Wednesday, October 10, 2012

BBA: End of Season Awards Ballot

Last off-season BJP became a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. At the end of each member blog votes on 5 awards. They are the Manager of the Year award,Rookie of the Year,Reliever of the Year,Cy Young, and MVP. We get votes for the A.L awards only because we are Blue Jays blog. This will be my official ballot. 


Connie Mack Award (Manager of the Year)
1. Bob Melvin
2. Buck Showalter
3. Joe Maddon

Melvin was my choice here because he was able to make a winner out of a team that had no business finishing with 75+ wins. They won 94 games, the AL West, and they finished they year with a starting rotation entirely comprised of rookies. It takes one heck of a manager to be able to get a team that is filled with question marks on opening day into the postseason, even though they went through so much. Brett Anderson, their best pitcher was injured until late in the season, and their 2nd best pitcher, Brandon McCarthy almost died while playing in September. Oh, did I mention they traded their 3 best players in the off-season last year, and let their best hitter walk in free agency? Ya, Melvin did a pretty good job this season. The Orioles aren't actually good, their bullpen is good, that's why Showalter doesn't win this one.

Willie Mays Award (Rookie of the Year)
2. Mike Trout
3. Mike Trout

Do I really need to explain my vote? I didn't think so. I'll sum it up anyways. 175 wRC+. 10.7 B-R WAR. 5.32 WPA. Really fast. Really good at hitting. Really good at defense. Really good at everything! Trout wins by a landslide over any other rookie.

Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever)
1. Fernando Rodney
2. Greg Holland
3. Ernesto Frieri

Another award that is pretty crystal clear. Rodney had an ERA of 0.60, the lowest ever for a qualifying reliever, and only gave up 5 earned runs all season long in 74.2 IP. He was lights outs this year for the Rays, and I know that every time the Jays played the Rays, I was not looking forward to the 9th inning. Although I hate Rodney and his curved hat, I need to give him the award, he just had such a dominating season. Holland was awesome for the Royals in 2012, posting a K/9 of 12.22, and a WAR of 2.2, good enough for 2nd in the league behind the arrow shooter. Frieri led the league in K/9 at 13.25 in 54.1 IP and produced a 2.32 ERA to help his cause.

Walter Johnson Award (Cy Young)
1. Justin Verlander
2. Felix Hernandez
3. David Price

This was the hardest award for me to vote on without a doubt. Verlander and King Felix had incredible seasons, but, once again, Justin comes out on top. Price had a similar season to those 2, but pitched around 20 less innings, eliminating him from contention for the first 2 places. Here is a link to a custom leader board on FanGraphs so you can decide who you would have voted for best A.L Pitcher. 

Stan Musial Award
1. Mike Trout
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Robinson Cano

There is nothing I can write here that you haven't read yet, so I'll try to keep it simple. Average isn't a true judge of a player's offensive capabilities. RBI's are as good as a stat as pitcher wins. They are completely team based, and should not influence anybody in their voting. The real triple crown was won by Mike Trout. He led the league in wOBA,wRC+, and WAR. Much better than the triple crown of old. If this award was the best hitter award, than I could see voting for Miggy, but it isn't. This is an all around award, and Trout provides that. He is superb offensively, he robs people in the outfield, and his base running is a pleasure to watch. His 10+ WAR isn't only provided by his offence, it's provided by his all around awesomeness. 

These are the days that the winners will be announced for the awards. I assume they will be announced on the BBA website/twitter feed, but I don't know because I've never done this before.


October 15: Connie Mack Award (manager of the year)
October 16: Willie Mays Award (rookie of the year)
October 17: Goose Gossage Award (top reliever)
October 18: Walter Johnson Award (Cy Young)
October 19: Stan Musial Award (MVP)

Agree or disagree with my picks? Comment below!

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