October 2010
The Last BBA Award: The Stan Musial (MVP) Award
The last BBA Award for 2010 is for the player who was most valuable to his team during the 2010 season, and there is no clear front runner. Here are my picks:
1st Place: Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.
Josh Hamilton is the heart and soul of the Texas Rangers. He lead the league in 3 offensive categories (.359 BA, .633 Slug%, and 1.044 OPS) he hit 32 home runs, had 186 hits, and scored 95 runs. Defensively, he had an overall fielding percentage of .985 (1.000 in 40 games at CF). And he did all this while appearing in only119 games. It is clear to most that he is a large part of why the Texas Rangers are playing in the World Series.
2nd Place: Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. On a team that finished in the middle of the pack in the Central Division, Cabrera was the standout. He led the league in 3 offensive categories (126 RBI’s, .420 OBP, and 179 OPS+) and he was only .002 behind Hamilton in OPS. He batted.328 in 150 games. He hit 38 homers, 180 hits including 45 doubles, and walked 89 times. On a team that was going nowhere, he was the shining light.
3rd Place: Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees. In contrast to Cabrera, Cano was a star among stars. But Cano was the most consistent all-around player on the Yankees, especially when some of the other luminaries on the team were having a lackluster time. He played in all but 1 game this season, batted .319, had 200 hits, 109 RBI’s, 29 homers, and scoured 103 runs. In the field, he committed only 3 errors in 158 games for a fielding % of .996. He’s the consumate 5-tool player.
4th Place: Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins. He would have been higher, but he only played in 81 games. .345 BA, 1.055 OPS, 102 hits, 18 HR, .999 Fielding %.
5th Place: Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox. .312 BA, .997 OPS, 171 hits, 39 HR, .994 Fielding %.
6th Place: Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays. .294 BA, .879 OPS, 22 HR, 169 hits, 104 RBI’s, .996 Fielding %.
7th Place: Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. His standout stat is 54 HR which led the league. He also led the league with 351 total bases. .260 BA, .995 OPS, 148 hits, 124 RBI’s.
8th Place: Vladimir Guerrero of the Texas Rangers. .300 BA, .841 OPS, 29 HR, 178 hits, 115 RBI’s, mostly at DH.
9th Place: Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox. Only played in 102 games. .307 BA, .975 OPS, 19 HR, 111 hits, 62 RBI’s, .997 Fielding %.
10th Place: David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. Big Poppy started out slowly but finished strong. .270 BA, .899 OPS, 32 HR, 140 Hits, 102 RBI’s, mostly at DH.
That’s my take on this and the previous awards posted recently. Now we wait until the MLB equivalent awards are announced to see if the BBA bloggers agree.
Another BBA Award: The Walter Johnson Award
Today’s ballot is for the equivalent of the MLB Cy Young Award. Here are my picks, all of whom were All Stars in 2010:
1st Place: CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees.
Not only did he have 21 wins and only 7 losses, he pitched 237.2 innings, had an ERA of 3.18, 197 strikeouts and a low WHIP of 1.191. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the WHIP stat, it means walks and hits per inning pitched. It is one of the best ways to evaluate a pitcher. He’s the only one of the 5 listed here who won over 20 games. So, much as I hate the Yankees, he gets my nod for #1.
2nd Place: Cliff Lee of the Texas Rangers. Although he had a bit if a rough go after he was traded by Seattle to Texas, he deserves to be #2. I know, the Cy young doesn’t usually go to a pitcher unless he has at least 16 wins, but when Cliff (12-9) is on, he is completely dominant, and he’s on most of the time, and almost always lights out when it really counts. His ERA was 3.18, not the lowest by any means, but he gave up only .8 walks per 9 innings, his strikeout/walk ratio was 10.28, and his WHIP was a very low 1.003. On paper he may not look like he deserves second place, but I’d take him as the ace on my team anyday.
3rd Place: David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays. David (19-6) had a 2.72 ERA, Pitched 208.2 innings and had 188 strikeouts. So far, so good. But his WHIP was 1.193, he gave up 3.4 walks/9 innings, his SO/BB ratio was 8.1, all worse than Lee.
4th Place: Trevor Cahill of the Oakland Athletics.
You would be wrong if you thought this was strickly a sentimental pick, because if it were, Trevor (18-8) would be much higher up the list. He deserves considerable recognition for what he accomplished in 2010, especially since he started the year at AAA, and in the majors he pitched for a team with some of the lowest hitting stats in the league. He finished with an ERA of just 2.97, had 118 strikeouts, and his WHIP was 1.108, second lowest of the 5 listed here behind only Cliff Lee. His hits/9 innings was the lowest at 7.1.
5th Place: Jon Lester of the New York Yankees. Another Yankee, I know, but his stats alone warrant his consideration: W/L of 19-9, ERA 3.25, 208 innings pitched, 225 strikeouts, 1.202 WHIP, and 7.2 hits/9 innings.
There you have it.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance is a group of about 235 bloggers who cover all 30 MLB teams, as well as some who write blogs of more general baseball interest and history of the game. If you are interested in reading blogs about teams other than the A’s, let me know which teams and I’ll hook you up with my fellow bloggers who cover that team.
Nest: The Stan Musial Award (akin to MLB’s Most Valuable Player award)
More BBA Awards: Goose Gossage Award
My next Baseball Bloggers Alliance ballot is for the Goose Gossage Award for the best relief pitcher in the American League. My choices are:
1st Place: Rafael Soriano of the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a 1.73 ERA and gave the Rays’ bullpen what they needed to take the AL East.
2nd Place: Joakim Soria of the Kansas City Royals. His 1.78 ERA was the bright spot in a dismal team this year. He saved 43 of the Royals 67 wins, out of 46 save opportunities (93%).
3rd Place: Naftali Feliz of the Texas Rangers. He had an ERA of 2.73 and 71 strikeouts, as well as 40 saves and he’s only 22 years old.
Next up: The Walter Johnson Award (Cy Young Award equivalent.
P.S. Sorry no pictures but my computer is screwed up and incredibly slow, so it would take 5 minutes to upload a picture and about 10 minutes to find one. It runs at about the speed of my Kaypro in the early 80′s. Anyone remember them?
American League Rookie of the Year
The baseball Bloggers Alliance’s second award for 2010 is the Willie Mays Award for the Rookie of the Year. Since I write about the A’s (actually I’m the only blogger in the BBA writing about the A’s), I get to vote for the American League ROY. Here are my picks:
1st Place: Naftali Feliz, P, of the Texas Rangers.
During the regular season, Feliz dazzled as the Rangers closer at the ripe old age of 21! His 2.73 ERA, 71 strike outs in 69.1 innings, and his 40 saves are enough for the top spot IMHO. Let’s not forget he made the American League All Star Team.
2nd Place: Austin Jackson, CF,of the Detroit Tigers. Jackson is the complete player. His .293 batting average, .345 on-base percentage and .400 slugging percentage, coupled with a .985 fielding percentage, puts him way up the list as a legitimate 5-tool player.
3rd Place: Danny Valencia, 3B, of the Minnesota Twins. This may be a bit of a long shot, but this kid batted .311, with a .448 slugging percentage and had an on-base percentage of .799! Okay, so he only appeared 85 games, but he hit 7 Home runs and drove in 40 runners. Not bad for half a season. His defense at the hot corner is stellar with a .973 fielding perentage with only 6 errors. If he’d been able to play the whole season at this level, he might have taken the top. spot.
Next up: The Goose Gossage Award for the best relief pitcher.
American League Manager of the Year
As the sole Oakland A’s blogger in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, I am required to submit a ballot for the BBA’s post-season awards. Today’s is for the Connie Mack Award for the Best Manager of the 2010 baeball season. Here are my choices:
1st Place: Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins. Since Gardenhire took the reins in Minnesota, the twins have one six out of nine division titles. Despite having fewer resources (read that money) than other teams they have beaten, he led the team to 94 wins. Only the Rays (96) and the Yankees (95) had more. And the team was without the services of Justin Morneau, the 2007 MVP, for the last half of the season, and Mauer was down for a while as well. The Twins went 47-21 without Morneau. That, and winning the AL Central Division, says a lot about Gardenhire’s ability to win without one of his best run producers. He get’s my nod.
2nd Place: Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers greatly exceeded expectations this year, and pretty much abled into first place inthe ALWestern Division with the huge lead they had built up early in the season. Like Gardenhire, Wash was without the services of Josh Hamilton for a significant part of the season, but he found a way to get his team to win. I would have put him in first place, if they Rangers hadn’t faltered coming down the stretch (.500 winning percentage in Aug and Sept). But they had such a huge lead that it didn’t matter.
3rd Place: Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays. [Under Construction.}
Bee Hylinski - Author and Baseball Fan
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