Cafe Awards

Seems like everywhere you turn these days, end-of-season awards are being handed out or debated (”A-Rod” “Tejada!” “A-Rod!” “Tejada!” “Soriano!”…). While we fortunately don’t have to figure out who is most deserving of the AL MVP award (Just give it to Tejada), it’s time to hand out the innaugural Fantasy Baseball Cafe awards. So without further ado… the envelopes, please!

Fantasy MVP: Yes, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were amazing once again, and Alfonso Soriano looked to have this award locked up by mid-July. When the dust settled, however, it was Vladimir Guerrero who stood out as the best of the best. Speed, power, average… Guerrero is the definitive 5-tool player and is worth every penny spent to draft him this year. Wow.

Fantasy Cy: Could this award go to anybody except the Big Unit? Randy Johnson’s amazing 2.32 era gives him the edge over teammate Curt Schilling, while his 334 strikeouts make him more valuable than Pedro Martinez. While other fantasy owners were fretting over their pitching staffs, those who drafted Johnson could relax, knowing they would receive stellar stats every time the Big Unit took the mound.

Fantasy Rookie of the Year: So how many of you were expecting Eric Hinske to be this year’s top rookie? Hardly anyone even expected him to be among the top three rookie third basemen. Yet amid all the hype surrounding Hank Blalock, Sean Burroughs and Morgan Ensberg, Hinske turned out to be a huge draft-day steal. While the big three faltered, Hinske’s numbers were almost as good as those of Scott Rolen. And in a season where I expected Jose Ortiz and Juan Uribe to be a great middle infield combo, predicting that Hinske would be the cream of the 3b crop allows me to gloat just a little.

Draft-Day Steal: Sorry, Alfonso Soriano. While Soriano’s owners received a huge return on a minimal investment, Eric Gagne could usually be had for even less draft dollars. All Gagne did was rack up 52 saves with an era under 2.00. Oh yeah: those strikeouts were pretty nice, too.

Disappointment of the Year: Hank Blalock. After all the pre-seaon hype left many fantasy owners expecting Ruthian numbers from their rookie third sacker, Blalock caught a case of Ben Petrick disease, proving that he wasn’t yet ready for the big leagues. Blalock wound up hitting a meager .211 while spending most of the season in the minors. He could still be a good one, though – just not this year.

In Your Face Award: This one goes to the entire Minnesota Twins team, no matter how far they eventually go in the post-season. Contract somebody else, Mr. Selig!

Brightest Public Relations Move: At a time when Major League Baseball was receiving more press for its labor troubles than for the accomplishments of its players, the All-Star Game was abruptly ended with the score tied. Gee honey, how much did we pay for these tickets?

Young at Heart Award: At age 45, Jesse Orosco pitched in 56 games for the Dodgers. His era? An impressive 3.00. For those wondering (somebody has to wonder about these things, don’t they?), Eisenhower was just beginning his second term of office in the year Orosco was born. Ted Williams was the AL batting champion.

Worst Judgment: There was quite a bit to choose from in this category. Until a few days ago, the folks responsible for cryogenically freezing the late Ted Williams’ body looked like shoe-ins for this award. But then, out of nowhere, an Arizona DJ whose name isn’t worth mentioning decides it would be really funny to make an on-air prank call to Flynn Kile, Daryl Kile’s widow. Get a clue, sir.

Unfulfilled Potential Award: Josh Beckett has the potential to be a dominant starter for many years to come, but until he can find something to keep blisters from developing on his fingers. Ringo Starr didn’t let blisters keep him from playing Helter Skelter; hopefully, Beckett will be able to overcome this problem as well.

Next Big Thing Award: There are a lot of tremendous prospects in the minors at this time, several of whom could make a solid contribution to fantasy teams in 2003 (I can’t wait to find out what Mark Teixeira can do in the majors). This award, however, goes to Japanese slugger Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui. If Matsui does, as expected, wind up joining the Yankees, Ichiromania could well be upstaged by the first Japanese power hitter to come to America. Incidentally, Hideki Matsui only narrowly wins this award, beating out unrelated namesake Kazuo Matsui, a speedy infielder with pop. Looks like a great year for Japanese imports…

 

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