Saturday, July 11, 2009

Mid-Season Awards

NL Rookie of the Year: Tommy Hanson, ATL
He hasn't been up that long but he has lived up to the hype so far. In 7 starts he has gone 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA and 25 K in 41 innings.
Runner-up: Colby Rasmus, STL

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, SF
Lincecum gets the nod over Haren because he is on a superior team and the number of strikeouts. He has had a great follow-up to last year going 10-2 2.33 ERA 149 K.
Runner-up: Dan Haren, ARI

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
There is no debate regarding this award. He could not play the second half and he would still get votes for the award. He is on pace for the best year of his career with .336 32 HR 85 RBI. Those are full-season numbers if you are lucky. He is a virtual lock for his 3rd MVP Award.
Runner-up: Prince Fielder, MIL

AL Rookie of the Year: Andrew Bailey, OAK
The AL Rookie Award race has been a little disappointing with David Price and Matt Wieters getting off to slow starts. My money is that one of them will have a big second half and win the award but for the first half it goes to the Oakland closer who has a 2.03 ERA and 57 K in 48.7 IP. He is the Oakland representative in the All-Star game.
Runner-up: Rickey Romero, TOR

AL Cy Young: Zach Greinke, KC
He hasn't pitched as well lately and may not hold on to the award over the full year but he still had an awesome first half going 10-5 2.12 ERA 129 K. He should have more wins but he is a Royal.
Runner-up: Felix Hernandez, SEA

AL MVP: Justin Morneau, MIN
This is the toughest award to call. It depends on what you are looking for in an MVP. There are almost 10 candidates who could legitimately win this award. The factors I used to decide this is a player producing runs with a good average. This lead to Justin Morneau. All the attention is paid to Joe Mauer but Morneau is quietly a Triple Crown threat. He is tied for 2nd in HR, 2nd in RBI and 11th in AVG going .311-21-70. Mauer will likely keep him from winning the Triple Crown and will steal votes from him but he does it all for the Twins.
Runner-up: Jason Bay, BOS

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