Postseason Awards
Did the voters get it right or wrong?

Now that we know the recipients of the major awards in the AL and NL, let’s see how well these ‘expert’ voters did.

AL Manager of the Year: Ozzie Guillen, ChA
You probably won’t get too much of an argument on this one especially now that Ozzie took the ChiSox to the promised land for the first time since 1959, and subsequently brought a title to the South Side for the first time since the Wilson administration. Personally I thought Ozzie’s style would wear on the team during their slide in September, but you can’t argue with results.
My vote: Ozzie Guillen, ChA

NL Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox, Atl
Following what many consider to be his greatest managerial job of the current Braves run, you likely won’t get much of an argument here either unless you happen to find yourself in Houston, St. Louis, Milwaukee, or possibly the nation’s capital. Cox deserved it more than any of the other candidates due to the fact that he was forced to play mostly rookies and unproven talent on the way to a 14th consecutive division title.
My vote: Bobby Cox, Atl

AL Rookie of the Year: Huston Street, RP, Oak
In what was a tight race between a host of candidates, Street took the ROY honors quite handily over Yankee 2nd baseman Robinson Cano, Devil Ray OF Johnny Gomes, and world champion two bagger Tadahito Iguchi. His rookie campaign can be considered nothing but a success following a year like this.

Player	IP	DIPS	K	BB	K/9	WHIP	QS	ERA	ERA+	W	L	SV	WS
Street	78.1	2.82	72	26	8.27	1.01	N/A	1.72	261	5	1	23	13

This announcement came as no real surprise to anyone considering the line that Street put up in one of the most pressure packed roles a rookie can occupy, that of 9th inning stopper. It still remains to be seen if he will have a sophomore season that mirrors that of his SS Bobby Crosby, last seasons ROY.
My vote: Huston Street, RP, Oak

NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Howard, 1B, Phi
In the first of the more controversial awards, Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard took home the honors after catching fire in the second half and helping the Phillies make a serious run at their first postseaon appearance since ‘93. Howard finished in front of Astros CF Willy Taveras and Braves RF Jeff Francoeur in a tight race, but the only real competition was from the fleet footed Astro outfielder. Some will argue for Taveras due to the fact that he amassed nearly twice as many ABs in nearly twice as many games as the Philadelphia rookie, but even that argument struggles to hold water. Looking at each players Win Share (WS) total, it is quite evident that Howard nearly outproduced Taveras while barely playing half as many games.

Player	G	PA	R	RBI	TB	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	WS
Howard	88	348	52	63	177	33	100	.288	.356	.567	11
Taveras	152	635	82	29	202	25	103	.291	.325	.341	13

Personally, I would have had no problem either way but looking just at the numbers Howard did have the more productive first major league season. If he was given as many PA as Taveras, I feel confident in saying he would have easily outproduced the Houston CF.
My vote: Ryan Howard, 1B, Phi

AL Cy Young: Bartolo Colon, SP, Ana
This is one where the voters completely whiffed in my opinion. All you have to do is take a look at these lines:

Player	IP	DIPS	K	BB	K/9	WHIP	QS	ERA	ERA+	W	L	WS
Player A	237.2	2.93	238	45	9.25	0.97	24	2.87	165	16	7	23
Player B	222.2	3.89	157	43	6.35	1.16	21	3.48	132	21	8	19

You would think Player A would be considered the best pitcher in baseball and win the most prestigious pitching award in the game, right? Wrong. Player A is Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins and Player B is Bartolo Colon of the Anaheim Angels. I’m not sure what else needs to be said about this one.
My vote: Johan Santana, SP, Min

NL Cy Young: Chris Carpenter, SP, Stl
This one wasn’t nearly as egregious as the AL side, but the voters were still overly enamored with the “W”.

Player	IP	DIPS	K	BB	K/9	WHIP	QS	ERA	ERA+	W	L	WS
Player A	211.1	3.02	185	62	7.88	1.01	26	1.87	247	13	8	25
Player B	241.2	3.09	213	51	7.93	1.06	27	2.83	163	21	5	18
Player C	236.1	3.20	170	55	6.47	1.14	25	2.63	165	22	10	26

Player A is Roger Clemens of the Houston Astros, Player B is Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Player C is Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins. All three players were equally deserving in my opinion, but Clemens separated himself from the others with his tremendous ERA+ and the fact that he amassed so many wins while suffering from pathetic run support. Of the 32 games Clemens started this season, the Astros lost 13 by two runs or fewer.
My vote: Roger Clemens, SP, Hou

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYA
I suppose whether you agree with this one or not depends on which side you take in the New York/Boston rivalry and how you define “value”. Four of the top five WS earners in the AL were members of the Red Sox and Yankees: Rodriguez (1), Manny Ramirez (2), Gary Sheffield (3), and David Ortiz (5) so basing your decision on those numbers it appears that the Boston backers were throwing their support behind the wrong Red Sox slugger. Personally I am of the persuasion that the “V” in MVP means value in terms of how much a player contributes to his teams success across the board and Rodriguez clearly did that as he was in the top 10 of all AL 3B in terms of fielding WS (a position he has only played for two seasons remember) and was the top rated hitter in the AL.
My vote: Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYA

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl
Perhaps as a way to make up for the fact that he hadn’t won an MVP following any of his four previous campaigns in the bigs, the writers voted King Albert the Most Valuable Player of the National League. The only other serious contenders were Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs and Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves, and of these only Lee should have even been in the conversation. Speaking in terms of WS Jones wasn’t even the best player on his own team. That honor goes to SS Rafael Furcal with 27 total WS. Surely he was the second best hitter on his team then, right? Nope that goes to 2B Marcus Giles who finished with 25 total WS. Andruw Jones, according to WS, was the third best player on his team earning only 23 total WS. Even the arguments for Jones are shaky at best. Jones supporters pointed to the lack of a supporting cast. Um, did they not watch the Cubs this season? Lee didn’t exactly have a Murderer’s Row behind him, neither did Pujols. This is a textbook case of the voters becoming overly enamored with the sexy HR and RBI totals while completely ignoring how much a player truly contributes to his teams success. Now that we’ve successfully eliminated Jones from contention, that only leaves Lee and Pujols. The two slugging 1B from the heartland were virtually dead even statistically speaking.

Player	G	PA	H	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	*FWS	*HWS	*TWS
Lee	158	691	199	85	109	.335	.416	.662	3.0	36.3	37
Pujols	161	700	195	97	65	.330	.430	.609	2.0	34.3	38

FWS: Fielding Win Shares HWS: Hitting Win Shares TWS: Total Win Shares

That being said, Lee did carry the Cubs Pre-All-Star Break, and he (in my humble opinion) was the only thing keeping the Cubs afloat most of the rest of the year. For that reason, Lee was the most valuable player to his team as he also contributed more defensively while being only slightly off the pace set by Pujols in terms of hitting.
My vote: Derrek Lee, 1B, ChN

 
When he's not cramming for an exam or putting off yet another project, you can probably find Nate Rhodes somewhere in the Baseball Cafe forums posting as SaintsOfTheDiamond.
 

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