2017 Awards: MVP

And of course the final of the big postseason awards, the MVP.

American League

Jose Altuve

Jose Altuve led the Houston Astros to one of the best records in baseball. He led the AL in hits, in batting average, WAR, and is a pretty fair second baseman. I think all that will give him the title over Aaron Judge. It may also help that Judge can win the Rookie of the Year Award and my guess is that some writers will vote him the Rookie award and then decide “that’s enough” and slight him for the MVP. They shouldn’t, but someone probably will.

National League

Giancarlo Stanton

Although the Marlins didn’t make the playoffs, without Giancarlo Stanton they might not have gotten to 50 wins (OK, I’ll give the rest of the roster 60 wins). He led the majors in home runs, RBIs, and led the National League in WAR and slugging. Those are the kinds of numbers that get both traditionalists and more modern stat guys attention. I think Nolan Arenado should get a lot of consideration, but my guess is that the Coors Field factor will hurt him a lot (although he didn’t do badly on the road). On a personal note, I loved Joey Votto’s season and would be very happy if he picked up a lot of support. I also think that Goldschmidt will get a lot of support.

As usual, don’t put large bets on my say so.

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Another Top of the Line (?) ESPN List

Well, being ESPN they’ve put out another one of their lists. This promises to tell us the current top 100 players in Major League Baseball. As usual, it’s a combination of the sublime and the ridiculous. I’m certainly not going to give you the entire list here, but I’ll do my standard job on it. I’ll give you the top player at each position (his spot in the list 1-100 will be the number in parenthesis) plus five pitchers (one of which has to be a lefty and one has to be a right-hander), a reliever, and the first player whose position is already taken will be the DH. Got all that? Good. So here we go.

1b Paul Goldschmidt (4)

2b Jose Altuve (10)

ss Carlos Correa (9)

3b Kris Bryant (6)

rf Bryce Harper (3)

cf Mike Trout (1)

lf Michael Conforto (42)

c Buster Posey (19)

P Clayton Kershaw (2), Chris Sale (5), Max Scherzer (7), Stephen Strasberg (20), Dallas Keuchel (22)

reliever Andrew Miller (36)

DH Nolan Arenado (8 and the second third baseman listed)

Francisco Lindor at number 11 is the highest rated player not to make the team. There are a lot of right and center fielders ahead of Conforto, but I wanted one guy in each position. The list also has a lot more infielders than outfielders high on the chart.

The list is on ESPN where you can check it out. If you don’t like it, take it up with ESPN.

 

2016 Awards Nominees Announced

It is now time for MLB to complete the 2016 season by naming the winners of its yearly awards. The new policy of announcing finalists (actually the 3 guys with the most votes) is still in effect. Apparently it’s the new normal.

OK, I guess, but I liked the old system better. I got to anticipate the winner in a different way than now. I got to wonder “who’s going to win?” and “who’s gonna finish fifth but shoulda won?” You don’t get to do that anymore and that’s kind of a shame. Now I know who’s been shafted before I even know who won.

Well, anyway, in case you haven’t seen the lists, here they are for your information and commentary if you want:

NL MVP: Kris Bryant, Daniel Murphy, Corey Seager (winner announced 17 November)

AL MVP: Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout (also announced 17 November)

NL Cy Young: Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester, Max Scherzer (announced 16 November)

AL Cy Young: Corey Kluber, Rick Porcello, Justin Verlander (also 16 November)

NL Rookie: Kenta Maeda, Corey Seager, Trea Turner (announced 14 November)

AL Rookie: Michael Fulmer, Gary Sanchez, Tyler Naquin (also 14 November)

NL Manager: Joe Maddon, Dusty Baker, Dave Roberts (announced 15 November)

AL Manager: Jeff Bannister, Terry Francona, Buck Showalter (also 15 November

That’s the list. One thing I noted is how good the Tigers starting staff was just a few years ago: Verlander, Porcello, Scherzer. All three are nominees this season.

Good luck to all.