2003 Cafe Awards

As we eagerly await the voting for the major league awards (Can A-Rod win the MVP on a losing team? Will it be Pujols or Bonds in the NL? Podsednik, Webb or Willis for top senior circuit rookie?), it’s time to unveil the results of the second-annual Cafe Awards (see here for last year’s awards). Join us as we look back at the season that was - and what a season it was!

 
Fantasy MVP: There were many fantastic performances this year: Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Carlos Delgado posted monster statistics, Todd Helton was once again unstoppable, and Alex Rodriguez was, well, Alex Rodriguez. But Albert Pujols stood above them all. Only 23, Pujols led the majors in runs (137) and batting average (.359), while finishing in the top five in home runs (43) and runs batted in (124). The fact that he qualified at third base was just icing on the cake.

Fantasy Cy: Dodgers relief ace Eric Gagne is a surprisingly easy choice in this category. Some might argue that a reliever’s contribution doesn’t compare to those made by starters, but this year is different. With so many closers losing their jobs over the course of the season, dependable stoppers such as Gagne, John Smoltz or Billy Wagner were very rare - and therefore extremely valuable to their fantasy teams. (Just ask anyone who began the season counting on Scott Williamson, Jose Jimenez and Alan Embree for saves.) But it wasn’t only his league-leading 55 saves that earned Gagne this award; his era of 1.20 and whip of 0.69 were phenomenal, and his 137 strike outs in just 82.1 innings were deadly in leagues with ip limits.

Fantasy Rookie of the Year: In one of the biggest surprises of the season, Scott Podsednik came out of nowhere to hit for a solid .314 average while scoring an even 100 runs and swiping 43 bases. Brandon Webb and Dontrelle Willis wowed us with their stellar pitching performances, Hideki Matsui silenced doubters by collecting 106 rbi, and Angel Berroa surprised everyone with his hitting, but when the dust settled, unheralded Scott Podsednik had made the greatest overall impact on fantasy leagues.

Draft-Day Steal: If Esteban Loaiza hadn’t gone undrafted in so many leagues, he would have merited serious consideration for this award. But since he did, the choice is easy: tip your cap to Javy Lopez. Coming off a year in which he hit .233, many considered the Braves catcher to be washed up and let him slip to the final draft rounds. Those owners who took a late flyer on him were rewarded with one of the most impressive seasons by a catcher ever, including a record 43 round-trippers by a backstop.

Disappointment of the Year: We were tempted to give the nod to Pat Burrell, the slugger who tantalized us with a breakout season in 2002, only to take several steps back this year, but in this year of bullpen mayhem, it wouldn’t feel right to choose anyone but a closer. And no stopper is more symbolic of the events of this season than Billy Koch. After posting 44 saves a year ago, Koch cost his owners a pretty penny on draft day, only to reward them with an 11-save campaign and an era that rose to 5.77 as he lost the closer’s job to Tom Gordon and Damaso Marte.

In Your Face Award: A year ago, most people felt that a move to Washington, D.C., by the Expos was a done deal. “Not so fast,” said the folks in Portland, and suddenly it’s a wide open race. Whether or not the Expos wind up playing in Oregon, that sort of tenacity, enthusiasm and unwillingness to back down has to be respected.

Brightest Public Relations Move: The Blue Jays have long had a reputation as a classy franchise, which made an ad campaign taken out by the ballclub this spring all the more surprising. Urging fans to come to the park to boo new Yankee acquisition Hideki Matsui in bilingual advertisements, the ballclub wound up facing allegations of racism for singling out the Japanese star. Whether racist or merely misguided, these ads should never have been run. The Jays should be - and normally are - above such things.

Closest Shave: The NL batting title race between Albert Pujols and Todd Helton was a squeeker, and their were lots of high and tight pitches this year, too. But the closest shave of all goes to the Detroit Tigers, who dodged a bullet by going on a roll as the season wound down, narrowly avoiding becoming the team with the worst record in history. And that’s a good thing, too: it wouldn’t feel right if that mark didn’t belong to the lovable original Mets.

Young at Heart Award: For the second year in a row, Jesse Orosco earns this honor. Forty-six years young, Orosco now heads into the playoffs with the Twins, along with teammates such as Luis Rivas and Justin Morneau who weren’t born yet when Orosco made his big league debut in 1979. Now back with the team that originally drafted him, Orosco has come full circle, but he may not be finished yet.

Worst Judgment: We’re willing to give Sammy Sosa the benefit of the doubt that he only came to be using his now-infamous cork-filled bat by accident, that it was meant for batting practice only, that he would never deliberately cheat in a ballgame. Truly. Yet even so, it’s hard to believe that nobody foresaw the possibility of a mixup occurring. A little fluorescent paint would have gone a long way here.

Best Story: How can anybody not love the tale of Rod Beck, who lived in a trailer behind the ballpark in Iowa in order to have one more shot in the big leagues. And when the opportunity came, Beck made the most of it, rattling off twenty straight saves for San Diego. This is one they’ll be talking about for a long time.

Unfulfilled Potential Award: It was a disappointing season for Giants rookie Jesse Foppert. Hailed as the best pitcher in the minor leagues last season, Foppert struggled to a 5.03 era after being called up, showing flashes of brilliance at times, but also looking shaky on occasion. In August, it was announced that Foppert would need Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament. It looks like we’ll have to wait until 2005 before finding out just how good Foppert can be…

Next Big Thing Award: Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Joe Mauer, Scott Kazmir… The minors seem to be full of exciting prospects these days. The very best among these may not make an impact for quite a while, however, making Kazuo Matsui (no relation to Hideki) the choice in this category. It’s not entirely certain yet whether he’ll make the jump across the Pacific, but you can be sure that the talented middle infielder will attract lots of attention this offseason - both from teams eager to sign him and the media.