Errr...Diebold Ate My Ballot?
I'm a little late with this, and Bob has already beat me to it. Without further ado, here is my ballot for this year's postseason awards. As always, this is unrecognized by the BBWAA. Additional commentary, usually available only on the DVD version of this column, will be provided here, free of charge.
AL MVP
1. Derek Jeter
2. Johan Santana
3. Carlos Guillen
4. Joe Mauer
5. Travis Hafner
6. Grady Sizemore
7. Frank Thomas
8. David Ortiz
9. Roy Halladay
10. Jermaine Dye
How odd that a reigning MVP who hit .290/.392/.523, scored 113 runs and drove in 121 couldn't even make the top ten on my ballot, but that's the kind of dismal off-year that Alex Rodriguez had. In retrospect, I should have given him Ortiz' spot.
I've made many snarky comments over the years about Derek Jeter, and, while I'm sure I'll be making more, his play in 2006 is pretty much beyond reproach. Santana was his only real challenger for this award. Guillen and Mauer had good cases, but fall short because (a) Jeter and Guillen play the same position and Jeter clearly ranks ahead, and (b) Mauer, outstanding as he is, is only the second-best player on his own team.
AL Cy Young Award
1. Johan Santana
2. Roy Halladay
3. Chien-Ming Wang
4. Barry Zito
5. Justin Verlander
The biggest no-brainer in the balloting. Santana is far and away the best pitcher in the game right now. The missing name, of course, is Francisco Liriano, who was even more dominating than Santana, but did it for only 121 innings. I just couldn't bring myself to vote for someone pitching so few innings, no matter how overpowering they were.
AL Rookie of the Year
1. Justin Verlander
2. Francisco Liriano
3. Jared Weaver
4. Joel Zumaya
5. Jonathan Pappelbon
A pretty fine group of young arms, I'd have to say. Pitch for pitch, Liriano was obviously better than any of the others, but Verlander is also pretty damned impressive and stayed more or less healthy, which I gave a lot of weight to. Pappelbon also was hurt, which cut his value in my rankings. I'd take any of these guys in a minute, thruth be told.
AL Manager of the Year.
1. Jim Leyland
2. Ken Macha
3. Were there three good managers in the AL?
Leyland had the Cinderella team and deserves credit. He did well to identify Curtis Granderson as his best leadoff hitter despite his flaws, and was patient and careful with his young pitchers. Macha didn't please Billy Beane, but his lost their #1 starter for most of the season and had a lot of sub-optimal bats in the lineup, yet still won 93 games and a postseason round.
If I had to pick a third, it would probably be Mike Scoscia, but it wasn't one of his better years. Joe Torre was heavily quoted in a national publication running down his best player, John Gibbons got into a fight with a pitcher, Ron Gardenshire cost his team games early in the season by making terrible personnel decisions (although these were later rectified), Ozzie Guillen made a public spectacle of himself many times, Buck Showalter lost his team and eventually his job...it wasn't a pretty year for managers in this league.
NL MVP
1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Carlos Beltran
4. Ryan Howard
5. Lance Berkman
6. Jose Reyes
7. Chase Utley
8. Chris Carpenter
9. Roy Oswalt
10. Brandon Webb
Like the AL ballot looking odd without Alex Rodriguez, the NL is missing the name Barry Bonds. He had a case for making this one, but I decided to go with the three pitchers instead. Judgement call. Pujols is a close winner over Cabrerra and Beltran. Howard gets a lot of support, but, like Carlos Guillen, is clearly second best to the guy who plays the same position. Retrospect tells me that I should have moved Beltran into the number two spot; he had a monster year both at the plate and in the field.
NL Cy Young Award
1. Chris Carpenter
2. Roy Oswalt
3. Brandon Webb
4. Bronson Arroyo
5. John Smoltz
Pick any of the top three out of a hat, and you'd be right. In fact, that's pretty much how I made my choice.
NL Rookie of the Year
1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Ryan Zimmerman
3. Josh Johnson
4. Matt Cain
5. Prince Fielder
Ramirez came into the season with a lot of hype that I wasn't buying, but he sold me. Zimmerman still looks for all the world like the 21st Century Brooks Robinson. The NL had a very large and very impressive rookie crop this year.
A lot of people voted for Dan Uggla. Uggla had a terrific year, but I didn't pick him for two reasons. He had an on-base average of .339, which is not all that special. Ramirez, Zimmerman, and Fielder all did better, as did Luke Scott, Josh Willingham, and Chris Duncan, among others. And Uggla is 26, a bit old to have "future star" written on him. fair or not, I give a lot of weight to what I see as a rookie's future, which is a good way to avoid voting mistakes like Sandy Alomar Jr. over Frank Thomas or Pat Listach over Kenny Lofton or Marty Cordova over (pick one) Garrett Anderson or Andy Pettitte or Troy Percival or Shawn Green or Ray Durham.
NL Manager of the Year
1. Joe Girardi
2. Willie Randolph
3. Tony LaRussa
Yes, it was a bit of a spite vote towards Jeffrey the Destroyer, but the Marlins played far, far better baseball than most of the media and general public expected (although we here at the Palatial Baseball Site weren't all that surprised), and Girardi deserves credit for at least some of that. Randolph gets a vote for, if nothing else, being right about Jose Reyes actually being a valuable leadoff hitter, and sticking with that despite the naysayers.
AL MVP
1. Derek Jeter
2. Johan Santana
3. Carlos Guillen
4. Joe Mauer
5. Travis Hafner
6. Grady Sizemore
7. Frank Thomas
8. David Ortiz
9. Roy Halladay
10. Jermaine Dye
How odd that a reigning MVP who hit .290/.392/.523, scored 113 runs and drove in 121 couldn't even make the top ten on my ballot, but that's the kind of dismal off-year that Alex Rodriguez had. In retrospect, I should have given him Ortiz' spot.
I've made many snarky comments over the years about Derek Jeter, and, while I'm sure I'll be making more, his play in 2006 is pretty much beyond reproach. Santana was his only real challenger for this award. Guillen and Mauer had good cases, but fall short because (a) Jeter and Guillen play the same position and Jeter clearly ranks ahead, and (b) Mauer, outstanding as he is, is only the second-best player on his own team.
AL Cy Young Award
1. Johan Santana
2. Roy Halladay
3. Chien-Ming Wang
4. Barry Zito
5. Justin Verlander
The biggest no-brainer in the balloting. Santana is far and away the best pitcher in the game right now. The missing name, of course, is Francisco Liriano, who was even more dominating than Santana, but did it for only 121 innings. I just couldn't bring myself to vote for someone pitching so few innings, no matter how overpowering they were.
AL Rookie of the Year
1. Justin Verlander
2. Francisco Liriano
3. Jared Weaver
4. Joel Zumaya
5. Jonathan Pappelbon
A pretty fine group of young arms, I'd have to say. Pitch for pitch, Liriano was obviously better than any of the others, but Verlander is also pretty damned impressive and stayed more or less healthy, which I gave a lot of weight to. Pappelbon also was hurt, which cut his value in my rankings. I'd take any of these guys in a minute, thruth be told.
AL Manager of the Year.
1. Jim Leyland
2. Ken Macha
3. Were there three good managers in the AL?
Leyland had the Cinderella team and deserves credit. He did well to identify Curtis Granderson as his best leadoff hitter despite his flaws, and was patient and careful with his young pitchers. Macha didn't please Billy Beane, but his lost their #1 starter for most of the season and had a lot of sub-optimal bats in the lineup, yet still won 93 games and a postseason round.
If I had to pick a third, it would probably be Mike Scoscia, but it wasn't one of his better years. Joe Torre was heavily quoted in a national publication running down his best player, John Gibbons got into a fight with a pitcher, Ron Gardenshire cost his team games early in the season by making terrible personnel decisions (although these were later rectified), Ozzie Guillen made a public spectacle of himself many times, Buck Showalter lost his team and eventually his job...it wasn't a pretty year for managers in this league.
NL MVP
1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Carlos Beltran
4. Ryan Howard
5. Lance Berkman
6. Jose Reyes
7. Chase Utley
8. Chris Carpenter
9. Roy Oswalt
10. Brandon Webb
Like the AL ballot looking odd without Alex Rodriguez, the NL is missing the name Barry Bonds. He had a case for making this one, but I decided to go with the three pitchers instead. Judgement call. Pujols is a close winner over Cabrerra and Beltran. Howard gets a lot of support, but, like Carlos Guillen, is clearly second best to the guy who plays the same position. Retrospect tells me that I should have moved Beltran into the number two spot; he had a monster year both at the plate and in the field.
NL Cy Young Award
1. Chris Carpenter
2. Roy Oswalt
3. Brandon Webb
4. Bronson Arroyo
5. John Smoltz
Pick any of the top three out of a hat, and you'd be right. In fact, that's pretty much how I made my choice.
NL Rookie of the Year
1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Ryan Zimmerman
3. Josh Johnson
4. Matt Cain
5. Prince Fielder
Ramirez came into the season with a lot of hype that I wasn't buying, but he sold me. Zimmerman still looks for all the world like the 21st Century Brooks Robinson. The NL had a very large and very impressive rookie crop this year.
A lot of people voted for Dan Uggla. Uggla had a terrific year, but I didn't pick him for two reasons. He had an on-base average of .339, which is not all that special. Ramirez, Zimmerman, and Fielder all did better, as did Luke Scott, Josh Willingham, and Chris Duncan, among others. And Uggla is 26, a bit old to have "future star" written on him. fair or not, I give a lot of weight to what I see as a rookie's future, which is a good way to avoid voting mistakes like Sandy Alomar Jr. over Frank Thomas or Pat Listach over Kenny Lofton or Marty Cordova over (pick one) Garrett Anderson or Andy Pettitte or Troy Percival or Shawn Green or Ray Durham.
NL Manager of the Year
1. Joe Girardi
2. Willie Randolph
3. Tony LaRussa
Yes, it was a bit of a spite vote towards Jeffrey the Destroyer, but the Marlins played far, far better baseball than most of the media and general public expected (although we here at the Palatial Baseball Site weren't all that surprised), and Girardi deserves credit for at least some of that. Randolph gets a vote for, if nothing else, being right about Jose Reyes actually being a valuable leadoff hitter, and sticking with that despite the naysayers.
posted by Jim at
8:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home