Baseball Winter Meetings & Awards
Weird season in baseball. No twenty game winner, no real dominant team, the cardinals won the world series after winning 83 games or something, and a catch won the batting title. The playoffs had a good mix of big markets (New York, Detroit, LA) and small markets (Minny, Oakland) but the disparity between the haves and have nots is blatantly evident. My Picks
NL Rookie of the Year
Dan Uggla Florida Marlins
They got him in the freaking rule 5 draft. Ridiculous. .282 27 jacks 90 rbi 26 2b's .
Ryan Zimmerman was the 4th over all draft pick, so he was pretty much guaranteed to be a solid player. The other mentionable was Hanley Ramirez. He was a highly highly touted young SS out of Boston and was the major sticking point for the trade that sent the Sox Beckett, so there shouldn't have been a surprise with him although he did have 51 steals.
AL Rookie of the Year
By default Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers
Weak rookie class out of the American League. This is the first pitcher to actually win ROY since Righetti in 81. Also surprising was the runners up were both pitchers too. Papelbon would have been my vote although he fell apart at the end even though he threw 68 innings. Also if the idiot Twins started Liriano from the beginning of the season and of course if he stayed healthy he would have been a shoe in as well. I saw this kid pitch against the Tribe in early April and you could just tell this kid had nasty stuff. I couldn't understand why he was pitching junk innings in the rain... Pierzynski for Liriano?
NL Cy Young
Anibal Sanchez Florida Marlins
The dude threw a no hitter. First one in over 2 seaons! He only started 17 games but was 10-3 with a low 2.83 era. He didn't start his first game till July 25th vs. the Yankees in Yankee Stadium and only threw 5.2 innings of shut out ball. September 6th 2006 where were you? Oh yea another throw in for Beckett.
AL Cy Young
Johan Santana Minnesota Twins
Not much of a contest here. 19-6 2.77 era. Consistently good.
NL MVP
Jose Reyes New York Mets
Reyes .300 19 jacks, 64 stolen bases, 194 hits 17 triples. He starts and stops the Mets offense straight up. He plays a very solid short stop.(The most important defensive position)
I'll admit I'm a big biased but.. Pujols led Cardinals won 83 games, he was hurt for a chunk of the season and he gets walked a lot which inflates his runs and obp. Ryan Howard would deserve major consideration but the Phillies didn't make the playoffs. They wouldn't have made the playoffs with out him too.
AL MVP
Justin Morneau Minnesota Twins
Hit .321 34 jacks 130 runs batted in 190 hits. Dude can flat out mash. He's only 25 and can only get better with a solid young core on the Twinkies.
Derek Jeter just doesn't seem to be that valuable to the Yankees. The best #2 hitter in baseball? Probably, but with that line up any one that gets on base and bats in front of A-Rod Giambi or Sheffield and hits after Damon is going to have stats. Only 14 home runs 102 strike outs, hit .343 but on base percentage was only .417.
NL Rookie of the Year
Dan Uggla Florida Marlins
They got him in the freaking rule 5 draft. Ridiculous. .282 27 jacks 90 rbi 26 2b's .
Ryan Zimmerman was the 4th over all draft pick, so he was pretty much guaranteed to be a solid player. The other mentionable was Hanley Ramirez. He was a highly highly touted young SS out of Boston and was the major sticking point for the trade that sent the Sox Beckett, so there shouldn't have been a surprise with him although he did have 51 steals.
AL Rookie of the Year
By default Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers
Weak rookie class out of the American League. This is the first pitcher to actually win ROY since Righetti in 81. Also surprising was the runners up were both pitchers too. Papelbon would have been my vote although he fell apart at the end even though he threw 68 innings. Also if the idiot Twins started Liriano from the beginning of the season and of course if he stayed healthy he would have been a shoe in as well. I saw this kid pitch against the Tribe in early April and you could just tell this kid had nasty stuff. I couldn't understand why he was pitching junk innings in the rain... Pierzynski for Liriano?
NL Cy Young
Anibal Sanchez Florida Marlins
The dude threw a no hitter. First one in over 2 seaons! He only started 17 games but was 10-3 with a low 2.83 era. He didn't start his first game till July 25th vs. the Yankees in Yankee Stadium and only threw 5.2 innings of shut out ball. September 6th 2006 where were you? Oh yea another throw in for Beckett.
AL Cy Young
Johan Santana Minnesota Twins
Not much of a contest here. 19-6 2.77 era. Consistently good.
NL MVP
Jose Reyes New York Mets
Reyes .300 19 jacks, 64 stolen bases, 194 hits 17 triples. He starts and stops the Mets offense straight up. He plays a very solid short stop.(The most important defensive position)
I'll admit I'm a big biased but.. Pujols led Cardinals won 83 games, he was hurt for a chunk of the season and he gets walked a lot which inflates his runs and obp. Ryan Howard would deserve major consideration but the Phillies didn't make the playoffs. They wouldn't have made the playoffs with out him too.
AL MVP
Justin Morneau Minnesota Twins
Hit .321 34 jacks 130 runs batted in 190 hits. Dude can flat out mash. He's only 25 and can only get better with a solid young core on the Twinkies.
Derek Jeter just doesn't seem to be that valuable to the Yankees. The best #2 hitter in baseball? Probably, but with that line up any one that gets on base and bats in front of A-Rod Giambi or Sheffield and hits after Damon is going to have stats. Only 14 home runs 102 strike outs, hit .343 but on base percentage was only .417.
posted by Buffalo Sports Dude at 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
Great post...only thing I disagree with is Sanchez Cy Young...he didnt pitch enough games...Yeah he is better than Webb but 10 wins doesn't get you a Cy Young as a starter.
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