The Double Awards
This is the most important Award that any ball player can be presented with, the Double Award. Well, unless of course you are the Least Valuable Player and Cy Yuk. So congrats to the winners, and sorry, to those who stunk it up this year to be presented with LVP and Cy Yuk. And of course, let me know what you think….Here we go….
AL MVP
Mariano Rivera - - - Is there a more valuable player to one team than Mo’? C’mon, let’s be realistic here. Talk is always about could this player be replaced? How well would they do without so-and-so. Well, you have it, the Yanks would have been done for, a fork stuck in them if they didn’t have Mo’ as their savior.
NL MVP
Albert Pujols - - - I DO NOT want to hear someone say “Pujols was fortunate to hit in a great lineup.” What great lineup are we talking about here? Rolen? Nope, injured all year. Larry W? Nope, injured for most of the season. Reggie Sanders? Injured for 7 weeks from August thru September. Even Yadier Molina was injured, and Edmonds wasn’t healthy all year. Ok, so then you are going to talk about how Andruw Jones carried his team when Larry “Chipper” Jones was injured. I will grant you that, no problem. But Andruw posted a .208 average in September, a .244 average with RISP with 2 outs and a .243 average in LIP situations with runners on base. How is that being valuable? Pujols on the other hand hit better over .300 in every month, except for one (August .287, but still posted 7 HR and 16 RBI). And in June and July, where he was carrying the team through injuries, his line was .370/8/20 and .358/8/22 respectively. He hit .308 with a 1.114 OPS with RISP with 2 outs. Now are you going to argue me? I don’t think so.
AL Cy Young
Mariano Rivera - - - I would give him both the MVP and Cy Young, he was that good this season. What, are you going to give it to Colon for winning 20 games? But what about his 3.48 ERA? And he was only good for half a season. The same goes for 18 game winner John Garland. He recorded his 12th win on June 21, where his record was 12-2. Since then he went 6-8 and finished 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA. Not so good. Johan Santana was lights out in the 2nd half of the season, but where was he in the 1st half?
NL Cy Young
Chris Carpenter - - - This one was tough. You can go with Chris Carpenter, Dontrelle Willis or Roger Clemens. Whoever anyone decides to go with is right. There is no wrong choice here. But I’d have to go with Carpenter for his 21-5 record, 2.83 ERA, 7 Complete Games, 4 Shutouts, 242.2 IP and a WHIP of 1.06. He ate up innings and pitched well, with the exception of his last 4 outings, but D-Train and Clemens also pitched poor in September, so the nod goes to Carp, but again, any of them is worthy of the award.
AL ROY
Huston Street - - - Put it this way, a year and a half ago this 22 year old rookie was pitching in the College World Series for the University of Texas. Now, he didn’t have time to get groomed into the closers role, as he was thrust right into there after Octavio Dotel went down for the year. Street closed out 23 games in 27 opportunities, the most ever by a rookie. And he did this while playing on a team contending for the playoffs. Yes Robinson Cano had a great September, and Johny Peralta had a great year, but Huston Street was more valuable to his team.
NL ROY
Willie Taveras - - - This was also a tough one to determine, but I have to go with Taveras because he has been a very steady, solid player all year. Ryan Howard played in only 88 games and Jeff Francoeur played in only 70. Both were very good players and were major factors to their team, but so was Taveras. His speed (34 stolen bases in 45 attempts) kept pitchers on their toes and allowed him to score 82 runs on the year. And on top of that he hit .291 with 172 hits. All this while playing in the NL Central where he had to go against the likes of Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Mark Prior, Chris Capuano and Doug Davis to name a few.
AL Manager of the Year
Eric Wedge - - - I don’t understand how anyone would be able to argue this, but I also do not think anyone will argue this. He took this team from an 80-82 record a year ago and turned them around into a 93-69 team which was contending for the AL Central until the last week of the season. The players love him and he gets the most out of his players.
NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox - - - That was a very easy choice. 14 straight years the Braves have won the NL East. No other sports franchise has a streak like that. And he does it with different personnel each year. But this year was different. He did it with 17 different rookies in the lineup throughout the year. And he started the year with Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan manning RF and LF respectively. He also did not have bullpen, where they used 4 different closers throughout the year. And he took Smoltz out of the closer role and he instantly became one of the best starting pitchers in the NL this year. Absolutely amazing, and he does it under the radar. You have to respect that, just like his players have the ultimate respect for him.
Now time for the awards that, well, you wouldn’t be proud to receive.
AL Least Valuable Player (LVP)
Sammy Sosa - - - He came over to the Baltimore Orioles from the Chicago Cubs, hoping to give some punch to their lineup. I personally thought it was a good move for him and thought he would excel in Baltimore. WRONG! Instead his line looked worse than Pam’s face after a Tommy Lee beating, .221/14/45. He even sat out the series back to Chicago, he said he was injured, but I think he was just scared. I think it might be time for him to just pack it in.
NL LVP
Cristian Guzman - - - Guzman was one of the most prized Short Stops in the free agent market last winter. He signed a 4 year, 16.8 million dollar contract. I think he didn’t quite live up to it though, .219/4/31. He even benched for part of the season. That was how bad he was. And he wasn’t even stellar with his glove, posting a .973 fielding percentage. Maybe next year he can live up to the contract.
AL Cy Yuk
Sidney Ponson - - - First he was arrested in the off season for hitting a judge at a Christmas party, then less than a month later was arrested for driving under the influence. Then he was arrested again during the year for driving under the influence once again. So I can only imagine that it must have been real difficult for the Orioles to release Ponson, his track record and his 7-11 and 6.21 ERA. Although, he did have one more year left on his contract, which he would have made $10 million. Geeze, put me out there for 1/10 of that cash and I’ll put up better numbers.
NL Cy Yuk
Eric Milton - - - Coming over in free agency from the Minnesota Twins and signing an absurd 3 year, $25.5 million deal, the Reds really believed that Milton could help out their pitching staff. I think they forgot that 1) He is a fly ball pitcher and 2) Cinergy field is a home run haven. So not exactly a good mix. But they still gave Milton his contract and Milton didn’t quite perform up to par with an 8-15 record and 6.47 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. Hey, at least he didn’t get arrested or released. He’s got that going for him.
So there you have it, the 2005 MLB Double Awards. Take my opnions into consideration, and we'll see how many I get right, although some of them I know won't win, but I don't always go for the popular choice, I vote for the one that is right.
AL MVP
Mariano Rivera - - - Is there a more valuable player to one team than Mo’? C’mon, let’s be realistic here. Talk is always about could this player be replaced? How well would they do without so-and-so. Well, you have it, the Yanks would have been done for, a fork stuck in them if they didn’t have Mo’ as their savior.
NL MVP
Albert Pujols - - - I DO NOT want to hear someone say “Pujols was fortunate to hit in a great lineup.” What great lineup are we talking about here? Rolen? Nope, injured all year. Larry W? Nope, injured for most of the season. Reggie Sanders? Injured for 7 weeks from August thru September. Even Yadier Molina was injured, and Edmonds wasn’t healthy all year. Ok, so then you are going to talk about how Andruw Jones carried his team when Larry “Chipper” Jones was injured. I will grant you that, no problem. But Andruw posted a .208 average in September, a .244 average with RISP with 2 outs and a .243 average in LIP situations with runners on base. How is that being valuable? Pujols on the other hand hit better over .300 in every month, except for one (August .287, but still posted 7 HR and 16 RBI). And in June and July, where he was carrying the team through injuries, his line was .370/8/20 and .358/8/22 respectively. He hit .308 with a 1.114 OPS with RISP with 2 outs. Now are you going to argue me? I don’t think so.
AL Cy Young
Mariano Rivera - - - I would give him both the MVP and Cy Young, he was that good this season. What, are you going to give it to Colon for winning 20 games? But what about his 3.48 ERA? And he was only good for half a season. The same goes for 18 game winner John Garland. He recorded his 12th win on June 21, where his record was 12-2. Since then he went 6-8 and finished 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA. Not so good. Johan Santana was lights out in the 2nd half of the season, but where was he in the 1st half?
NL Cy Young
Chris Carpenter - - - This one was tough. You can go with Chris Carpenter, Dontrelle Willis or Roger Clemens. Whoever anyone decides to go with is right. There is no wrong choice here. But I’d have to go with Carpenter for his 21-5 record, 2.83 ERA, 7 Complete Games, 4 Shutouts, 242.2 IP and a WHIP of 1.06. He ate up innings and pitched well, with the exception of his last 4 outings, but D-Train and Clemens also pitched poor in September, so the nod goes to Carp, but again, any of them is worthy of the award.
AL ROY
Huston Street - - - Put it this way, a year and a half ago this 22 year old rookie was pitching in the College World Series for the University of Texas. Now, he didn’t have time to get groomed into the closers role, as he was thrust right into there after Octavio Dotel went down for the year. Street closed out 23 games in 27 opportunities, the most ever by a rookie. And he did this while playing on a team contending for the playoffs. Yes Robinson Cano had a great September, and Johny Peralta had a great year, but Huston Street was more valuable to his team.
NL ROY
Willie Taveras - - - This was also a tough one to determine, but I have to go with Taveras because he has been a very steady, solid player all year. Ryan Howard played in only 88 games and Jeff Francoeur played in only 70. Both were very good players and were major factors to their team, but so was Taveras. His speed (34 stolen bases in 45 attempts) kept pitchers on their toes and allowed him to score 82 runs on the year. And on top of that he hit .291 with 172 hits. All this while playing in the NL Central where he had to go against the likes of Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Mark Prior, Chris Capuano and Doug Davis to name a few.
AL Manager of the Year
Eric Wedge - - - I don’t understand how anyone would be able to argue this, but I also do not think anyone will argue this. He took this team from an 80-82 record a year ago and turned them around into a 93-69 team which was contending for the AL Central until the last week of the season. The players love him and he gets the most out of his players.
NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox - - - That was a very easy choice. 14 straight years the Braves have won the NL East. No other sports franchise has a streak like that. And he does it with different personnel each year. But this year was different. He did it with 17 different rookies in the lineup throughout the year. And he started the year with Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan manning RF and LF respectively. He also did not have bullpen, where they used 4 different closers throughout the year. And he took Smoltz out of the closer role and he instantly became one of the best starting pitchers in the NL this year. Absolutely amazing, and he does it under the radar. You have to respect that, just like his players have the ultimate respect for him.
Now time for the awards that, well, you wouldn’t be proud to receive.
AL Least Valuable Player (LVP)
Sammy Sosa - - - He came over to the Baltimore Orioles from the Chicago Cubs, hoping to give some punch to their lineup. I personally thought it was a good move for him and thought he would excel in Baltimore. WRONG! Instead his line looked worse than Pam’s face after a Tommy Lee beating, .221/14/45. He even sat out the series back to Chicago, he said he was injured, but I think he was just scared. I think it might be time for him to just pack it in.
NL LVP
Cristian Guzman - - - Guzman was one of the most prized Short Stops in the free agent market last winter. He signed a 4 year, 16.8 million dollar contract. I think he didn’t quite live up to it though, .219/4/31. He even benched for part of the season. That was how bad he was. And he wasn’t even stellar with his glove, posting a .973 fielding percentage. Maybe next year he can live up to the contract.
AL Cy Yuk
Sidney Ponson - - - First he was arrested in the off season for hitting a judge at a Christmas party, then less than a month later was arrested for driving under the influence. Then he was arrested again during the year for driving under the influence once again. So I can only imagine that it must have been real difficult for the Orioles to release Ponson, his track record and his 7-11 and 6.21 ERA. Although, he did have one more year left on his contract, which he would have made $10 million. Geeze, put me out there for 1/10 of that cash and I’ll put up better numbers.
NL Cy Yuk
Eric Milton - - - Coming over in free agency from the Minnesota Twins and signing an absurd 3 year, $25.5 million deal, the Reds really believed that Milton could help out their pitching staff. I think they forgot that 1) He is a fly ball pitcher and 2) Cinergy field is a home run haven. So not exactly a good mix. But they still gave Milton his contract and Milton didn’t quite perform up to par with an 8-15 record and 6.47 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. Hey, at least he didn’t get arrested or released. He’s got that going for him.
So there you have it, the 2005 MLB Double Awards. Take my opnions into consideration, and we'll see how many I get right, although some of them I know won't win, but I don't always go for the popular choice, I vote for the one that is right.
posted by Mark D. Miller at 8:54 AM
1 Comments:
Adrian, shut up. No one cares about you or working from home.
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