MVP awards-predictions,discussions

[Liqourish]

I think Rick Porcello should be in the AL ROY discussion.

14-9 record (1st among rookies)
4.04 ERA (2nd among rookies)
79 Runs (1st among rookies)
74 ER (1st among rookies)
50 BB (2nd among rookies)

Not too mention, he's 20 yrs old and pitching during a pennant race.

Maybe you could mention Chris Coghlan or Elvis Andrus, but when it comes to rookie pitchers, Rick Porcello is tops.

[Liqourish]

Thinking about the players plugged in as award winners... is this the first year, no major AL award winner will reach the post season?

AL MVP: Joe Mauer
Cy Young: Zack Greinke
AL ROY: insert random rookie not named Rick Porcello
Batting Title: Joe Mauer

Whens the last time the league rewarded losing so much?

[Stanford]

It's not about rewarding losing, it's about not rewarding players having inferior years who happen to be lucky enough to play for winning teams.

[Liqourish]

Inferior years? by playing for something and playing against teams playing for something? How many winning teams has Greinke played against? How many playoff teams has he played against? how many games against the teams with the best records, has Greinke played against? Look at the chart above.

How much pressure is on a rookie when his team is going nowhere? How much pressure is on a rookie when every game matters? If a rookie leads rookies in many areas and plays on a winning, shouldn't he be rewarded over a player who is a little flashier on a worse team?

How valuable is a player to a team that doesn't win? Maybe he's the most outstanding, but not the most valuable. hell, Cuddyer has been more valuable to his team with Justin Morneau out than joe Mauer has been. Yet, people are rewarding Mauer for Morneau's absence. Nobody is rewarding Cabrera for missing two starting pitchers and having sub-par years fromMagglio and Carlos Guillen. No one is rewarding Jeter for missing A-rod for a long stretch.

Winning isn't everything, but it should count for something. And when it doesn't, how do you explain other awardwinners who've won because ofteam success? Like Mauers teammate Justin Morneau?

[Schad]

Too little, too late, but Halladay is trying his damnedest to get back into Cy Young contention...back-to-back CG shutouts, giving him 9 CGs and 4 shutouts on the year. Greinke deserves it, but Halladay deserves to (but likely won't) cop another runner-up.


As for the other winners, Mauer, Pujols, and Linc (won't win, should). ROY in both leagues is a mixed bag...I liked Romero for the AL in the first half, but he hasn't closed well, and neither Niemann nor Porcello really floor me. Coghlan in the NL, I suppose, though I have a feeling we'll spend the next decade wondering how he put up those numbers.

[HCYanks]

You lost credibility, how can you say that after watching Jason Giambi play 1b defense the last few years, plus having a switch hitter in the middle of the line up who can hit for power and averge is incredibly valuable.

Sure, valuable. But no more valuable than what Miguel Cabrera and Kevin Youkilis are doing. And while this "playoff players only" stuff is still nonsense, both of those guys are heading to the postseason, barring a disastrous weekend for the Tigers. Tex, like the aforementioned two, are roughly in the same glut of guys who would be mediocre MVP candidates in any given season. None of these guys have been as good as Mauer, despite the claims that Tex is a clear frontrunner.

Btw if joe mauer wins the mvp without making the playoffs, justin morneau sholud give his 2006 mvp award to Jermaine Dye.

And if Ichiro wins the batting title without being within 10 games of the division lead, he should take the other AL West outfielders out for a night of PBR's and skeeball at Dave and Buster's! Wait, what are we arguing again?

Morneau's MVP win was stupid for reasons entirely independent of playoff candidacy, namely that the long list of better candidates included Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Dye, Vlad, Jim Thome, and at least two of Morneau's teammates (hey, there's Mauer again!). For my money, the guy that should have won wasn't Dye but also didn't make the playoffs. It was Travis Hafner, whose numbers weren't that far off of what Albert Pujols is currently doing in the NL. Morneau, like Tex now, became the frontrunner because of media hype.

[oakfanintheeast]

Final Lists anyone?


AL MVP

Mauer
Cabrera
Youk
Tex
Grienke

AL Cy Young

Greinke

AL ROY

Bailey

NL MVP

Pujols
Hanley
Fielder
Kemp
Utley
Tulo


NL Cy Young

Lincecum

NL Roy
Coghlan

[SportsWorld]

AL MVP:
Joe Mauer

NL MVP:
Albert Pujols

AL Cy Young:
Grienke

NL Cy Young:
Chris Carpenter

AL ROY:
Gordon Beckham

NL ROY:
J.A. Happ

AL Manager of the Year:
Joe Girardi

NL Manager of the Year:
Jim Tracey

[High 5]

For my money, the guy that should have won wasn't Dye but also didn't make the playoffs. It was Travis Hafner, whose numbers weren't that far off of what Albert Pujols is currently doing in the NL.

A DH who missed 33 games on a bad team winning MVP?

[Stanford]

MVP
AL: Joe Mauer
NL: Albert Pujols

Cy Young
AL: Zack Grienke
NL: Chris Carpenter

ROY
AL: Andrew Bailey
NL: JA Happ