MLB Season Awards
As the MLB season drew to a close in the last week of October, the World Series title went to the Philadelphia Phillies, a team who started the same 9 players Game 1 of the World Series as they did on Opening Day in April. The Phillies played very well in the postseason and took care of the Tampa Bay Rays with ease.
With the World Series done, attention turned to off season trades and free agents. There are many big names in the market right now and there has been much talk regarding, but not limited to, Jake Peavy, Manny Ramirez, and Mark Texiera. These off season trade talks will continue to happen all winter but there is something more important happening right now.
The Season Awards have started to be announced with the MVP's being announced Monday and earlier today.
The first awards announced were the Gold Gloves early last week. The list of usual characters were present but there were a few that were out of the ordinary. Specifically Mike Young, the SS for the Texas Rangers, and Nate McClouth , OF for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both of these players are good fielders, but in no way, shape, or form do they deserve a Gold Glove. As is often the case with Gold Glove winners, the hitting aspect comes into play when determining between two solid fielders. In my eyes, this is a big reason why both players were given this prestigious award. Other questionable picks include 1B Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres, OF Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies, and two of the three OF's from the AL, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Grady Sizemore of the Cleveland Indians.
The Rookie of the Year choices were more clear cut and quite easy in all honesty. Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Geovanny Soto of the Chicago Cubs were both fantastic in their rookie seasons. Both players had excellent gloves as well as excellent bats. "I didn't start the year in the big leagues. I struggled all the way through high school ball and college ball. The journey that I went through as a baseball player -- to be sitting here means a lot,"Longoria was quoted as saying in an a phone interview after the announcement was made. Longoria was the first unanimous winner of the AL Rookie of the Year Award since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997. As someone who watched this growth from the days of his collegiate summer ball with the Chatham A's, I can certainly attest to that. There is no question that "Longo", as we called him at the Chatham A's Baseball Camp that he helped coach, was a stud when with the team. However, there were certainly some times when he showed that there was certainly room to improve. Throughout the year, I was thrilled to see Longo gain the glory and success that he deserves. He is a fantastic ball player who genuinely loves what he does and he will continue to make a name for himself as he grows as a person and a baseball player with the Rays.
Geovanny Soto had a stellar year for the Cubs and was splendid behind the plate. He was also able to step up to the plate and knock some hits out that helped the Cubs in their regular season success. Soto was the first catcher since Mike Piazza in 1993 to win the award in either league. He was also the first NL rookie catcher to start in the All Star Game. Soto also caught a no-hitter this year from the hand of Carlos Zambrano.
The next award announced was the NL Cy Young. The award went to Tim Lincecum of the San Fransisco Giants. The award was deservedly won by Lincecum who went 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts. Other contenders were Brandon Webb, Johan Santana, and Brad Lidge.
The AL Cy Young went to Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians. Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 170 strikeouts. He also added 4 complete games and two shutouts to the aforementioned stats. Lee finished second in the AL with a WHIP of 1.11 and Innings Pitched with 223.1. Lee walked away with the award but the other contenders were Roy Halladay, Fransisco Rodriguez, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
The Manager of the Year Awards were given to Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays and Lou Piniella of the Chicago Cubs. Maddon won the award in about the second month of the season when the Rays were still at the top of the AL East. He cemented his name when at the halfway point the Rays were still atop the East. Then, he added to his credits by taking the Rays from worst to first in the AL East and the AL as a whole. Maddon took his young group and developed them fantastically to a team that looked as if they had playing in the big leagues for many years.
The NL MVP went to Albert Pujols who had another great year for the St. Louis Cardinals. Pujols is consistently in the top five players in the league every year and this year was no different as he hit for .357 with 37 dingers and 116 RBIs. Pujols also did it defensively, having another solid year with the glove. This is Pujols' second MVP award.
The AL MVP goes to a hometown favorite in Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox just a year after being named the AL Rookie of the Year. Yes, many will argue that Pedroia doesn't deserve the MVP, but in all honesty, no one did. There was no clear cut MVP in the American League this year. No one carried their team on their shoulders. There were a few great players but none were any greater than the others. However, the voters decided that Pedroia was the best of the year and for good reason. Pedroia hit .326 with 17 HRs and 83 RBIs but more importantly got on base frequently for the Red Sox and was driven in by the middle part of the lineup and was a big reason why the Red Sox made the postseason. Along with leading the league in hits, doubles, and runs, Pedroia was also successful on 20 of 21 steal attempts. The other major candidates for the award were second-place finisher Justin Morneau and teammate Joe Mauer who both had great seasons for the Minnesota Twins and Fransisco Rodriguez who was completely dominant and amassed a record 62 saves this season for the Los Angeles Angels.
All in all, it was an extremely interesting baseball season with plenty of news stories and trades as well as the development of the Tampa Bay Rays into AL Champions. The off-season is shaping up to be a good one with a few trades already made and a few high-class free agents left to fight for.
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