Much delayed, my apologies.
AL Coach of the Year
1. Jim Leyland - Hey I got the Tigers to the playoffs, thats an auto trophy.
2. Ken Macha - Got the A's to the playoffs despite major injuries to his SS and ace of the staff.
3. Ron Gardenhire - Pushed his squad past both the Tigers and the White Sox for the division down the stretch and helped develop Morneau into an MVP candidate.
NL Coach of the Year
1. Joe Girardi - Got fired even though he's going to win coach of the year, wow that's moronic. Got the rookie squad to the brink of the playoffs.
2. Willie Randolph - Pulled all the right strings despite the fact that his team suffered major injuries to the pitching staff.
3. Jerry Narron - The Reds were in contention for a long time until their idiot manager decided to trade two of their starting lineup for bullpen help. How'd that work out for ya?
AL Rookie of the Year
1. Justin Verlander - After the slow decline of Jonathon Papelbon and the season ending injury to both Paps and Liriano, Verlander emerges as really the sole choice for the rookie of the year, putting up fantastic numbers throughout the year and helping lead the Tigers to the postseason.
2. Jonathan Papelbon - Impacted the Red Sox season for a longer period of time than did Liriano, both had stellar season but I'll give the slight edge to Paps with his .92 era. Moving him to the rotation next season is going to be a cataclysmic mistake.
3. Francisco Liriano - Supremely dynamic and without the two shoulder injuries could have challenged for both the rookie of the year as well as the Cy Young. Hopefully he does not turn into the next Wood, Prior or Harden.
Honorable Mention - Kenji Johjima who quitely put up great catcher #s
NL Rookie of the Year
1. Ryan Zimmerman - I have been on his band wagon all season long. He lead all rookies in RBIs he plays a gold glove 3B and he had 4 walk off hits for the Nationals including a walk off home run against the Yankees Wang.
2. Hanley Ramirez - Hit a solid .292 scored a whopping 119 runs and stole 51 bases you really couldn't go wrong if you chose him.
3. Takashi Saito - Did a great job taking over the closers role from the always injured Eric Gagne and the hideous Danys Baez.
Honorable Mention - Any Marlin your heart may desire, the Prince
AL Cy Young
1. Johan Santana - Hmm, he lead the league in Ks, ERA, Wins and Innings. Winner
2. Roy Halladay - Second in the league in ERA, granted almost a half run behind, had solid numbers around the board was healthy throughout the season and helped the Blue Jays to the second best record in the AL East.
3. Chien Ming Wang - Tied for the league lead in wins with 19 and had more saves than Johan Santana or Roy Halladay with 1. Wang has emerged as the Yankees #1 starter and their most reliable pitcher, and at home he was almost unbeatable.
Honorable Mention: The Rookie brigade of Paps, Verlander & Liriano
NL Cy Young
1. Trevor Hoffman - Yes I know he's a closer and yes I know he only threw around 70 innings but lets be honest all of the starters were basically the same thing and none of them stood hands and shoulders above the rest. Hoffman however was by far the most important closer in the league this season and after a slow start came through most importantly during the last two months of the season when his club needed him most.
2. Roy Oswalt - Tied for the league lead in wins, a terrific era and the unsung hero of the Astros pitching staff.
3. Carlos Zambrano - Led the league in strikeouts had a solid ERA and a comprable win total and played for a miserable team.
Honorable Mention - Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, Billy Wagner
NL MVP
1. Albert Pujols - It came down to the final weekend of the year to me. If the Cards got into the playoffs Pujols would take it, if they finalized their freefall Berkman would have grabbed it. In the end Pujols simply has slightly better numbers in every area than Berkman and his team made the postseason.
2. Lance Berkman - Lance to me is a rock solid #2 choice for MVP. If you analyze Ryan Howard and Berkman or Pujols numbers down to the bone you will notice some big discrepancies in favor of Lance and Albert. First the Phillies are a much better run producing team than either the Cards or the Astros and this manifests itself in many statistical fields. Lance Berkman had 13 less home runs than Ryan Howard, which also means that 13 more of Howards Rbi's/Runs are actually the same instance of Howards crossing the plate himself. So take that away and Howard has 9 more runs produced than Berkman. Now look at batting with RISP and there is a huge difference, in 33 less at bats Berkman had 8 more hits than Howard, aka he was much more clutch than Howard was this season for a team that needed runs much more than the Phils.
3. Ryan Howard - A great year which could be an MVP season at anytime in history and he will probably end up winning it anyone. Yet he is what he is a big swinging hacker with a lot of homers yet a lot of Ks, and the fact that he has the best hitting middle infield this side of the Bronx certainly helped his run production.
Honorable Mention: Pick a Met any Met
AL MVP
To me this is one of the hardest MVPs to give out in years, but here is the criteria that I am going to use to break it down. 1st Statistics period this is what you have to look at. 2nd statistical comparison via their position around the league, aka how favorable is Joe Mauer over the rest of the catchers. 3rd where would the team be without the player.
1. Derek Jeter - Here's where statistically I think Derek Jeter makes the case for the MVP, the fact isn't just that he's a shortstop its a comparison of of all the other players in the league that play his position. Derek leads all AL SS in R, SB, OBP, BA. 2nd in OPS, BB, Hits. 3rd in RBIs. There are only 3 SS in the AL (Young, Tejada, Guillen) who are even remotely close to Jeter statistically. Another thing that isn't overstated is that Derek Jeter is an absolute beast with runners in scoring position batting .381, and .369 with RISP and two outs. Plus, Jeter had the two biggest hits in the 5 game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Finally the Yankees have had major injuries to their lineup including Cano who missed several weeks, throughout the whole season Jeter has been the rock of their lineup and everyday shows up plays the most important position on the field and rakes. Then again the Yanks still scored the most runs in the majors. In the end I give it to Jeter because this season there is no question that he was the most valuable player on the Yankees. Not Giambi not Arod not Wang not even Mariano, the most valuable player on the Yankees the best team in the American League was Jeter. In contrast the top candidates from the Twins Morneau, Mauer, or Santana I think its impossible to 100% state that one was more important than the other. Same with Dye over Konerko and Thome.
2. Joe Mauer - I look at the Twins lineup and see Joe Mauer as being a more integral part of that roster. Granted Morneau has the more gaudy power numbers but look at Mauer's numbers in comparison to every other catcher in baseball. Only Brian McCann and Victor Martinez's numbers stack up. And Martinez is a terrible defensive catcher. Stack on the fact that Mauer won the batting title hits 3rd in the order and has handled what was mostly a youthful rotation down the stretch and I think Joe Mauer is the most valuable Twin this season barely edging out Johan.
3. Johan Santana - Try to imagine where the Twins would be without Johan this year, I don't care that he only pitches once every 5 days. The Twins were 26-7 in his starts this season. That's well over 1/4 of their victories. Throw any normal pitcher in their or even a top tier guy and the Twins don't make the playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Jermaine Dye had a fantastic season, same with Morneau, same with the Big Hurt
AL Coach of the Year
1. Jim Leyland - Hey I got the Tigers to the playoffs, thats an auto trophy.
2. Ken Macha - Got the A's to the playoffs despite major injuries to his SS and ace of the staff.
3. Ron Gardenhire - Pushed his squad past both the Tigers and the White Sox for the division down the stretch and helped develop Morneau into an MVP candidate.
NL Coach of the Year
1. Joe Girardi - Got fired even though he's going to win coach of the year, wow that's moronic. Got the rookie squad to the brink of the playoffs.
2. Willie Randolph - Pulled all the right strings despite the fact that his team suffered major injuries to the pitching staff.
3. Jerry Narron - The Reds were in contention for a long time until their idiot manager decided to trade two of their starting lineup for bullpen help. How'd that work out for ya?
AL Rookie of the Year
1. Justin Verlander - After the slow decline of Jonathon Papelbon and the season ending injury to both Paps and Liriano, Verlander emerges as really the sole choice for the rookie of the year, putting up fantastic numbers throughout the year and helping lead the Tigers to the postseason.
2. Jonathan Papelbon - Impacted the Red Sox season for a longer period of time than did Liriano, both had stellar season but I'll give the slight edge to Paps with his .92 era. Moving him to the rotation next season is going to be a cataclysmic mistake.
3. Francisco Liriano - Supremely dynamic and without the two shoulder injuries could have challenged for both the rookie of the year as well as the Cy Young. Hopefully he does not turn into the next Wood, Prior or Harden.
Honorable Mention - Kenji Johjima who quitely put up great catcher #s
NL Rookie of the Year
1. Ryan Zimmerman - I have been on his band wagon all season long. He lead all rookies in RBIs he plays a gold glove 3B and he had 4 walk off hits for the Nationals including a walk off home run against the Yankees Wang.
2. Hanley Ramirez - Hit a solid .292 scored a whopping 119 runs and stole 51 bases you really couldn't go wrong if you chose him.
3. Takashi Saito - Did a great job taking over the closers role from the always injured Eric Gagne and the hideous Danys Baez.
Honorable Mention - Any Marlin your heart may desire, the Prince
AL Cy Young
1. Johan Santana - Hmm, he lead the league in Ks, ERA, Wins and Innings. Winner
2. Roy Halladay - Second in the league in ERA, granted almost a half run behind, had solid numbers around the board was healthy throughout the season and helped the Blue Jays to the second best record in the AL East.
3. Chien Ming Wang - Tied for the league lead in wins with 19 and had more saves than Johan Santana or Roy Halladay with 1. Wang has emerged as the Yankees #1 starter and their most reliable pitcher, and at home he was almost unbeatable.
Honorable Mention: The Rookie brigade of Paps, Verlander & Liriano
NL Cy Young
1. Trevor Hoffman - Yes I know he's a closer and yes I know he only threw around 70 innings but lets be honest all of the starters were basically the same thing and none of them stood hands and shoulders above the rest. Hoffman however was by far the most important closer in the league this season and after a slow start came through most importantly during the last two months of the season when his club needed him most.
2. Roy Oswalt - Tied for the league lead in wins, a terrific era and the unsung hero of the Astros pitching staff.
3. Carlos Zambrano - Led the league in strikeouts had a solid ERA and a comprable win total and played for a miserable team.
Honorable Mention - Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, Billy Wagner
NL MVP
1. Albert Pujols - It came down to the final weekend of the year to me. If the Cards got into the playoffs Pujols would take it, if they finalized their freefall Berkman would have grabbed it. In the end Pujols simply has slightly better numbers in every area than Berkman and his team made the postseason.
2. Lance Berkman - Lance to me is a rock solid #2 choice for MVP. If you analyze Ryan Howard and Berkman or Pujols numbers down to the bone you will notice some big discrepancies in favor of Lance and Albert. First the Phillies are a much better run producing team than either the Cards or the Astros and this manifests itself in many statistical fields. Lance Berkman had 13 less home runs than Ryan Howard, which also means that 13 more of Howards Rbi's/Runs are actually the same instance of Howards crossing the plate himself. So take that away and Howard has 9 more runs produced than Berkman. Now look at batting with RISP and there is a huge difference, in 33 less at bats Berkman had 8 more hits than Howard, aka he was much more clutch than Howard was this season for a team that needed runs much more than the Phils.
3. Ryan Howard - A great year which could be an MVP season at anytime in history and he will probably end up winning it anyone. Yet he is what he is a big swinging hacker with a lot of homers yet a lot of Ks, and the fact that he has the best hitting middle infield this side of the Bronx certainly helped his run production.
Honorable Mention: Pick a Met any Met
AL MVP
To me this is one of the hardest MVPs to give out in years, but here is the criteria that I am going to use to break it down. 1st Statistics period this is what you have to look at. 2nd statistical comparison via their position around the league, aka how favorable is Joe Mauer over the rest of the catchers. 3rd where would the team be without the player.
1. Derek Jeter - Here's where statistically I think Derek Jeter makes the case for the MVP, the fact isn't just that he's a shortstop its a comparison of of all the other players in the league that play his position. Derek leads all AL SS in R, SB, OBP, BA. 2nd in OPS, BB, Hits. 3rd in RBIs. There are only 3 SS in the AL (Young, Tejada, Guillen) who are even remotely close to Jeter statistically. Another thing that isn't overstated is that Derek Jeter is an absolute beast with runners in scoring position batting .381, and .369 with RISP and two outs. Plus, Jeter had the two biggest hits in the 5 game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Finally the Yankees have had major injuries to their lineup including Cano who missed several weeks, throughout the whole season Jeter has been the rock of their lineup and everyday shows up plays the most important position on the field and rakes. Then again the Yanks still scored the most runs in the majors. In the end I give it to Jeter because this season there is no question that he was the most valuable player on the Yankees. Not Giambi not Arod not Wang not even Mariano, the most valuable player on the Yankees the best team in the American League was Jeter. In contrast the top candidates from the Twins Morneau, Mauer, or Santana I think its impossible to 100% state that one was more important than the other. Same with Dye over Konerko and Thome.
2. Joe Mauer - I look at the Twins lineup and see Joe Mauer as being a more integral part of that roster. Granted Morneau has the more gaudy power numbers but look at Mauer's numbers in comparison to every other catcher in baseball. Only Brian McCann and Victor Martinez's numbers stack up. And Martinez is a terrible defensive catcher. Stack on the fact that Mauer won the batting title hits 3rd in the order and has handled what was mostly a youthful rotation down the stretch and I think Joe Mauer is the most valuable Twin this season barely edging out Johan.
3. Johan Santana - Try to imagine where the Twins would be without Johan this year, I don't care that he only pitches once every 5 days. The Twins were 26-7 in his starts this season. That's well over 1/4 of their victories. Throw any normal pitcher in their or even a top tier guy and the Twins don't make the playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Jermaine Dye had a fantastic season, same with Morneau, same with the Big Hurt
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