Awards
As an addendum to the post regarding Jim Leyland a couple of days ago, Bad Altitude has done their share of reflecting on Leyland's tenure with the rockies the last week or so and Admirable Thoughts has the Jim Leyland Award, given to someone who quits on it's team early in the season. The bottom line is, if there's a Jim Leyland Bandwagon in Denver, there are plenty of empty seats.
On to the Annual DITr Awards Presentation.
NL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Hanley Ramirez SS, Florida. The Marlins surprised everyone by not losing 100 games and did it with a handful of rookies who all had decent seasons. Ramirez hit 17 homeruns, good for 4th most among NL shortstops. Ramirez added 46 doubles and 11 triples while batting .292 for the season as well as stealing 51 bases. Ramirez' 26 errors and .965 fielding percentage were the only weak spots for his rookie campaign.
Runner-up: Ryan Zimmerman 3B, Washington.
AL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Justin Verlander SP, Detroit. Detroit led all of baseball in ERA and pitching was the key to their emergence as a top team this season. Verlander was the best pitcher in Detroit's rotation, earning 17 wins against 9 losses with a 3.63 ERA.
Runner-up: Kenji Johjima C, Seattle.
AL MVP
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. The A's surged in the second half of the season to take control of the AL West and Thomas surged also. Thomas had 39 HR and 114 RBI for the season while batting .270, however he hit .298 with 68 RBI after the all-star break, propelling Oakland to a division title.
Runner-up: David Ortiz DH, Boston. Ortiz had a season worthy of an MVP award with a .287 Avg., 54 HR and 137 RBI, however, there can only be one winner and Boston faded when it really mattered.
NL MVP
Winner: Albert Pujols 1B, St. Louis. I won't carry on about Pujols' legitimacy as an MVP since anyone who's reading this could almost recite his credentials from memory. Despite a mid-season injury, Pujols managed to finish 2nd in HR and RBI and 3rd in Avg and we here at DITr give the MVP nod to anyone in the top 5 in all triple crown categories.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard 1B, Philadelphia. Howard had a MVP-caliber season, leading all of baseball in both homeruns and rbi. Howard's one down fall was finishing 8th in average and, to no fault of his own, playing in the same league as Pujols. If Howard can maintain this level of productivity, then he will be competition for Pujols for years to come.
AL Cy Young
Winner: Johann Santana SP, Minnesota. Santana is no stranger when the topic of the Cy Young award is mentioned and his mantle is quickly filling up. Santana won 19 games versus six losses and led all of baseball with a 2.77 ERA. Santana continued to be a strikeout machine, leading MLB for the second consecutive season.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay SP, Toronto. Like Santana, Halladay's name is frequently in the conversation when talking about the Cy Young award.
NL Cy Young
Winner: Brandon Webb, SP, Arizona. On a team that wasn't particulary good, Webb was lights out for the majority of the season, winning 16 games while losing 8 and posting an ERA of 3.10. For large periods, Webb was downright dominating.
Runner-up: Roy Oswalt SP, Houston. Oswalt had another fine season, going 15-8 while leading the NL in ERA at 2.98.
AL Surprise of the Year
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. Most in baseball had written off Thomas and had determined that his career as an impact bat was probably over. Thomas re-emerged as a dangerous hitter and re-established himself as "The Big Hurt".
NL Surpise of the Year
Winner: Jamey Carroll 2B, Colorado. Carroll was acquired by Colorado from Washington as a utility/bench player and ended up the starting second baseman for the majority of the season. While performing adequately as a leadoff hitter and batting .300 for the season, Carroll committed only three errors all season and could be in line for a Gold Glove award.
Until next time, go rockies!
On to the Annual DITr Awards Presentation.
NL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Hanley Ramirez SS, Florida. The Marlins surprised everyone by not losing 100 games and did it with a handful of rookies who all had decent seasons. Ramirez hit 17 homeruns, good for 4th most among NL shortstops. Ramirez added 46 doubles and 11 triples while batting .292 for the season as well as stealing 51 bases. Ramirez' 26 errors and .965 fielding percentage were the only weak spots for his rookie campaign.
Runner-up: Ryan Zimmerman 3B, Washington.
AL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Justin Verlander SP, Detroit. Detroit led all of baseball in ERA and pitching was the key to their emergence as a top team this season. Verlander was the best pitcher in Detroit's rotation, earning 17 wins against 9 losses with a 3.63 ERA.
Runner-up: Kenji Johjima C, Seattle.
AL MVP
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. The A's surged in the second half of the season to take control of the AL West and Thomas surged also. Thomas had 39 HR and 114 RBI for the season while batting .270, however he hit .298 with 68 RBI after the all-star break, propelling Oakland to a division title.
Runner-up: David Ortiz DH, Boston. Ortiz had a season worthy of an MVP award with a .287 Avg., 54 HR and 137 RBI, however, there can only be one winner and Boston faded when it really mattered.
NL MVP
Winner: Albert Pujols 1B, St. Louis. I won't carry on about Pujols' legitimacy as an MVP since anyone who's reading this could almost recite his credentials from memory. Despite a mid-season injury, Pujols managed to finish 2nd in HR and RBI and 3rd in Avg and we here at DITr give the MVP nod to anyone in the top 5 in all triple crown categories.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard 1B, Philadelphia. Howard had a MVP-caliber season, leading all of baseball in both homeruns and rbi. Howard's one down fall was finishing 8th in average and, to no fault of his own, playing in the same league as Pujols. If Howard can maintain this level of productivity, then he will be competition for Pujols for years to come.
AL Cy Young
Winner: Johann Santana SP, Minnesota. Santana is no stranger when the topic of the Cy Young award is mentioned and his mantle is quickly filling up. Santana won 19 games versus six losses and led all of baseball with a 2.77 ERA. Santana continued to be a strikeout machine, leading MLB for the second consecutive season.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay SP, Toronto. Like Santana, Halladay's name is frequently in the conversation when talking about the Cy Young award.
NL Cy Young
Winner: Brandon Webb, SP, Arizona. On a team that wasn't particulary good, Webb was lights out for the majority of the season, winning 16 games while losing 8 and posting an ERA of 3.10. For large periods, Webb was downright dominating.
Runner-up: Roy Oswalt SP, Houston. Oswalt had another fine season, going 15-8 while leading the NL in ERA at 2.98.
AL Surprise of the Year
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. Most in baseball had written off Thomas and had determined that his career as an impact bat was probably over. Thomas re-emerged as a dangerous hitter and re-established himself as "The Big Hurt".
NL Surpise of the Year
Winner: Jamey Carroll 2B, Colorado. Carroll was acquired by Colorado from Washington as a utility/bench player and ended up the starting second baseman for the majority of the season. While performing adequately as a leadoff hitter and batting .300 for the season, Carroll committed only three errors all season and could be in line for a Gold Glove award.
Until next time, go rockies!
Labels: Awards, Jim Leyland
posted by Todd Nikkel | 6:44 AM
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