Grading My Awards Candidates

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a relaxing and baseball filled weekend; I know I did. The Whitecaps happened to be on the road for the weekend so I was lucky enough to spend it with my awesome family, most of it being in the sun (bad idea). 

But for the sake of carrying on, I figured I would continue with my self-evaluations and do my award winners. Here's how it will work: I'll rehash my guesses, evaluate them and how each player is doing, and then move on to who should win if the season were to end today. I'm not going to project numbers or trade deadlines because that's just too risky. Here we go!

AL MVP:
My guess was Mike Trout. A lot of folks feel that he should have won one of the last two years over Cabrera (listen to anyone on ESPN and they'll say so), and whatever you think, that's fine, go ahead. Trout this year is playing a different game, hitting for more power (20 HR, 23 doubles, .606 slugging) but not stealing as many bases. At a .308 average, it's low for him and his career but still a great average. The Angels are also playing really good baseball right now, but I don't think that's all because of Trout. Pujols and Josh Hamilton are finally producing how the Angels wanted them to and because of that, they are sitting pretty at 50-36 (2nd most wins in the AL). But he shouldn't win MVP. Who should?

Jose Altuve. I can't say enough about this guy. The Astros aren't a great team, yeah, we get that. They won't make the playoff this year, and maybe not for another few years, but man is this guy having a great season. Altuve, just a year older than Trout, currently leads the AL in the following categories: batting average (.338), steals (37), hits (137 - 91 singles, also first), at bats per strikeout (13.8), and defensive putouts (162) for second basemen. It's clear that he is performing on both sides of the game, offensive and defensive, and he won't even get an All-Star selection for it, which means his chances at MVP are low. Granted, those that vote for MVP pay much closer attention to the game than the ASG, so it's possible, but if you take Altuve off the Astros, they would not have 36 wins like they do now. 

NL MVP: 
I went with Goldschmidt, considering he was a snub last year, hitting .302 and leading league in home runs, RBI's, slugging, and total bases. This year, he is right about there again, on pace to surpass his total in doubles, total bases, and average. But he will not win the MVP. 

Tulowitzki will. He is tearing the cover off the ball, and that's not just because he is in the thin Colorado air. He is finally playing up to his full potential and battling through his past few injury-ridden years. In my NL West preview, I wrote "Tulowitzki will produce a ton if he can stay healthy." Look at this me! I know my baseball! Tulo, at the age of 29, is having the best season of his career as well as the best season of a shortstop since Nomar hit .372 10-12 years ago. He leads the entire MLB in average (.350), on-base (.441), and runs (66), and leads the NL in slugging (.608) and fielding percentage! On both sides of the ball, Tulo is playing up to the hype of what his rookie campaign of 2006 showed. 

AL Cy Young: 
I went with David Price in his contract year. Not a bad pick, but Price could be on the move pretty soon which could throw off his game. If he lands with a contender, it could light a fire in his belly and make him pitch even better. Despite his 7-7 record and 3.50 ERA, the 6'6" lefty said last week that he is pitching better now than he did in 2011 (his first Cy Young award year). He leads the league in strikeouts, but also home runs allowed. If he wants a shot at his 2nd piece of hardware. But if the season were to end today, it would be Felix Hernandez.

The beautiful Safeco Field cheering on their king.

The beloved King Felix is back to his filthy ways; he currently boasts a 10-2 record with a 2.11 ERA (AL leader). He also has 145 strikeouts (2nd in MLB), and a .89 WHIP (2nd in MLB, first in AL). There's really not much to say, King Felix never really makes headlines for his great pitching until he shocks the rest of the country by posting numbers like this. 

NL Cy Young: 

Kershaw on the final out of his second career no-hitter.

I picked Kershaw. It's going to be Kershaw. He's 10-2, has a 1.85 ERA, a .870 WHIP, and leads the MLB in K/9 and K/BB ratio, despite only having 115 - it shows how good his control is (only 12 walks allowed). He also threw his second career no-hitter earlier this year, and it wasn't just a no-hitter. It should have been a perfect game if Hanley Ramirez threw the ball cleanly to first. Bill James (statistician extraordinaire) said it was the second greatest game thrown by a pitcher, ever. 0 walks, 15 K's, 79/107 pitches for strikes. Wow. He's only 26, already has 2 CYA, and is well on his way to a third. 

Managers of the Year are hard to predict because its not always the manager that wins the most games. For example, last year Terry Francona led the Indians to 92 wins and won the award when four other teams had the same or more wins than he. So if I were to guess, I'd say Bob Melvin for the A's (I picked Francona) - I know I literally just said that the winningest managers don't always win, but here it should happen. There's winning, and then there's quality winning, and the A's are quality winners. They play beautiful baseball and get production from everyone up and down the lineup as well as the pitching stuff. The addition of Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija (that's a bad Scrabble board) should help bolster their playoff chances. For the NL, I guessed Ryne Sandberg for the what he would do with an aging team. The Phillies are the 2nd worst team in the NL, and I don't care who you are, that won't win any awards. I think Ron Roenicke out in Milwaukee might get it for the same reason Melvin would. Not only do the Brewers lead the NL in wins, but he makes the most out of the role players. Sure, it's easy to win when you have Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez, but Aramis Ramirez and K-Rod are back from the dead, Jonathan Lucroy is having a career year, and Scooter Gennett (heck of a name) is flirting with an All-Star selection. I think it comes down to coaching. 

Now I said earlier that I don't know anything about rookies or prospects, but my ROY picks look really really really really bad right now. I went with Taijuan Walker in the AL - he has pitched in one game. Jose Abreu or Masahiro Tanaka will take it home (Tanaka is also in the CYA discussion, going 12-3 with a 2.27 ERA). For the NL, there isn't much of a race. Gregory Polanco came on strong for the Pirates a few weeks ago, but has been quiet since - he'll have to keep up his .299 average to make a splash. As for right now, I'd have to guess either he or Billy Hamilton, whose .275 average is exceeding expectations, but his speed is so fun to watch. Here's a great article by SBNation's Scott Lindholm on the Rookie of the Year race.

We'll see. Thanks for reading.