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And the Award Goes To: 2008
Every year the Major League Baseball awards come out and I typically have a problem with at least one of the awards. Hence the annual Baseball Opinion Awards was born. After each season I will review the candidates and hand out various awards including, but not limited to; Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Minor League Player of the Year.
This year’s award winners are:
NL Player of the Year
Albert Pujols – Sure, one could argue that Ryan Howard is in the playoffs, but Pujols had an average 106 points higher than him. Pujols also had a 123 point higher OBP. Ryan also had Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino getting on base in front of him, with Pat Burrell as protection. The Cardinals didn’t pack similar talent around Pujols.
AL Player of the Year
Carlos Quentin – Josh Hamilton had a monsterous first half, but he faded in the second half. But Quentin just kept on hitting. Quentin was second in the league in home runs with 36, while having 131 at-bats less than the leader, Miguel Cabrera, with 37. He and Jermaine Dye carried a White Sox team with major offensive woes, but still ngot into the playoffs. Arguements can be had for Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis, but Quentin takes the award.
NL Pitcher of the Year
Tim Lincecum – If this was the Cy Young Award, I would be leaning towards Arizona starter Brandon Webb as he lead the league in wins, a stat that Cy Young is best known for. But this is the NL Pitcher of the Year. Lincecum lead the majors in strikeouts (265) and was third in ERA (2.62). As I wrote in “Lincecum to have Two more Starts”, Lincecum should have won a few more games anyway.
AL Pitcher of the Year
Cliff Lee – Cliff Lee was written off at the end of last year as a pitcher that probably wouldn’t amount to much. But this season he took off and pitched like the Indians thought he could. The lefty compiled 22 wins to tie with Brandon Webb to lead all of MLB. That’s 22 wins on a team that went only 81-81 on the season. He also carried a 2.54 ERA, leading the American League. Honorable mention to Roy Halladay and his 20 wins and 2.78 ERA, also to K-Rod and his record breaking save amount.
NL Rookie of the Year
Geovany Soto – Soto was the early pick of many reporters that saw his monster 2007 season at Triple-A Iowa. On top of hitting .285, with 23 home runs, 86 RBIs, and carrying a .868 OPS, he managed the Chicago Cubs’ pitching staff well. Honorable mention to Atlanta starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens and Cincinatti Reds first baseman Joey Votto.
AL Rookie of the Year
Evan Longoria – This is a controversial one. Many have been hammering lately for White Sox second baseman Alexi Ramirez. But Longoria hit six more home runs than Ramirez in 36 less at-bats. Additionally, he’s carried his team further into the playoffs than Ramirez. The multi-homer threat of Longoria in the lineup has also helped to protect Carlos Pena. You can then wrap it up with his outstanding defense at the hot corner. Honorable mention to Ramirez, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Mike Aviles.
Minor League Player of the Year
David Price – Not only did he shoot through three levels of the minor leagues in his first year of pro ball, Price also pitched for the Rays in September. Topping that, Price was kept on the post-season roster and earned his first win and his first save in the post-season before earning either in the regular season. Honorable mention – Matt Wieters, Orioles.
GM of the Year
Andrew Friedman – On top of the drafting of players that impacted the playoffs like Evan Longoria and David Price, Friedman made some good trades last off-season to put the Rays into the World Series. Matt Garza pitched well in the playoffs, Jason Bartlett was the team’s regular season MVP according to Joe Maddon improving their defense immensely, Grant Balfour was a great addition to the pen, and Gabe Gross was a good addition to right field. Honorable mention to Doug Melvin and Kenny Williams.
Worst GM of the Year
Bill Bavasi – There are a few GMs that this award could go to this year. But it was Bill that cleaned out the Mariners’ farm system for a pitcher that supposedly had no fire to pitch and eventually got injured. His free agent signings through the years have been ugly as well. Honorable mention to the Giants’ Brian Sabean and the Nationals’ Jim Bowden.
Clutch Player of the Year
C.C. Sabathia – Does anything really have to be said? He almost single-handedly carried the Milwaukee Brewers to the playoffs with a string of starts that was completely amazing. His power stick at the plate isn’t that bad either.
Trade Bait: Sabathia Trade Finalized
A couple weeks ago the Cleveland Indians have picked their PTBNL in the C.C. Sabathia trade to Milwaukee earlier this season. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel stated that it will be outfielder Michael Brantley.
The Sabathia trade was pretty successful for the Milwaukee Brewers. Although they lost in the NLDS to the Philladephia Phillies, Sabathia almost single-handedly pitched them into the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In that trade the Indians had already received pitchers Zach Jackson and Rob Bryson, as well as potential future star Matt LaPorta. But they were also to recieve a player-to-be-named later. At the time it was believed that the PTBNL would be Brantley or third baseman Taylor Green.
With the exception of a late-season appearance at Double-A in 2007, Brantley has hit .300 or higher at every level. He’s carried a .399 OBP throughout his minor league career as well. Although he has good speed (28 SB this season), he’s not much of a game changer in that department. Brantley also isn’t much of a power hitter, a .372 career minor league slugging percentage doesn’t exactly instill fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.
If he’s able to keep up his batting average and on-base abilities, Brantley can be a decent fourth outfielder. If not, he would still be a viable fifth outfielder for the Indians down the road.
World Series Game 5: Mother Nature Wins!!!
On a night that must have been pure hell for the players, Game 5 of the World Series was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning. Rain was pouring down, making field conditions horrible, but that’s not the half of it. It was also 39 degrees on the field. As the rain was pouring down white clouds of condensation came out of the mouths of the players, soon to be whisped away by the swirling winds that made catching pop-ups nearly impossible. They had to be freezing as their uniforms were drenched as they stood in that horrid weather.
Bud Selig partially dodged a bullet as Tampa Bay tied up the game in the top of the sixth on a Carlos Pena RBI single. Typically, with five innings complete, the game could have ended before the top of the sixth due to rain. That would have given the Phillies the win and the World Series trophy. But Selig waited long enough for the Rays to tie it up, making the decision to suspend the game easier.
This situation has got to favor the Rays more than the Phillies. The Rays can now complete the game without facing Cole Hamels the rest of the way. Also, dryer conditions on the field will be better for one of the major facets of the Rays’ game, speed.
If the Rays are somehow to come back from the nearly impossible and win the World Series, everyone will look back on this game and point to it as the difference. Bud Selig will not be able to take a step into the Philadelphia city limits ever again.
World Series Game 4: Joe “Babe Ruth” Blanton
The Phillies won tonight with Joe Blanton’s pitching and hitting leading the way. Joe pitched six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out seven. But to top it, Joe hit his first major league home run while at the plate. For a pitcher that many had written off as mediocre, Blanton pitched VERY well.
As for the Rays, they are starting to fall apart. One of the best defensive teams during the regular season, the Rays now have 10 errors in 8 games. The middle of their lineup is not looking good either. Pena and Longoria look really bad out at the plate, almost lost. There is not dicpline in their batting eye and it seems as if they are pressing.
After tonight, it makes you wonder, if the series goes to seven games do they pitch Blanton instead of Moyer? “Joe the Lumber” looks to be more effective than Moyer right now.
Oh, and Patti LaBelle slaughtered the Star Spangled Banner.
Potentially Bad Free Agent Signings
Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs recently wrote an article entitled 2008 Free Agent Landmines, an article that he puts out each year that points out a few potential free agent signings that will probably blow up in the signing team’s face. This year he pointed out Kyle Lohse, Orlando Cabrera, and Manny Ramirez. Check it out, it’s a good detailed read. I mildly objected to Lohse as he will still be with pitching coach Dave Duncan and will not experience the Weaver blow-up that everyone (everyone but a certain ex-GM) knew was coming, but he also probably won’t pitch as well as he did in 2008 either.
I thought that I would continue his thought line to include other potentionally bad free agent signings. These won’t include just the ones that played well this year, but are expected to fall apart soon, but also the ones you know teams will overpay for their talent (or lack thereof) when they shouldn’t.
Michael Barrett- His offense is not good enough anymore to cover up his defensive woes. GMs may think that he’ll be better our of PETCO, but they should no better. Someone will overpay.
Ivan Rodriguez – Awesome career is slowly winding down. A contract remotely close to his last one would be a massive mistake.
Jason Varitek- Some GM will overpay Scott Boras for him and tout his leadership and game calling abilities. That team will have a black hole in their lineup for the next 2-3 years.
Nomar Garciaparra – I thought it was a bad signing by the Dodgers in the first place, but do they listen to me? No!
Jason Giambi- Bidding for Giambi will be interesting.
Jerry Hairston Jr. – Is there ANYTHING in his history that makes you believe that he will hit like he did this season?
Edgar Renteria – I guess every AL GM should shy away after his time in Boston and Detroit. He’s also starting to show his age offensively and defensively.
Joe Crede- Those back problems will never go away. Giving him a contract based on a full season of play expectations would be ludicrous, but someone will line him up as their starter with no viable backup.
Milton Bradley - Ah, the oft-injured one has a mostly uninjured season in the year prior to his free agency….interesting. Some say he’s a clubhouse cancer too.
Raul Ibanez - Should be strictly a DH anymore. If you’re a fan of a team that signs him and puts him regularly in left, don’t watch, it’s just too ugly to bare.
Ken Griffey Jr.- The great one’s useful years in center and possibly even rightfield are over. He’s not the fit and trim Griffey that we remember. Scouts have also said that his bat has slowed down. A season with a .280 average, let alone .300, is probably out of the question anymore. Some GM will overpay based on name alone.
Kris Benson – Somehow, someway, this guy always gets multi-million dollar deals, it befuddles me.
Ryan Dempster – He’ll be paid a king’s ransom based on a good 2008. But will he perform up to his 2008 numbers in any year of his new contract? No.
Jon Garland – Carlos Silva version 2009?
Ben Sheets – World of talent and will get paid for it, but his potential contract probably won’t get adjusted for the amount of time that he’ll spend on the bench with an injury.
Jason Isringhausen – He’s not blowing batters away with his fastball anymore and his confidence has taken a big hit over the past year too. Hopefully no team signs him to a closer-type contract.
It’s Just Speculation: Peavey Trade Options – Overview
After breaking down the top five teams that Jake Peavy has singled out as ones he would like to go to, it looks like the Atlanta Braves, followed by the L.A. Dodgers would be in the best position to get Peavy in a trade.
The Braves GM Frank Wren has recently stated that he will not give up his top prospects to land Peavy though. This is probably just positioning though. Furthermore, it is baffling that rumors of second baseman Kelly Johnson is going to San Diego as part of the package. First, Johnson is arbitration eligible, not exactly fully rebuilding. Second, has everyone written Matt Antonelli off after a poor 2008? He had a great 2007 and a very good August this season.
Also, I still don’t see why the Padres would deal Peavy within the division and send him to the Dodgers.
Although things started to look immenent at one point, it looks as if Padres GM Kevin Towers will now pull back and talk to Peavy. Supposedly, he wants to review his options and see if Peavy would allow a trade to a team outside of the five that he has previously named. Towers needs the leverage of having enough bidders in on him to get the best price in prospects he can possibly get. With only five teams in the hunt, Towers can’t get his best deal possible.
But who else could join into the bidding? If you were to remove AL teams and New York teams due to his stated lack of desire to go to any of those, you could possibly see the Brewers, Phillies, and even the Reds jumping in.
This will be interesting to watch, especially during the General Manager meetings in early November.
It’s Just Speculation: Peavy Trade Options – Chicago Cubs
Supposedly, San Diego Padres owner John Moores has had to cut the 2009 payroll because of his recent divorce proceedings, placing GM Kevin Towers in a predicament. Rumors are rampant that the Padres are agressively looking to unload star pitcher Jake Peavy as they try to cut payroll and rebuild the team. Assistant GM Paul DePodesta, through a post on his blog, won’t even deny that the Padres are shopping Peavy around.
The fifth and final team we’ll look at is the Chicago Cubs. A rotation of Peavy, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster could be the most dominant in baseball. Of course, if they traded for Peavy, they’d be much less likely to resign Dempster. But what do the Cubs have to offer?
The trade would likely revolve around Jeff Samardzija. Although he was a starter through the minors, he was converted to a reliever in the majors. But the Padres would likely convert him back to a reliever.
But beyond him it gets a little fuzzy as to who would be in the package as the Cubs don’t have the prospects that the Padres have been rumored to be looking for. Their best remaining pitching prospect, Donald Veal, didn’t have that good of a season.
They might be able to package some of the players in the majors to entice the Padres though. Sean Marshall would be a good controlable pick up for the Padres. Infielder Ronny Cedeno would be a welcome replacement to Khalil Greene’s bat and center fielder Felix Pie could possibly live up to his potential if he got out of Chicago. But they’d probably have to throw in another prospect like center fielder Tyler Colvin to take on these players as they already have a decent amount of service time built up.
Whatever they can dig up is still not as good as what the Braves or the Dodgers can offer though.
What do you think the package would be? Oh, and Cubbie fans….be realistic, it’ll take some good prospects.
World Series Game 2: James “Big Game” Shields
The World Series is now tied up.
After a Game 1 loss, James “Big Game” Shields took the mound for Game 2 of the World Series and stole the spotlight from the Phillies. He gave up seven hits and two walks in 5-2/3 innings, but did the one thing that mattered, he didn’t allow a run to score. He had base runners on third a couple times and shut the Philadelphia bats down.
The Phillies are now 0 for 7 with five strikeouts with runners on 3rd base with less than two outs in the series.
The umpires didn’t help the Philly cause though. Rocco Baldelli was allowed to walk on an odd half-stike call by the umpire before the home plate umpire asked the first base umpire if he swung.
Defense was there for the Rays as well. Aki Iwamura made some good defensive plays and Baldelli doubled up Jayson Werth off first base with a fine catch and throw to Carlos Pena.
Then there was David Price as well. He wasn’t as sharp as his last time out in Game 7 of the ALCS, but he nailed down yet another post-season save before getting one in the regular season. With Price, it looks as if the Phillies are in trouble in the late innings if they are behind.
Mariners Hire Zduriencik as GM
Numerous names were thrown out as possible candidates for the Seattle Mariners’ GM job. Trendy first-time names like the Kim Ng, Jerry DiPoto, Tony LaCava, Peter Woodfork, and Tony Bernazard were thrown around at will. Even rumors of storied GM Pat Gillick returning floated around. But yesterday the Mariners settled on Brewer’s Scouting Director Jack Zduriencik as their GM.
Zduriencik is essentially the architect of the current Brewers team. Players like Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, Yovanni Gallardo and Rickie Weeks were drafted during his tenure. Hard hitting outfielder Matt LaPorta, who was the centerpiece of the C.C. Sabathia trade, was also drafted under him. A number of good prospects in the Brewers’ farm system have come while Jack has been with the Brewers. Shortstop Aclides Escobar, third baseman Mat Gamel, catcher Angel Salome, and outfielder Michael Brantley.
But he won’t be dealing with just prospects though with the Mariners. He’ll be tasked with the rebuilding of the team from the ground up. It will take a while too as their farm system is relatively barren, especially after the Erik Bedard trade.
If he can handle trades and free agent signings as well as he handled the draft for the Brewers, the Mariners have a gem on their staff. He’ll be thrown into the fire immediately as he has a few holes open now due to free agency and he’ll have to decide whether or not to trade Adrian Beltre.
Brewers fans, don’t think you can get Bedard on the cheap this off-season. If he’s any good, he’ll keep Bedard around and build up this trade value before trading him.
It’s Just Speculation: Peavy Trade Options – Houston Astros
Supposedly, San Diego Padres owner John Moores has had to cut the 2009 payroll because of his recent divorce proceedings, placing GM Kevin Towers in a predicament. Rumors are rampant that the Padres are agressively looking to unload star pitcher Jake Peavy as they try to cut payroll and rebuild the team. Assistant GM Paul DePodesta, through a post on his blog, won’t even deny that the Padres are shopping Peavy around.
The fourth team we’ll look at is the Houston Astros. Houston is supposedly on Peavy’s “list of five”, the teams that he would immediately approve a trade to. The Astros would love to match him up with Roy Oswalt for a great one-two punch in their rotation.
The thing is, do the Astros have anything to offer that’s remotely competitive to what the other teams in the hunt have? They don’t have a decent center field prospect, or even a decent middle infield prospect to offer. But most importantly, they don’t have a top-flight pitching prospect to offer. Felipe Paulino is probably the closest thing and he’s been injured for most to the season. They could offer up Wandy Rodriguez, but what would they package around him?
Sure, Astros fans could point out that they did have Troy Patton and Jason Hirsh in the fold. But in defense of the GMs that traded them away, both have been injured recently and not lived up to the potential needed to obtain Jake Peavy.
Please note, that’s probably one of the few times that I’ll say much in the defense of Ed Wade.
