Mid-Season Awards
The world of baseball has reached its mythical mid way point, though most teams have played close to 90 games. The mid summer classic is coming up tonight and we all can't wait to see who has homefield advantage for the World Series. We are not going to get into silly Bud Selig issues like that, because we all know it is stupid, but who really cares? What we are going to do is give out our mid-season awards. Yes we missed my baseball season preview due to internal audits here at "El Wisdom" but we are back and we can certainly bore you with this. As usual my picks are solely mine and rarely are mainstream, but hey that is what makes them fun. We will be looking at MVP, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and Comeback Player of the Year (mostly beause there are 2 sure fire winners for this award). And yes I mostly believe and MVP should be someone on a winning team, unless that player has done something outrageous that can still merit the MVP.
AL MVP: Derek Jeter, SS New York Yankees, no you say, what about Big Papi, Jim Thome or even young hitting star Joe Mauer? Well I say Derek Sanderson Jeter. His team has been completely devasted by injuries and they are winning games at an almost 60% clip. But Kris, you are just bitter Yankee fan who does not want to give Papi his just due. Wrong again my young padewon; in fact last year my vote for MVP was Big Papi, and yeah I know all the clutch hits he has banged out this season. Jeter is batting .345 and a staggering .427 OBP scored 50 and drove in 50 and stolen 18 bases 4th in all of baseball in hits.
AL CY YOUNG: Roy Halladay, SP Toronto Blue Jays. Halladay has been dominate all year long, only losing one game since his second start of the season. He has moe down everyone to the tune of 72 SO's vs only 16 BB's. His WHIP is only slightly over 1.00 and he has pitched 130 innings; he leads the league in Wins and is third in ERA, if he can continue to keep this up he can keep the Blue Jays playoff hopes alive.
AL MANAGER: As the Monkees once sang, "Ooohhh, I'm am a believer," in Jim Leyland that is. I was never a huge believer in his days in Pittsburgh, he had some talent there, and then winning with Florida was all that impressive because they were built solely for that run, but now the turn around he has made with the Tigers is amazing. I thought the Tigers had some young talent over the past few years, but Alan Trammell was never able to put it together. Well Leyland has blended his young stars and sprinkled in the veteran presence's of Kenny Rogers, Pudge Rodriguez, and MagglioOrdonez to produce the best record in baseball. While I don't nescessarily feel they are the best team, they are certainly among them and Leyland deserves all the credit.
AL COMEBACK: I have never been huge on this award but again this season has 2 deserving candidates. Jim Thome of the White Sox is back in the AL where he belongs and shows that he still has some major power in the bat. He is among the top 5 in the league in HR (30), RBI (77), Slugging (.651) and OPS (1.065). He has been the much needed pop the White Sox were looking for in their lineup this season and he has them right in position to make another deep post season run.
NL MVP: David Wright, 3B New York Mets, again I pull the unconventional Wisdom on all your asses. Yes Albert Pujols is having an incredible season, but his injury has slowed him down a bit. Wright is living up to all the hype in the hype capital of the world and doing it on the best team in the NL. His power numbers are among the leagues elite with 20 HR and 74 RBI, he is in the top 10 in batting at .316 and slugging at .575. He has done all this while playing in all but 2 games and playing the best defensive third base since a young Scott Rolen. Wright is right now the best player on the best team in the National League.
NL CY YOUNG: Brandon Webb, SP Arizona Diamondbacks, while his team is mired in mediocrity it is not because of Webb. He is 9-3 with a league leadin g 2.65 ERA. Batters are hitting .256 against him and his WHIP is 1.11 an incredible number for a starting pitcher. He also leads the league in innings pitched is 10th in K's and has thrown 3 complete games. You can breakdown all the numbers Brandon Webb continues to be a dominate pitcher on a mediocre ball club, as evidence of his 16 Quality Starts out of 18 total.
NL MANAGER: Perhaps one of the least known people in all of baseball is Cincinnati Reds manager Jerry Narron. But what he has done with this Reds teams has been very impressive. They are in the absolute thick of the NL Central and Wild Card battles and they seem to be a team of mostly castaways. The pitching staff is loaded with #3 startes like Bronson Arroyo, Joe Mays, Eric Milton, and Kent Mercker. In the field they are lead by their strong outfield play, but it is the infield which is so solid with random guys like Brandon Phillips, Felipe Lopez, and Rich Aurilia and of course utility man Ryan Freel playing everywhere. As a team with all these random players they are among the national leagues elite hitting teams. While Narron may not be a household name he is earning his paycheck in Cincinnati.
NL COMEBACK: Much like the American League this is the biggest no brainer in the world. Nomar Garciaparra is having one the best career resurgences ever. How can you not love what this guy is doing? After being the heart and soul of the Red Sox for so many years and winning 2 batting titles he was cast aside at the trading deadline in their season of ultimate joy. Once in Chicago it looked as if his career was over, injuries kept biting him and he barely played 100 games over two seasons, all the while it still looked as if he could hit for a high average if he could just stay healthy. Then the Los Angeles Dodgers were about the only team willing to give this guy a chance and have him play first base. His season got off to a rocky start with a stint on the DL but then when he began playing he did what he alwyas does, get hits in bunchs. He is leading the NL in hitting (.358) is 6th in Slugging (.578) and 3rd in OPS (1.004). I am glad, I have always been a fan of Nomar and hope he continues to pound the ball, he still may be the most prolific right handed average hitter since "joltin" Joe Dimaggio.
AL MVP: Derek Jeter, SS New York Yankees, no you say, what about Big Papi, Jim Thome or even young hitting star Joe Mauer? Well I say Derek Sanderson Jeter. His team has been completely devasted by injuries and they are winning games at an almost 60% clip. But Kris, you are just bitter Yankee fan who does not want to give Papi his just due. Wrong again my young padewon; in fact last year my vote for MVP was Big Papi, and yeah I know all the clutch hits he has banged out this season. Jeter is batting .345 and a staggering .427 OBP scored 50 and drove in 50 and stolen 18 bases 4th in all of baseball in hits.
AL CY YOUNG: Roy Halladay, SP Toronto Blue Jays. Halladay has been dominate all year long, only losing one game since his second start of the season. He has moe down everyone to the tune of 72 SO's vs only 16 BB's. His WHIP is only slightly over 1.00 and he has pitched 130 innings; he leads the league in Wins and is third in ERA, if he can continue to keep this up he can keep the Blue Jays playoff hopes alive.
AL MANAGER: As the Monkees once sang, "Ooohhh, I'm am a believer," in Jim Leyland that is. I was never a huge believer in his days in Pittsburgh, he had some talent there, and then winning with Florida was all that impressive because they were built solely for that run, but now the turn around he has made with the Tigers is amazing. I thought the Tigers had some young talent over the past few years, but Alan Trammell was never able to put it together. Well Leyland has blended his young stars and sprinkled in the veteran presence's of Kenny Rogers, Pudge Rodriguez, and MagglioOrdonez to produce the best record in baseball. While I don't nescessarily feel they are the best team, they are certainly among them and Leyland deserves all the credit.
AL COMEBACK: I have never been huge on this award but again this season has 2 deserving candidates. Jim Thome of the White Sox is back in the AL where he belongs and shows that he still has some major power in the bat. He is among the top 5 in the league in HR (30), RBI (77), Slugging (.651) and OPS (1.065). He has been the much needed pop the White Sox were looking for in their lineup this season and he has them right in position to make another deep post season run.
NL MVP: David Wright, 3B New York Mets, again I pull the unconventional Wisdom on all your asses. Yes Albert Pujols is having an incredible season, but his injury has slowed him down a bit. Wright is living up to all the hype in the hype capital of the world and doing it on the best team in the NL. His power numbers are among the leagues elite with 20 HR and 74 RBI, he is in the top 10 in batting at .316 and slugging at .575. He has done all this while playing in all but 2 games and playing the best defensive third base since a young Scott Rolen. Wright is right now the best player on the best team in the National League.
NL CY YOUNG: Brandon Webb, SP Arizona Diamondbacks, while his team is mired in mediocrity it is not because of Webb. He is 9-3 with a league leadin g 2.65 ERA. Batters are hitting .256 against him and his WHIP is 1.11 an incredible number for a starting pitcher. He also leads the league in innings pitched is 10th in K's and has thrown 3 complete games. You can breakdown all the numbers Brandon Webb continues to be a dominate pitcher on a mediocre ball club, as evidence of his 16 Quality Starts out of 18 total.
NL MANAGER: Perhaps one of the least known people in all of baseball is Cincinnati Reds manager Jerry Narron. But what he has done with this Reds teams has been very impressive. They are in the absolute thick of the NL Central and Wild Card battles and they seem to be a team of mostly castaways. The pitching staff is loaded with #3 startes like Bronson Arroyo, Joe Mays, Eric Milton, and Kent Mercker. In the field they are lead by their strong outfield play, but it is the infield which is so solid with random guys like Brandon Phillips, Felipe Lopez, and Rich Aurilia and of course utility man Ryan Freel playing everywhere. As a team with all these random players they are among the national leagues elite hitting teams. While Narron may not be a household name he is earning his paycheck in Cincinnati.
NL COMEBACK: Much like the American League this is the biggest no brainer in the world. Nomar Garciaparra is having one the best career resurgences ever. How can you not love what this guy is doing? After being the heart and soul of the Red Sox for so many years and winning 2 batting titles he was cast aside at the trading deadline in their season of ultimate joy. Once in Chicago it looked as if his career was over, injuries kept biting him and he barely played 100 games over two seasons, all the while it still looked as if he could hit for a high average if he could just stay healthy. Then the Los Angeles Dodgers were about the only team willing to give this guy a chance and have him play first base. His season got off to a rocky start with a stint on the DL but then when he began playing he did what he alwyas does, get hits in bunchs. He is leading the NL in hitting (.358) is 6th in Slugging (.578) and 3rd in OPS (1.004). I am glad, I have always been a fan of Nomar and hope he continues to pound the ball, he still may be the most prolific right handed average hitter since "joltin" Joe Dimaggio.
3 Comments:
Jeter is a great choice, but you know they won't give it to him. This will be the first year a DH wins the award as Papi will take what he should have got last year.
There's only two other choices I'll debate with you.
The stock pick for the NL manager of the year would seem to be Willie Randolph, but I'll throw you a curve and say Joe G down in Miami will win it.
The Reds will fade and the Marlins will finish second in the NL East, something no one thought possible at the start of the season after the fire sale.
As for the NL MVP, if Jose Reyes continues on his pace, meaning a .300 batting average, a .350 on base percentage and oh yeah, leading the league in runs, hits, stolen bases and triples, what it will do is split the votes between Reyes and Wright. That should be enough to allow King Albert to sneak back into the mix as the "Red States" vote for someone closer to their home.
Tony Meola OUT.
Who is the second AL Comeback Award candidate? You said two, but only named one. Idiot. I like Leyland, but he is not responsible for Detroit having Pudge or Maggs. They had both of them last year and couldn't win. I attribute their success to pitching. Obviously KR, but who is Verlander? Getting rid of Jason Johnson sure helped that staff. I am curious though, to see if those young arms can stay at the level they are at for the stretch run. The Twins are looking like they might make some noise and the White Sox are obviously good. Who wins the AL MVP after the Red Sox win the East and Toronto finishes second? You know, the Yankees schedule gets harder and they will be exposed.
imperial ~
I did not like your post on my Reds at all. First of all, I only care about baseball now because the Reds are decent. But, having said that, it is not necessarily the Narron who deserves all the credit, though I think he's helped the starting pitching and gametime decisions (ie stealing bases, etc). What Marvin Lewis is to the Bengals franchise is what Wayne Kriztovsky and Bob Castlelino are to the Reds. Every since ownership changed hands, the Reds have been competing. It's really not because of their outfield or infield play because I think they're leading the league in errors. I think the resurgence of Ken Griffey has helped spark the Reds...Narron, if he could get some bullpen help, would win the Manager of the Year award, but I don't think Kriztovsky and the gang have enough tricks up their sleeve for a couple starting pitchers and a bunch of relievers. They Reds will fade.
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