In today’s Post, I wrote my Hardball column on my thought process in selecting the MVPs, and figured this would be the right forum to provide my thoughts on other awards.
But before I do that, I want to take this time to mention that Mariano Rivera has never won the MVP or Cy Young, yet to me, he would win the collective MVP and Cy Young over the past 13 years. We are going to look back in a decade or two and wonder how Rivera never won a major individual award as probably the key player on a long-running dominant team.
Rivera was as good as ever this season: 38-for-39 in save tries, 1.43 ERA and his 12.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio was the second best ever (minimum 60 innings) of the modern era. Yet he will not sniff a major award again, so I just felt an obligation to start at the end with Mo.
OK, onto the non-MVP awards:
AL ANTI-MVP – Melky Cabrera/Robinson Cano, Yankees.
These friends did more do undermine the Yankees than just about anyone. Cano was finally benched by Joe Girardi for his lack of concentration/hustle, but it was too late in the season. He actually played better afterward and still wound up with a .301 on-base percentage, which is the worst by any Yankee who received 600 plate appearances since Horace Clarke’s .286 showing in 1970. It is no good when a player has to constantly be reminded to play hard. Either that changes or Cano’s career is going to be marked by wonder talent that was never fully expressed.
Cabrera, in the meantime, posted a .635 OPS, the second-worst in the AL for anyone with 400 plate appearances and the worst for a Yankee with 400 plate appearances since the .626 of Alvaro Espinoza in 1991. Cano and Cabrera were out machines for an offense that severely underachieved.
2) Kenji Johjima, Mariners. 3) Edgar Renteria/Gary Sheffield, Tigers. 4) Jason Varitek, Red Sox. 5) Orlando Cabrera, White Sox.
ANTI-NL MVP – Jeff Francoeur, Braves.
Remember when this guy was going to be a star. Well, his inability to control the strike zone has submarined that. He hit just 11 homers in 595 at-bats and had a .296 on-base percentage.
2) Andruw Jones, Dodgers. 3) Luis Castillo, Mets. 4) Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies. 5) Khalil Greene, Padres.
AL CY YOUNG – Cliff Lee, Indians.
I know this is going to be a coronation for Lee, but I have to say that I deliberated until writing these words whether to pick Toronto’s Roy Halladay. Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA compared to Halladay’s 20-11 with a 2.78 ERA. But Halladay worked 22 2-3 more innings. He had nine complete games compared to four for Lee. Halladay’s walk-to-strikeout ratio and strikeout-per-nine-inning ratio were better than Lee’s. And he also had a lower OPS against: .633-.621. Lee’s consistent excellence wins out, but not by a ton.
And now a word about Francisco Rodriguez and those record 62 saves. Never have I seen such a concerted effort to disparage a player for setting a record. Yes, saves are a tainted stat because of how easy they can be on occasion. And, yes, K-Rod was a pure one-inning guy. But watch the Mets and you realize just how tough those three outs are to get. I keep hearing that K-Rod was fortunate to play on a team that played so many close, low-scoring games. I think it is the other way around, the Angels were lucky to have someone who could make that style of play end in wins so consistently. Across the board statistically, Rivera, Minnesota’s Joe Nathan and Kansas City’s Joakim Soria all had better years than K-Rod, but those 62 saves are a sign of 62 closed wins, so they do have meaning, enough to get on a top five ballot somewhere.
2) Halladay. 3) Jon Lester, Red Sox. 4) Ervin Santana, Angels. 5) K-Rod.
AL ANTI-CY YOUNG – Carlos Silva Mariners.
The Mariners led the league in horrible contracts, but maybe none worse than the four-year, $48 million they gave Silva in an offseason when free-agent pitchers just were not getting multi-year deals. Similar type starters Kyle Lohse and Livan Hernandez both had to scrounge for one-year pacts at far lower than the $12 million average Silva received.
Silva, Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn – all on long-term contracts – combined to go 13-43 with a 5.76 ERA. Silva (4-15, 6.46) will be the gift that keeps on giving for the next three years.
The Tigers, with the abysmal work of Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis, were – like Seattle – a pre-season darling that collapsed because of terrible rotation work. And folks around New York understand just what Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy did to submarine the Yankees.
2) Verlander. 3) Hughes/Kennedy. 4) Fausto Carmona, Indians. 5) Daniel Cabrera, Orioles.
NL CY YOUNG – Tim Lincecum, Giants
I wavered on this one up until the moment of this writing between Lincecum and Johan Santana. And being at Shea on Saturday sure pushed me closer to Santana. But in the end Lincecum was just a tad more dominant this year.
Most folks had made this a debate of Lincecum vs. Arizona’s Brandon Webb. But to me Webb is clearly third. His strongest attribute is his 22 wins, which is a fine attribute. But across the board, Santana and Lincecum are superior. Head-to-head, Santana has outdone Lincecum in ERA (.253 to 2.66) and innings pitched (234.1 to 220). But Lincecum struck out far more and was more difficult to hit and hit well (.617 OPS against compared to .646 for Santana).
2) Santana. 3) Webb. 4) Brad Lidge, Astros. 5) Ryan Dempster, Cubs.
NL ANTI-CY YOUNG – Eric Gagne, Brewers
Gagne pitched very well down the stretch, but the Brewers were in playoff peril because of his overall body of work. Even with a strong September, his season-long ERA was 5.44 and he had permitted 11 homers in 46 1-3 innings.
2) Brad Penny, Dodgers. 3. Zach Duke/Tom Gorzelanny/Ian Snell, Pirates. 4) Adam Eaton/Kyle Kendrick, Phillies. 5) Barry Zito, Giants.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – Evan Longoria, Rays.
He broke his wrist and this is still a runaway. He was the best player on the surprise AL East champion despite not even beginning the year with the team and suffering that injury. He is the kind of player you build a franchise around, and Tampa is doing just that.
If Joba Chamberlain had been able to pitch a whole season or – perhaps did just one job all season – he might have given Longoria quite a race. As it is, let us not forget that he posted a 2.42 ERA in 100.1 innings and held opposing hitters to a .609 OPS.
2) Alexei Ramirez. 3) Joba Chamberlain. 4) Armando Galarraga, Tigers. 5) Joey Devine/Brad Ziegler, A’s.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – Geovany Soto.
Like with Longoria, teammates and opponents rave about not just Soto’s physical skills on offense and defense, but the seriousness and team-oriented way with which he approaches the game. Joey Votto looks like a cornerstone player for the Reds for years, too.
2) Votto. 3) Jair Jurrjens, Braves. 4) Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers. 5) Cory Wade, Dodgers.
AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR – Joe Maddon, Rays.
I understand that in the year that you must vote for Maddon in the year when his upbeat/professorial style changed the culture of a losing franchise to a division champ. So, here is to Maddon, not only an exceptional manager, but a terrific guy.
But I have to tell you how tempted I was to pick the Angels’ Mike Scioscia anyway. Because he is the best manager in baseball every year and because Maddon learned so much of what he knows by working as a long-time coach to Scioscia. And because a lot went wrong with Scioscia’s team such as not having No. 1 starter John Lackey for the first month of the year and not having No. 2 starter Kelvim Escobar at all. Yet the Angels play an aggressive brand of ball that clearly runs from the top down that makes them an elite team year after year, including in 2008 when they finished with the best record in the league.
Here is my other problem: This is the actual award that I am voting upon for the Baseball Writers Association of America and I am troubled that in this category you can only vote for three managers. Because I think there are four guys you can make cases for to win the award and a fifth if you are charmed by how Ozzie Guillen’s edgy leadership of the White Sox.
But besides Maddon and Scioscia, I believe you have to consider Minnesota’s Ron Gardenhire and Boston’s Terry Francona. The Twins lost Johan Santana and Torii Hunter, yet on the final Sunday of the season they were still battling for the AL Central title despite a neophyte rotation. And I think Francona is one of the most underrated people in baseball. Just consider the atmosphere he has created in Boston that Jason Bay can arrive having never played in an important major league game and as the replacement for Manny Ramirez and yet thrive. It is not always the atmosphere that existed in Boston.
2) Scioscia. 3) Francona. 4) Gardenhire. 5) Guillen.
NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR – Lou Piniella, Cubs.
Piniella lost his fight in Tampa and was replaced by Maddon. But his fire has returned in Chicago and the Cubs finished with the NL’s best record as Lou’s self-assurance seems to have rubbed off on this club.
Another ex-Yankee manager, Joe Torre, helped stabilize a fractured clubhouse, which contributed to an NL West title. Quite frankly, I look at the rosters of the Cardinals and Astros and see last-place teams, and that they actually were contenders is a tribute to managers Tony La Russa and Cecil Cooper.
2) Torre. 3) La Russa. 4) Cooper. 5) Fredi Gonzalez, Marlins.