runs batted in, Tex leads Mauer 225 to 190. Some might argue that Mauer should get it because he plays better defense. Well, the Yankees were a mess defensively last year and Tex with his gold glove caliber defense has made this whole infield good again. Some might argue that Mauer should get it because he plays catcher and still put up those offensive statistics. Yes, he did, but I’m not giving him any sympathy for that. Tex meant just as much to the Yankees defense as Mauer did. Some might say that Mauer is the only reason the Twins are in playoff contention. Well, the Yankees missed the playoffs last year. This year they have 103 wins. Tex has been that stabilizing force both with the bat and with the glove. He is the best player on the best team and any argument you can make for Mauer I can top with an argument for Tex.

NL MVP

March pick: Manny Ramirez (Yikes again!)

July pick: Albert Pujols

October pick: Albert Pujols- St. Louis Cardinals

I don’t see how it can be anyone else. Pujols leads the NL in slugging, homeruns, runs, on base percentage, and OPS and he’s top three in walks, runs batted in, and batting average. He’s missed all of two games this season for the division winning Cardinals and plays great defensively as well. He has 64 strikeouts to 45 homeruns, which is almost unheard of. He also has stolen 16 bases. I don’t know what this guy does badly. He must be a machine. An MVP winning machine.

AL Cy Young

March pick: CC Sabathia

July pick: Roy Halladay

October pick: Zach Greinke- Kansas City

Its not his fault he doesn’t have a great win-loss record at 16-8. He did everything he could. He led the AL in ERA at 2.16 and WHIP at 1.07. He’s 2nd in strikeouts and 5th in innings pitched. The last place Royals won 65 games and Greinke accounted for almost 25% of that.

NL Cy Young

March pick: Brandon Webb (double yikes!)

July pick: Tim Lincecum

October pick: Chris Carpenter- St. Louis Cardinals

The NL Cy Young is down to 3 closely matched contestants. Reigning Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum, who has been than last year better in every category other than wins, the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter, who leads the NL in ERA and win-loss record, and Carpenter’s teammate Adam Wainwright, who leads the NL in wins, but has the worst ERA. I’m going to eliminate Tim Lincecum at this point because he had less wins than Wainwright and a worse ERA than Carpenter. That leaves it between Carpenter and Wainwright, teammates. Carpenter has a better win-loss record on the same team as Wainwright and a lower ERA, but Wainwright hasn’t missed a game. However, I think Carpenter has been the better overall pitcher this season. Despite his injuries, he only has 2 less wins than Wainwright and 4 less losses. His ERA is far better as is his WHIP.

Part 2 Tomorrow: Rookie of the year, Manager of the year, Comeback Player of the year