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Friday, October 29, 2004 |
Internet Baseball Writers Awards
And I didn't vote, even though they sent me a ballot. Darn it! You can see the complete list of Internet Baseball Writers Awards at all-baseball.com. Naturally, these are confusingly named with Baseball Prospectus's Internet Baseball Awards (NL and AL). Here's my votes, now that it's too late. I'm too lazy to provide player links; you can look 'em up yourself.
National League Player of the Year
- Barry Bonds -- I'll agree with Rich Lederer, Barry needs his own award so we can find out who the second-place contestant is.
- Adrian Beltre -- The argument against is essentially that the Dodgers minus Belly are a third-place team; the MVP shouldn't get bonus points simply because he's carrying the team, he should also be a standout wherever you put him. However, if you accept that argument, you also forget what the voters did when they handed A-Rod his award last year.
- Albert Pujols
American League Player of the Year
- Vladimir Guerrero -- Richard was right: his performance during the last week of the season was nothing short of miraculous. And we have some reason to think next year will be even better now that he's had a full year to adjust to the AL.
- Johan Santana -- who deserves the Cy Young. The Twins are too pitching-heavy, if that's possible, and their rotation too heavily weighted toward two guys -- Santana and Radke -- for them to be a force anywhere except in their own division.
- Manny Ramirez.
National League Pitcher of the Year
- Randy Johnson
- Roger Clemens
- Ben Sheets
American League Pitcher of the Year
- Johan Santana
- Curt Schilling -- I'm tempted, after the postseason, to put him in first place, but Santana was a better pitcher.
- Tim Hudson -- up until September.
National League Debut of the Year
- Khalil Greene
- Jason Bay
- Akinori Otsuka
American League Debut of the Year
- Bobby Crosby
- Justin Morneau -- without whom the Twins aren't able to unload Doug Mankiewicz.
- Justin Duchsherer
National League Manager of the Year
- Bobby Cox -- sure, I'm inclined to think he's done a great job given the junk he's accumulated. Leo Mazzone turned the leftovers in the rotation into a main course, and somehow they got offensive miracles again. If pitchers get awards based on W-L records, managers do the same, and I wonder whether it's just.
- Jim Tracy -- A homer decision all the way. Whatevs.
- Phil Garner -- considering he was just an interim manager, he deserves at least some of the credit for righting a sinking ship in Houston. Still, he's something of a nitwit and doesn't make good in-game decisions.
American League Manager of the Year
- Buck Showalter -- Is the Rangers' record his doing? Or should we credit John Hart for finding a team dumb enough to take A-Rod?
- Mike Scioscia -- again, a homer pull. No explaination necessary.
- Ron Gardenhire -- mainly for his W-L record, but the credit perhaps belongs more to Terry Ryan.
National League Executive of the Year
- Walt Jocketty -- for the one kick-ass trade for Larry Walker.
- Paul DePodesta -- given the lack of time he had, DePo has paid attention to the details, made smart trades, and done a spectacular job.
- John Schuerholz -- another year, another division title. Ho hum. And on spare parts!
American League Executive of the Year
- Theo Epstein -- sure, he had the luxury of the second-highest payroll in the majors. Sure, he stumbled away from making the worst trade in the offseason.
- Bill Stoneman -- partly a homer choice, partly because he clearly had the dumb luck to back into Vlad, you have to give some credit for assembling the team that won the division.
- John Hart -- if you're going to give Epstein credit for accidentally avoiding A-Rod, you have to give Hart credit for admitting his contract was an enormous mistake -- and doing the only thing about it he could.
Comments:
Brrring brring.
Rich Harden, Justin Duchscherer, and Joe Blanton on the line.
Rich Harden, Justin Duchscherer, and Joe Blanton on the line.
# posted by 
: 10/30/2004 12:51:00 PM
: 10/30/2004 12:51:00 PM
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