Mid-season baseball awards
 

AL MVP: Jim Thome, CWS
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, MIN
AL Rookie: Justin Verlander, DET
AL Comeback: (tie) Magglio Ordonez, DET/Frank Thomas, OAK
AL Manager: John Gibbons, TOR
AL Bust: (tie) Esteban Loaiza, OAK/Josh Towers, TOR

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, ARI
NL Rookie: Dan Uggla, FLA
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA
NL Bust: the bullpen, ATL

AL MVP: I really have no idea, but with all the hell that Ortiz has gone through for being a DH, I just can't put Thome here.
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, MIN
AL Rookie: Francisco Liriano, MIN
AL Comeback: Jim Thome, CWS
AL Manager: Jim Leyland, DET
AL Bust: Cleveland Indians

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez, NYM (based on K's, WHIP and OBA)
NL Rookie: Not familiar enough with the race
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD
NL Manager: Willie Randolph, NYM (don't really have any other idea)
NL Bust: Chicago Cubs

AL MVP: Vernon Wells, TOR
AL Cy Young: Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
AL Rookie: Justin Verlander, DET
AL Comeback: Jim Thome, CWS
AL Manager: Jim Leyland. DET
AL Bust: Mark Teixeira, TEX

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, ARI
NL Rookie: Dan Uggla, FLA
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA
NL Bust: Chicago Cubs

AL MVP: Vernon Wells, TOR (controversial perhaps, but he's worked wonders for my fantasy teams:D)
AL Cy Young: Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
AL Rookie: Justin Verlander, DET
AL Comeback: Frank Thomas, OAK
AL Manager: Jim Leyland, DET
AL Bust: AL West - (i just...i just don't care about it yknow?! And i SHOULD care:rant: )

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Tom Glavine, NYM
NL Rookie: Dan Uggla, FLA
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD (NOMAAAH)
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA
NL Bust: Atlanta in general


I'd like to give a shout to Bronson Arroyo as most improved player also!

How can you vote for Papelbon for Cy and Verlander for Rookie... that implies that Papelbon is the AL's best pitcher (which he's not, no closer is) and Verlander is the AL's best rookie. Verlander and Papelbon are both rookie pitchers, so if Papelbon is a better pitcher than Verlander he has to be a better rookie.

Unless you guys think Papelbon isn't a rookie. I'm pretty sure he meets the qualifications. Either way voting closers for Cy is dumb. They have their own award

You could give that award to any player who switches leagues from AL to NL.

AL MVP: Vernon Wells, TOR
AL Cy Young: Mike Mussina, NYY
AL Rookie: (tie) Jon Papelbon, BOS; Francisco Liriano, MIN
AL Comeback: Jim Thome, CWS
AL Manager: Jim Leyland, DET
AL Bust: Randy Johnson, NYY

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez, NYM
NL Rookie: Dan Uggla, FLA
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA
NL Bust: The Atlanta Braves

In that case I would say that Papelbon should win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. Papelbon stands out among closers cause he's 23-23 with 1 ER all year so far while every other closer is in double digits. Johan's numbers are easily the best for SP, but he doesn't stand out like Papelbon does. Despite that, Johan's value to the Twins is greater than Papelbon's, but Papelbon has put up extravagant numbers pitching for the Red Sox that no other closer in the league has done this year.

Players aren't restricted to winning one award. Whether you think it's dumb or not, closers have won Cy Young before.

1974 - Mike Marshall
1977 - Sparky Lyle
1979 - Bruce Sutter
1981 - Rollie Fingers
1984 - Willie Hernandez
1987 - Steve Bedrosian
1989 - Mark Davis
1992 - Dennis Eckersley (also won AL MVP that year)
2003 - Eric Gagne

Figures Papelbon blows a save tonight just when I'm defending him being a Cy Young pitcher.

You're honestly going to argue that Jon Papelbon is a better pitcher than Johan Santana? The award is not most valuable pitcher, it's best pitcher. If you consider Papelbon the single most valuable player to any team in the AL, then vote for him for MVP. I won't complain because that makes sense. But no closer should ever win the Cy Young. Why do you think they have the Rolaids Relief Award?

The point was not that guys can't win two awards, if he is worthy of two awards then he should win both of them. But if you have two rookie pitchers one can't win the Cy and the other the Rookie. Makes no sense. That's like awarding Ortiz Best Offensive Player but giving Hafner the DH Silver Slugger.

Sorry to butt in here, but if Francisco Liriano and Jonathan Papelbon finish the year out on the same pace that they are right now, Liriano would be the one to win both awards. Despite half as many starts, Liriano has a 2.15 ERA and is among the league leaders in victories and strikeouts.

That being said, didn't Papelbon blow a save a few weeks ago, but then ended up winning in the 10th or something? Anyway, Liriano has been pitching better than any pitcher lately, and his 8 innings, 2 earned runs and 6 strikeouts against Roger Clemons show why.

The sad thing is, it will probably end up being Ortiz for MVP, Mussina for Cy Young, Papelbon for Rookie, Giambi for comeback again and Torre for manager just because people out there don't seem to notice that the AL Central is completely dominating every other division in baseball. Just ask the Cardinals and the Astros, damn.

AL MVP: David Ortiz, BOS
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, MIN
AL Rookie: Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
AL Comeback: Magglio Ordonez, DET
AL Manager: Jim Leyland, DET
AL Bust: Rudy Seanez, BOS

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Josh Johnson, FLA
NL Rookie: Don't really know
NL Comeback: NOMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Garciaparra, LAD
NL Manager: Again, don't really follow enough to decide
NL Bust: Ahh Don't really follow the National league a lot, but i'd say the Cubs or maybe the entire NL East outside of the Mets ROFL@Phillies being in 2nd place/11.5 back

Even though I put Santana as Cy Young, could definetly make a case for Papelbon; 24 SV, 39.1 IP, 2 ER, 41 K's, 0.46 ERA

Gagne won it 3 years ago, so I could definetly see it

http://www.tpww.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41985

see post 29

lol ok I agree with everthing you said but come on "against Roger Clemens". What the hell does that have to do with anything. Whether Liriano went up against Clemens or Ezequiel Astacio makes no difference, it's the same Astros hitters.

Maybe he was just trying to show that he out pitched Clemens or something? Dunno pretty irrevelant even if that his point seeing how it Rogers first start since the Baseball World Cup

AL MVP: So tough. I'm gunna say Big Papi, but Ichiro and Mauer deserve mention.

AL Cy Young: Liriano
AL Rookie: Jonathan Papelbon
AL Comeback: Hate these awards so i dont care
AL Manager: Jim Leiland ( not even close ) need i remind you he's coaching the Tigers. This guy has to be mentioned as one of the GOAT. He did this with the Marlins and one a ring.
AL Bust: Arod

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, ARI
NL Rookie: Prince Fielder
NL Comeback: Nomar Garciaparra, LAD ( dont care )
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA
NL Bust: ( I'm not sure how you can consider ATL's bullpen to be a bust.) Adam Dunn. I dont care how many HR'S he hits, the guy is threatening to dip under .200 batting average. Thats horrible .

You guys are smoking fucking crack... not one Cy Young vote for Contreras?

I do like Miz's vote for MVP though. :y:

:|

.226 is not "nearly below .200", and Adam Dunn is one of the National League's most productive hitters regardless

Papelbon is winning MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the Sliver Slugger (2nd baseman)

No one voted for Halladay either and he's doing better than Contreras

Contreras is doing great (obviously) but I think it just that Santana is doing that much better. Other than Mussina, do you think Contreras has pitched better than any other person named for the mid-season Cy Young in this post?

Not Mark Loretta?

Nah Loretta's getting it for first base because he played that position in 2002 with the Padres

If it was Roger Clemons on any other start, I wouldn't have said that. But the circumstances that the game took place in are far from normal. It's not neccessarily the fact that Clemons himself was pitching, but the fact that Minute Maid park is sold out for the first time all year. ESPN is broadcasting the game nationally and had been hyping it up for days.

Based on the earlier discussion about clutch hitting, you might disagree with this, but in those circumstances one would think that the Astros are at least somewhat pumped up. The best pitcher in this generation and the catalyst to their World Series run is returning and the whole city is pumped up, and a 23 year old comes in and doesn't falter at all.

I guess the overall case in point is that they are quality wins and this isn't John Garland version 2.0.

Yeah so the Astros were pumped up, so what. They're still the Astros, an average to below average NL team. How much is getting pumped up going to do against a pitcher like Liriano, or any pitcher for that matter. I still don't get why you guys think your mindset can increase your level of production to such a degree.

There was no pressure on Liriano at all. Most people who made sure to watch that game were likely casual fans, and casual fans don't know or care who Liriano is. My bet was that when the Astros were hitting most of the audience didn't even pay attention. ALL eyes were on Clemens.

I'm sorry but I'm much more impressed with an 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 K performance against a high powered AL offense than the lowly Astros. Not saying it wasn't impressive, but I don't think most 1, 2, or 3 starters in the AL would have much trouble with them. If you want to pimp Liriano you should talk about his good games against CHW, NYY, BOS, TOR, DET etc.; not the pumped-up Astros.

I guess it's easy to associate the Cy Young award with MVP because they're both held in the same regard most of the time. When it comes down to who is flat out, the best pitcher in the AL then I go with Santana, and up to this point he should be the Cy Young award winner.

Good points. I guess I am putting a lot of credit on that game because it was basically the big showcase, since that's probably the only time most people have seen him pitch. It was a good pitching outing, but even so there has been better, like you said. Fucking Mariners, giving him a loss :mad:

Papelbon is having (what could be) one of the greatest relief seasons ever. I would NOT be suprised if he wins ROY, Cy Young, and gets votes for MVP.

This kid is money.

The league will figure him out eventually. He will not finish the season with an ERA under 1.5

Speaking of ERA's of 1.05, Johan in the month on June :drool:

Post his win-loss record so LL Cool G can understand

I don't think I've watched a game all season that the Tigers weren't playing in, so I can't really make an objective decision about the midseason awards.

However, to give me an excuse to post in this thread (and based on the fact that you can do this based on numbers, rather than objective analysis), this is how I'd make up the All-Star teams, using the MLB rule of at least one player per team. Also, I made some tweaks as far as positions go so I could start everyone I wanted.

American League
Starters
1) Chone Figgins, Los Angeles (2B)
2) Joe Mauer, Minnesota (C)
3) Jim Thome, Chicago (1B)
4) Vernon Wells, Toronto (CF)
5) Alex Rodriguez, New York (3B)
6) Grady Sizemore, Cleveland (RF)
7) Miguel Tejada, Baltimore (SS)
8) Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay (LF)
9) Johan Santana, Minnesota (P)

Bench
Travis Hafner, Cleveland
David Ortiz, Boston
Jason Giambi, New York
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle
Alex Rios, Toronto
Paul Konerko, Chicago
Nick Swisher, Oakland
Reggie Sanders, Kansas City

Bullpen
Closer - Jonathan Papelbon, Boston
B.J. Ryan, Toronto
Joe Nathan, Minnesota
Mike Mussina, New York
Bobby Jenks, Chicago
Curt Schilling, Boston
Jeremy Bonderman, Detroit
Akinori Otsuka, Texas

National League
1) Jose Reyes, New York (SS)
2) David Wright, New York (3B)
3) Lance Berkman, Houston (RF)
4) Albert Pujols, St. Louis (1B)
5) Carlos Lee, Milwaukee (LF)
6) Carlos Beltran, New York (CF)
7) Alfonso Soriano, Washington (2B)
8) Johnny Estrada, Arizona (C)
9) Chris Capuano, Milwaukee (P)

Bench
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia
Matt Holliday, Colorado
Miguel Cabrera, Florida
Jason Bay, Pittsburgh
Andruw Jones, Atlanta
Chase Utley, Philadelphia
Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia
Carlos Delgado, New York

Bullpen
Closer - Derrick Turnbow, Milwaukee
Aaron Harang, Cincinnati
Pedro Martinez, New York
Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati
Carlos Zambrano, Chicago
Chris Young, San Diego
Jason Schmidt, San Francisco
Brad Penny, Los Angeles

Just letting you know, your lead off hitter gets on base (his job) at a .322 clip. That's good for 69th in the American League. He also has played 4 games at second base this year

I was just doing this last night with a friend of mine from Chicago. I will only do the American League, because I don't know enough about NL, but this is what I think.

Starters:
C Joe Mauer (MIN)
1B Jim Thome (CWS)
2B Tadahito Iguci (CWS)
3B Joe Crede (CWS)
SS Derek Jeter (NYY)
LF Alex Rios (TOR)
CF Vernon Wells (TOR)
RF Ichiro (SEA)
DH David Ortiz (BOS)
SP Johan Santana (MIN)

Reserves
C Kenji Johjima (SEA)
1B Travis Hafner (CLE)
1B Paul Konerko (CWS)
2B Brian Roberts (BAL)
SS Michael Young (TEX)
3B Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
3B Kevin Youkillis (BOS)
OF Vladimir Guerrero (LAA)
OF Magglio Ordonez (DET)
OF Reggie Sanders (KC)

Bullpen
Roy Halladay (TOR)
Jose Contreras (CWS)
Justin Verlander (DET)
Jonathan Pappelbon (BOS)
Scott Kazmir (TB)
Bobby Jenks (CWS)
Barry Zito (OAK)

I'm not sure how many reserves there are for the All Star Game, I have 19 field players and eight pitchers, so 27 total. Do they use a 25 man lineup? If so, I guess Konerko and Johjima would be the ones I got rid of, based on positions and making sure every team is represented. Feel free to comment as I probably missed some things, this was pretty brash.

32-man roster. Here's my AL, using MLB's every team represented rule

Lineup
1. C Joe Mauer (MIN)
2. SS Miguel Tejada (BAL)
3. CF Vernon Wells (TOR)
4. LF Manny Ramirez (BOS)
5. 3B Troy Glaus (TOR)
6. 1B Jason Giambi (NYY)
7. RF Jermaine Dye (CWS)
8. 2B Brian Roberts (BAL)
9. P Johan Santana (MIN)

Bench
C Ramon Hernandez (BAL)
1B Paul Konerko (CWS)
1B Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
2B Jose Lopez (SEA)
2B Robinson Cano (NYY)
3B Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
SS Orlando Cabrera (LAA)
SS Derek Jeter (NYY)
SS Mike Young (TEX)
OF Ichiro (SEA)
OF Alex Rios (TOR)
OF Grady Sizemore (CLE)
OF Emil Brown (KC)

Bullpen
Roy Halladay (TOR)
Jose Contreras (CWS)
Scott Kazmir (TB)
Barry Zito (OAK)
Justin Verlander (DET)
Juan Rincon (MIN)
Bobby Jenks (CWS)
B.J. Ryan (TOR)
Jonathan Papelbon (BOS)

For that matter, neither of my second-basemen are regular second-basemen this season. Like I said before the rosters, I shuffled players around so that I could start the players I wanted to start.

I had Figgins lead off for his speed. And it's the All-Star Game, I don't think Ozzie's going to be too concerned about OBP from his leadoff man.

I thought the point of this was to create your own lineup, not the one Ozzie would use. Figgins is bad at getting on base, has no power, and is awful defensively. Speed alone does not make you an all-star, especially a starter. Figgins being in a starting 9 of the AL's best is laughable

Figgins is not even among the 9 best players on his own team. I'm not even trying to be funny

How can you not possibly consider Atlanta's bullpen a huge bust? We have had 3 or 4 different closers, and blown as many saves as we have converted.

And don't give me this crap about Villareal having like 8 wins. That's ridiculous.

Miz, I am a bit surprised you left Swisher off your team. I figured you'd have him on there.

I like the Youkilis pick though but I highly doubt we'll see that. He has really been playing great this year, what an improvement over Millar.

Yeah I love Swisher but I needed an Indian and a Royal for my team and Sizemore and Brown were the clear choices (although Swish is better than both). Kid is still ridiculous though

.274/.387/.537 (.924), 19 HR, 49 RBI, 50 walks in 77 games.

And all that is after a 2 week slump. He was like 3rd in OPS not too long ago. He K's like a motherfucker though. 70 total and he had 5 last night :(

And don't say Millar sucks or VEL will question your understanding of stats

Red Sox infield is like 10000x better than it was last season. I think that has been a big key in why they've been so hot lately.

Youkilis and Gonzo have been such improvements over Millar and Edgerror Renteria. Renteria admitted in the paper that he couldn't handle the pressure and that was his excuse for sucking, probably true since he is now doing good in a city where nobody cares about baseball.

I can definetly foresee some future errors tho when they move Wily Mo to first base. As of right now, Youkilis's back up is Mark Loretta so they need some more depth there.

how do some of u peopel not have bj ryan on your all-star team? he's the best closer in the game

hard to disagree with any of your choices. Except i'd vote for Leyland over my boy Gibbons

I voted for Gibbons because I like how he's handled the playing time of Cat and Hinske. Its hard to keep guys going when they don't play every day but he's done a great job. If the bullpen (sans Ryan) can figure it out they'll when the division.

Leyland I think is average. He has a great team but I don't think it's because of anything he's doing. When you have starting pitching as solid as theirs it's hard to look bad as a manger.

It's hard to be that hard on a guy who has played his whole career in the NL and then struggles in the AL. It happens to everybody who switches leagues with the exception of guys like Vlad and Thome that had already proven theirselves as top 5 hitters in the game.

Was Thome in the NL before the Indians? Because I wouldn't think that two or three injury plagued years in the NL would put him on the same level as somebody who played in the NL for their whole career.

Yeah my bad I was thinking he played on the Phils is whole career. Bad example

Richie Sexson had a real solid season last year, but hasn't he fallen off a little bit this season?

Yeah he had one ridiculously bad month but he's heating up now. It's amazing that we're in 2nd and above .500 with Beltre, Sexson, Johjima, Guardado and King Felix all struggling

Pedro would be a good example of staying on top of the game going from the Expos to the Red Sox.

Yeah if it was just hitting I'd buy that but I don't think switching leagues really effects your defense. He was awful last season at shortstop

2006 MLB Midseason Awards
 

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
AL MVP: Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays

NL Cy Young: Tom Glavine, New York Mets
AL Cy Young: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox

NL Rookie of the Year: Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins
AL Rookie of the Year: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Cesar Izturis, Los Angeles Dodgers
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

NL Manager of the Year: Joe Girardi, Florida Marlins
AL Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland, Detroit Tigers

Biggest Bust, NL: Juan Pierre, Chicago Cubs
Biggest Bust, AL: Esteban Loaiza, Oakland Athletics

Biggest Surprise, NL: Aaron Harang, Cincinnati Reds
Biggest Surprise, AL: Mark Grudzielanek, Kansas City Royals

Biggest Disappointment, NL: Chicago Cubs
Biggest Disappointment, AL: Cleveland Indians

AL Cy Young: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox
AL Rookie of the Year: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

?

or is papelbon technically not a rookie?

Papelbon is a rookie, but I think the year he is having goes above and beyond the rest of the AL rookies.... the Cy Young would be a much higher honor.

But there are other AL rookies that deserve the chance to win the ROY award.

doesn't the cy young go to the best pitcher in the league? if the best pitcher in the league was a rookie, why would he not win rookie of the year?

It's just the way I would like to see it, and I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

I dunno why Loaiza is getting voted for biggest bust THIS year

Beltre has been horrible hasn't he? Considering a few years ago he was 40/120/300+

I changed my mind on the awards

AL MVP: Kirby Puckett
AL Cy Young: David Eckstein
AL Rookie: Frank Thomas
AL Manager Gregg Poppovich
AL Comeback: Bud Selig

NL MVP: Zinedine Zidane
NL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
NL Rookie of the Year: Jon Papelbon
NL Manager: Barry Bonds
NL Comeback: Mo Vaughan

Kirby:'(

How can people still believe that Verlander is a better rookie than Francisco "Mr. 1.83 ERA" Liriano? Now he has 10 wins, tied for fourth in the AL, and he is I think sixth place in the AL for strikeouts. All six above him have pitched at least 20 more innings than him. Verlander is a joke compared to Liriano, and Papelbon winning the Cy Young would be a complete joke. ESPN might have you think it'd be a good idea to give a rookie closer from Boston the award, but there are obviously better pitchers who have been just as important to their winning teams as he has. FUCK.

I again want to change my vote, I now pick Papelbon for AL Manager of the Year and Verlander for NL 3rd Base Silver Slugger

nice blown save by papelbon tonight

Yeah he sucks

BoSox should get rid of Papelbon he's done, bring in John Rocker:shifty: