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Daily News and Notes
by Richard Van Zandt, BaseballEvolution.com



Notes through games of Tuesday, September 26

Daily News and Notes

2006 Rookie of the Year,

Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Awards

Special Edition

 

With the end of the season upon us it’s time to turn our attention to the leagues’ post season awards.  In an outstanding rookie class, which young player will be voted as the best of the bunch?  Which pitchers have so separated themselves from the pack that they deserve to be recognized as baseball’s best?  And finally, which players in each league have so distinguished themselves from the rest that they alone deserve to be noted as the most valuable in the game?

 

Over the past three weeks DN&N has given you a look at the top contenders for each of the three major awards.  On September 5 we previewed the Rookie of the Year prospects, a week later we took a closer look at the Cy Young contenders for both leagues, and then last week we got up close and personal with the statistics for all of the most deserving candidates for the games most renowned honor, the Most Valuable Player Award.

 

This week DN&N – as a bit of a rookie myself this season – is proud to present its first ever Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Award selections.  I’ll step out on a limb even with four days still left to go in the season and declare who ought to be the winners in both leagues in each of these categories.  But I’ll go even further than that and give you our top 5 in each category for both the American and National leagues.  So without further delay, DN&N presents its first ever Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Award Special Edition!

 

2006 American League Rookie of the Year

 

Both leagues in 2006 featured a stellar class of rookies.  Among the favorites in the American League going into the season as predicted by most of those here at BaseballEvolution were Ian Kinsler and Jonathan Papelbon.  Both in fact had successful rookie years, with Papelbon turning out a remarkable season as the surprise closer for the Red Sox.  My pre-season pick?  Well that was Japanese import Kenji Johjima despite my belief that Japanese players should not be eligible, as they have long since established themselves as professional baseball players who should be recognized as more than rookies.  Nevertheless, they are eligible and thus he was my pick.  So how did Johjima do?  Well he did just fine, ranking in the top five in the league.  None of those guys however gets my vote (as if I had one) for the American League Rookie of the Year Award.  That honor is bestowed upon Detroit rookie pitcher Justin Verlander, without whom the Tigers likely would not have made the playoffs.  Verlander stepped it up when Mike Maroth went down early in the year, and despite struggling during the dog days of summer, he put up numbers just too good ignore.  17-9 with a 3.63 ERA while leading all rookies with 186.0 innings pitched and helping to carry Detroit to an unlikely division title is enough to get my vote as Rookie of the Year, particularly in a season unlikely to feature a single 20-game winner throughout the major leagues.  Crying foul, are you?  What about Francisco Liriano?  Well his numbers are truly fantastic, and had he done that for a full season he’d surely have my vote, but his 16 starts to Verlander’s 30 cannot be overlooked, and thus Liriano comes up just short.  If only we could have seen what he could do with at least 25 starts…

 

My Top Five Rookie of the Year picks – American League

 

AL ROY

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

S

BS

ERA

WHIP

1 Verlander

Det

17

9

186.0

187

78

75

21

60

124

30

30

1

1

0

0

3.63

1.33

2 Liriano

Min

12

3

121.0

89

31

29

9

32

144

28

16

0

0

1

0

2.16

1.00

3 Weaver

LAA

11

2

116.3

84

31

30

13

31

100

18

18

0

0

0

0

2.32

0.99

4 Papelbon

Bos

4

2

68.3

40

7

7

3

13

75

59

0

0

0

35

6

0.92

0.78

 

AL ROY

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

5 Johjima

Sea

140

489

61

143

25

1

18

76

20

44

0.292

0.335

0.458

0.793

 

Apologies to Joel Zumaya, Nick Markakis, Ian Kinsler and Melky Cabrera.

 

2006 National League Rookie of the Year

 

Quite possibly the greatest rookie class in the history of the game, there are no less than 15 great rookies who in another year would merit top 5 consideration.  Slimming the list down to just 5 clearly wasn’t easy.  If only baseball had that problem every year. 

 

There were six different predictors and six different predictions here at BaseballEvolution when it came to pre-season picks for the NL ROY.  Josh Barfield and just one Marlin - Jeremy Hermida – were among those picked before the season began to be the leagues top rookie, as were ineligible players such as Ian Snell (54 IP combined in ’04 and ’05) and Conor Jackson (more than 45 days on the D’Backs roster in 2005 beginning with his recall on July 27).  I myself did pretty well with my selection of Prince Fielder while Eric came closest to nailing it with his pick of Ryan Zimmerman.

 

In the end, the top ten will wind up littered with Marlins, though not a single one of them will be Hermida.  Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Hanley Ramirez, Mike Jacobs, Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco, and no-hit phenom Anibal Sanchez all could make an argument that they belong.  So, however, do Zimmerman, Fielder, and others such as the Dodgers’ duo of Takashi Saito (again despite my belief that he is no rookie) and Jonathan Broxton, the Padres’ 1-2 punch of Clay Hensley and Cla Meredith, and the Giants 21-year old flame throwing rookie Matt Cain. 

 

So who gets my vote?  Did I say it wasn’t easy?  No matter who I ended up picking, it’d be hard to deny that someone else didn’t also deserve it.  Well in the end, I went with Marlins record setting second sacker Dan Uggla, the rule V pick who came out of nowhere to become the top rookie in what may be the greatest rookie class ever.  Uggla had 26 HR, 103 R, 89 RBI while also displaying a knack for situational hitting - his 8 SF tying Fielder for the lead among all ML rookies and his 7 SH placing him second among freshmen in the NL behind only pitcher Matt Cain.  He also hit into the fewest double plays (5) among qualified rookie batters and he hit very well (.329) with runners on base.  So who did he edge out?  Well I can’t leave it with just the top 5.

 

 My Top Ten Rookie of the Year picks – National League

 

NL ROY

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

1 Uggla

Fla

148

586

103

165

26

7

26

89

46

121

0.282

0.339

0.483

0.822

2 Ramirez

Fla

152

608

115

176

45

10

15

57

54

123

0.289

0.350

0.470

0.821

3 Zimmerman

Wsh

151

594

82

168

46

3

19

104

58

120

0.283

0.347

0.466

0.813

4 Fielder

Mil

152

548

80

150

34

1

26

78

58

121

0.274

0.351

0.482

0.833

 

NL ROY

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

S

BS

ERA

WHIP

5 Cain

SF

13

11

185.0

148

89

84

18

85

175

31

30

1

1

0

0

4.09

1.26

6 Olsen

Fla

12

9

174.7

155

90

77

23

71

160

30

30

0

0

0

0

3.97

1.29

7 Johnson

Fla

12

7

157.0

136

63

54

14

68

133

31

24

0

0

0

1

3.10

1.30

 

NL ROY

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

8 Willingham

Fla

137

485

60

136

28

1

25

73

54

105

0.280

0.362

0.497

0.858

 

NL ROY

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

S

BS

ERA

WHIP

9 Saito

LAD

6

2

75.3

45

19

18

3

23

101

69

0

0

0

21

2

2.15

0.90

10 Meredith

SD

5

1

48.7

27

4

4

1

6

35

42

0

0

0

0

1

0.74

0.68

 

2006 American League Cy Young Award

 

Can’t be much dispute this season about who deserves to win the AL Cy Young award.  Johan Santana has been the best in the game once again with the Twins going 27-7 in games he has started.  Improving his record to 19-6 and dropping his ERA to 2.77 with a 3-2 win over Kansas City on Tuesday, Santana remains poised to become just the 15th AL pitcher in history – the 35th overall – to win the pitching triple crown (Wins, Strikeouts, ERA).  He currently leads ALL major league pitchers in BOTH leagues in all three categories.  Santana is about as much of a slam dunk to win his second career CYA as it gets.

 

My Top Five Cy Young Award Picks – American League

 

AL Cy Young

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

ERA

WHIP

1 Santana

Min

19

6

233.7

186

79

72

24

47

245

34

34

1

0

2.77

1.00

2 Halladay

Tor

16

5

220.0

208

82

78

19

34

132

32

32

4

0

3.19

1.10

3 Mussina

NY

14

6

186.7

175

81

74

21

34

166

30

30

1

0

3.57

1.12

4 Nathan

Min

6

0

66.3

36

12

12

3

15

92

62

0

0

0

1.63

0.77

5 Haren

Oak

14

13

217.0

216

106

99

29

44

169

33

33

2

0

4.11

1.20

 

Oh, my pre-season pick? 

 

AL Cy Young

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

S

BS

ERA

WHIP

Colon

LAA

1

5

56.3

71

39

32

11

11

31

10

10

1

1

0

0

5.11

1.46

 

Oops.  Kudos to Keith, the only one among us all to have gotten this one right.  C.C. Sabathia (if he had a few more starts and a little more luck…), Rich Harden and Roy Halladay (2) were the others to garner pre-season votes here at BBE. 

 

2006 National League Cy Young Award

 

In the National League, the battle was quite a bit closer with Brandon Webb and reigning CYA winner Chris Carpenter rising to the top in a two man battle.  The two, in fact, were so close that my decision flipped on the outcome of Tuesday’s contests.  With the Cardinals losing seven straight and now threatening to produce one of the most historic chokes in history, Carpenter’s less-than-inspired outing in the heat of the collapse (6 runs in 7 innings, albeit 4 in the seventh with Tony LaRussa reluctant to go to a tired and Isringhausen-less bullpen) as opposed to Webb’s dominating performance against San Francisco (despite being denied his league best 17th win when the Giants mounted a late rally) is just enough to turn the tide and give my vote to Arizona’s ace as the leagues top pitcher.

 

My Top Five Cy Young Award Picks – National League

 

NL Cy Young

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

ERA

WHIP

1 Webb

Ari

16

7

231.0

208

84

74

15

48

173

32

32

5

3

2.88

1.11

2 Carpenter

StL

15

8

221.7

194

81

76

21

43

184

32

32

5

3

3.09

1.07

3 Oswalt

Hou

14

8

213.7

216

76

73

18

36

160

32

31

2

0

3.07

1.18

4 Arroyo

Cin

14

10

233.7

215

95

85

31

61

181

34

34

3

1

3.27

1.18

5 Zambrano

ChC

16

6

207.0

159

87

79

20

111

201

32

32

0

0

3.43

1.30

 

And uh, my uh…pre-season pick?

 

NL Cy Young

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

S

BS

ERA

WHIP

Peavy

SD

10

14

196.3

182

91

90

23

58

208

31

31

2

0

0

0

4.13

1.22

 

Uh..right.  Well then.  Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez and three selections of Carlos Zambrano round out the BBE staff picks in this category without a single mention of either Webb or Carp.  Onward we go then, eh?

 

2006 American League Most Valuable Player Award

 

Derek Jeter, for his part in leading the Yankees to their 9th straight division title, is the favorite to win the award.  But he’s not my pick.  While the Yankees’ captain had a fantastic season, his club strolled easily into the playoffs while Justin Morneau helped to drive the Twins from a horrible start and into the playoffs in part by batting .359 with 24 HR after May 30 and by coming up big in the clutch, batting .368 in a pennant race in September.  It’s that intangible that gives him the edge in my book and gets him my vote as the American League Most Valuable Player.  Jeter finishes second, but nearly edging both of them out was Santana, who proved as valuable as Morneau and Mauer in leading the Twins back from a 9-16 start through April to a record of 85-47 since then.

 

My Top Five Most Valuable Player Award Picks – American League

 

AL MVP

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

1 Morneau

Min

151

568

95

184

36

1

34

129

53

90

0.324

0.380

0.570

0.950

2 Jeter

NYY

149

603

113

205

37

3

14

96

67

99

0.340

0.414

0.481

0.895

 

AL MVP

TM

W

L

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

G

GS

CG

SO

ERA

WHIP

3 Santana

Min

19

6

233.7

186

79

72

24

47

245

34

34

1

0

2.77

1.00

 

AL MVP

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

4 Mauer

Min

136

505

83

176

34

4

12

82

79

52

0.349

0.432

0.503

0.935

5 Dye

ChW

144

532

102

169

27

3

43

119

59

117

0.318

0.387

0.622

1.010

 

My preseason pick for AL MVP? 

 

AL MVP

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

Konerko

ChW

150

559

97

175

29

0

35

113

60

101

0.313

0.382

0.553

0.935

 

Certainly could have turned out worse. Not an MVP type performance, but certainly I have no shame in that pick.  Heck, no one else nailed this one either with two pre-season votes for Mark Teixeira and one each for Vladimir Guerrero, Travis Hafner and Manny Ramirez.

 

2006 National League Most Valuable Player Award

 

It’s been a two horse race in the NL for the MVP award between my pre-season pick, Albert Pujols, and last season’s ROY award winner, Ryan Howard.  Both players have put up some spectacular numbers with Howard chasing 60 home runs and Pujols himself chasing 50 and currently tying his career high in RBI (130) despite missing three weeks in June with a strained oblique.  But while at one point it seemed as though Pujols would win the intangible wild card – St. Louis making the playoffs while the Phillies go home – Philadelphia now sports a better record than the Cardinals by a game and a half, and trail in the Wild Card chase by just a game.  Meanwhile, St. Louis has seen their lead in the Central shrink to just 1.5 games with five to play.  In addition, Philadelphia on July 31 sat at 49-55, 5.5 games behind the Wild Card leader.  With Bobby Abreu traded at the deadline, the Phillies then jumped on Howard’s big back and have ridden him to a 33-20 record since that time with Little Papi leading the charge by batting .378 with 23 HR and 59 RBI since August 1; even more impressively batting .420 with 9 HR and 18 RBI so far in September despite getting the Bonds treatment (12 IBB in Sept. – 10 in August). MVP Awards are often won in the final month of the season and so too is the case this year.  You really couldn’t go that wrong with either player, but for the 2006 season, Ryan Howard is my selection as the leagues Most Valuable Player.

 

My Top Five Most Valuable Player Award Picks – National League

 

NL MVP

TM

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

AVE

OBP

SLG

OPS

1 Howard

Phi

153

561

102

177

24

1

58

145

99

173

0.316

0.421

0.672

1.093

2 Pujols

StL

137

512

113

168

31

1

46

130

88

49

0.328

0.428

0.662

1.090

3 Cabrera

Fla

152

557

108

187

50

2

25

111

81

104

0.336

0.427

0.567

0.994

4 Berkman

Hou

146

512

92

162

29

0

43

130

92

104

0.316

0.419

0.625

1.044

5 Bonds

SF

128

361

73

98

22

0

26

77

114

49

0.271

0.457

0.548

1.005

 

I wasn’t the only one to go with Pujols prior to the season, with Sir Albert garnering 3 other pre-season picks.  Miguel Cabrera and Adam Dunn were the others. 


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