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Awards - AL Rookie

AL Rookie of the Year In the final installment of our awards, we have the American League Rookie of the Year to hand out. Many believe, and rightfully so, that Evan Longoria and Alexi Ramirez are the only two real candidates. Kansas City’s Mike Aviles had a surprisingly nice rookie campaign and there are a few others that warrant some attention. Though, at the end of the day, the Longoria-Ramirez match-up should determine our winner. Let’s do that first and then discuss some other guys who get a shout out. Ramirez has Longoria in batting average by 18 points (.290 to .272). He had a few more at-bats and 13 steals to Longoria’s seven. He tied an AL Rookie record with four, yes, four grand slams this season. That is about all he has on the Rays’ phenom third baseman. Longoria finished with 27 homers (21 for Ramirez), 85 RBI (77 for Ramirez), a .343 on-base (.317), a .531 slugging percentage (.475), a .874 OPS (.792) and 60 extra-base hits (45). Even the stolen bases are a little misleading because Ramirez was caught nine times in 22 chances. Longoria was a perfect seven-for-seven. If you want to go to fielding, Ramirez made 11 errors and Longoria 12. Then again, Ramirez had more opportunities at a less difficult position. I throw the fielding out the door. That said, both players led their teams to a playoff appearance, but Longoria was one of the main reasons the Rays were the surprise team of the year with 97 wins. Ramirez was a key component of the White Sox appearance as well, however, Longoria also has the advantage of being the favorite to win this award coming into the season. Other players who deserve some credit for a nice season include: Aviles, who came out of nowhere to not only win the starting shortstop job for the Royals, but play effectively for most of the season. His .325 batting average led all AL rookies. He also showed nice pop with 15 homers and 51 RBI on the hapless Royals. Jacoby Ellsbury stole 50 bags and hit a solid .280 at the top of the potent Boston lineup. Another favorite coming into the season, Ellsbury didn’t disappoint and quickly disposed of Coco Crisp as a threat to his playing time. If not for injury, Texas’ outfielder David Murphy might have been a lock for this award. He was crushing the ball and still put up good numbers for a full season: .275-15-74 and more extra-base hits than anybody not named Longoria. Cleveland’s Ben Francisco finished with a .266-15-54 line. Many thought the best rookie on Oakland this year would be Daric Barton and while he was given an opportunity to do something special, his .226 batting average killed that quickly. Ryan Sweeney is the better rookie there. He had just five homers, but drove in 45 and hit .286 in 384 at-bats. What about Minnesota’s Denard Span? He hit an impressive .294 after winning the lead-off spot for the Twins (a partial playoff team), drove in 47 runs and swiped 18 bags. Solid numbers in just 347 at-bats. I won’t make the same mistake I did in the National League, leaving off Jair Jurrjens. Armando Gallaraga had a Jurrjens-like season with a 13-7 record, 126 strikeouts and a low 3.73 ERA. He could be considered for the top spot with those numbers. Nick Blackburn is another starting pitcher with solid numbers (4.05 ERA, 11 wins, 96 K’s). My Ballot 1. Evan Longoria 2. Alexi Ramirez 3. Armando Gallaraga 4. Mike Aviles 5. Jacoby Ellsbury 6. David Murphy 7. Denard Span 8. Ben Francisco 9. Ryan Sweeney 10. Nick Blackburn 2008 MLB Awards – Final NL MVP – Albert Pujols, 1B, STL AL MVP – Dustin Pedroia, 2B, BOS NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, SP, SF AL Cy Young – Roy Halladay, SP, TOR NL Rookie – Geovany Soto, C, CHC AL Rookie – Evan Longoria, 3B, TB I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed bringing them to you. We will be sure to recap when the actual awards come out in November to see if the “experts” agree. Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/6/2008 2:50:00 PM

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Awards - NL Rookie

Awards – NL Rookie of the Year Many believe this is a no contest award this year as well, but again, after closer review, a case could be made for somebody other than Cubs catcher Geovany Soto. That guy is Reds first baseman Joey Votto. We should have another numbers comparison to determine who should take home this award. Batting Average = Votto (.297) over Soto (.285) Runs = Votto (69) over Soto (66) Hits = Votto (156) over Soto (141) HR = Votto (24) over Soto (23) RBI = Soto (86) over Votto (84) OBP = Votto (.368) over Soto (.364) SLG = Votto (.506) over Soto (.504) OPS = Votto (.874) over Soto (.868) These numbers are amazingly close. Votto leads in most categories but not by much. The X-factor here is that team performance does come into account when choosing a rookie of the year. The fact is that the Cubs were the best team in the NL all year and due in no small part to Soto. He also played solid defense, allowing just five passed balls this season. That impact on the team is too much to ignore and should give Soto the boost he needs to overcome the slim statistical advantage for Votto. That said, while he shouldn’t run away with the award, he should definitely win it and deserves it. My Ballot: 1. Geovany Soto 2. Joey Votto 3. Blake Dewitt 4. Jay Bruce 5. Chase Headle y 6. Kosuke Fukodome 7. Ian Stewart 8. Gregor Blanco 9. Edgar Gonzalez 10. John Bowker Don’t pay much attention to the 3-10 ranks here. I just threw them together. These are the only 10 rookies even worth mentioning, though only four made the at-bat requirements (Soto, Votto, Fukudome and Blanco). 2008 MLB Awards NL MVP – Albert Pujols, 1B, STL AL MVP – Dustin Pedroia, 2B, BOS NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, SP, SF AL Cy Young – Roy Halladay, SP, TOR NL Rookie – Geovany Soto, C, CHC AL Rookie - Tomorrow Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/4/2008 1:18:00 PM

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Awards - AL Cy Young

AL Cy Young This should be the shortest installment of the awards, right? We should skip the nonsense and give his award to the most deserving and feel-good story of the year, Cliff Lee, right? Wrong. Not to say he doesn’t deserve it, but instead of listing eight or so candidates who just don't stack up. Let’s have a head-to-head battle between Lee and his only real competition, Toronto’s Roy Halladay. We will start with the hard stats that many view as the basis for winning the award: Wins = Lee 22 – Halladay 20 1-0 Lee ERA = Lee 2.54 – Halladay 2.78 2-0 Lee Strikeouts = Halladay 206 – Lee 170 2-1 Lee WHIP = Halladay 1.05 – Lee 1.11 2-2 Tie Opp. BA = Halladay .237 – Lee .253 3-2 Halladay OK. That’s that. Take it for what you will. Halladay wins in three categories to two. However, Lee wins the two most important categories with wins and ERA. But wait, there are a couple more categories that favors Halladay, including complete games (9, 1st in AL), innings pitched (246, 1st in AL), K/BB ratio (5.28, 1st in AL), hits/9 (8.05, 5th in AL). Both pitchers had two shutouts and each had 23 quality starts this season. Lee backers could make the argument that he led the AL in BB/9 (1.37) showing his impeccable control this season AND the fact that he not only won 22 games, but lost only three, for an unheard of .880 winning percentage. To me, a stat that comes into play here is run support. How else could Cliff Lee manage a 22-3 record with an opponents batting average that ranked 17th in the league? Lee received 6.13 runs per start (9th in the AL) and Halladay was able to win 20 with 4.72 runs (39th in the AL). It isn’t easy to vote against Cliff Lee, but after examining this thing up and down, I have to give the nod to “Doc”. That said, I think the writers give it to Lee. My Ballot: 1. Roy Halladay 2. Cliff Lee 3. Daisuke Matsuzaka 4. Mike Mussina 5. Jon Lester 6. Joe Saunders 7. A.J. Burnett 8. Ervin Santana 9. James Shields 10. Mariano Rivera 2008 MLB Awards NL MVP – Albert Pujols, 1B, STL AL MVP – Dustin Pedroia, 2B, BOS NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, SP, SF AL Cy Young – Roy Halladay, SP, TOR NL ROY – Tomorrow AL ROY – Sunday Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/3/2008 1:43:00 PM

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Message To Cubs Fans

A Message To Cubs Fans Hey, Cubs fans, I have an idea that will ease the pain of another early exit in the playoffs despite having the best all-around team in the National League. It is simple. Don’t act like you won the World Series after a strikeout to end the top of the first inning of Game 2 in a series you’re losing 1-0. That’s it. It is exhausting for all parties. You are killing yourselves and draining your team. I can’t imagine what you would do if you actually won the real thing. Chicago would have to summon the services of every major city’s police department to help control Wrigleyville and keep you all from burning the entire city to the ground. Whether you know it or want to admit it, your craziness only leads to more pressure for the squad. Then, after things go wrong, the boo’s reign in like air-raid sirens. I still haven’t figured out if the fans in Wrigley were actually sustaining a non-stop, low-pitched constant boo throughout the entire game or if TBS just doesn’t know how to handle the sound. Imagine what your players think. They know you all want nothing more than a World Series. They know you are behind them, but when they go from getting a resounding round of applause for accomplishing essentially nothing in the top of the first inning, to getting ripped a new one for grounding out weakly, where is their heads? This is a complete 180 for a player like Jim Edmonds, who goes from a positive and therefore winning atmosphere in St. Louis – to this. I will admit, they deserved to hear it after four uncharacteristic and unacceptable errors. That said, the best thing that could happen to this reeling bunch of loveable losers is to get out of Chicago and down to LA. Game three on Saturday at Chavez Ravine will feel more like a home game for the Cubs. They go from the favorites (which they clearly can’t handle) to underdogs (where they will feel more comfortable). They have the talent and the manager to rally for two wins in Los Angeles, only to come back to the Chicago where it just might feel like they are on the road again. I have all the respect in the world for the tortured fans on the North side of Chicago. You all have been through a lot. Don’t make it any harder on yourselves than it already is. Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/3/2008 7:41:00 AM

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The Softest Team Money Can Buy

For much of my short life, I have been a die-hard Mets fan. I remember wearing a Howard Johnson pin on my Mets jacket in the second grade. I remember screaming out loud whenever HOJO would hit a homerun. I’m not sure why I was such a big Howard Johnson fan. It was probably because of his nickname and because he looked like he always meant business. I remember going to Mets camp when I was 12; somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. Our 6 days were spent playing baseball, watching video of key moments in Mets’ history (mostly the 86’ season) and meeting up and coming Mets’ prospects (Bobby Jones, Brook Fordyce). Playing baseball and meeting “real” players was understandably thrilling for a camp full of 12 year old Met fans. The less understandable part was just how mesmerized every kid was with the 1986 team. I think that even as 12 year olds, we understood that the 1986 roster was unusually loaded with talent, toughness, leadership and personality. The images of players like Strawberry, Gooden, Backman, Dykstra, Mitchell, Hernandez and Carter, drove that understanding home. I remember the day the Mets traded for Mike Piazza. I remember a high school classmate of mine screaming with excitement that we got Piazza and that “he was gonna hit bombs”. We had a baseball game that day. The bus ride to the game was full of the buzz generated by the Piazza signing. Piazza was a gamer and he was clutch. And now he was our catcher. I remember the 2000 Subway Series and being glued to the seat for game 1 against the Yankees. The Mets weren’t as talented as the Yankees but they were a gritty bunch of overachievers. All I could think of was how happy I would be if one of my teams finally won it all and if they beat the hated Yankees in the process. I remember the day that David Wright got called up from the minors. I was in Maine on vacation. I was substantially affected by too much wine but I remember making a point of putting on Sportscenter at 2:30 in the morning. I didn’t know all that much about David Wright, but for some reason I knew he was going to be the face of the franchise for a long time. He was going to be the first major homegrown talent that the team had developed since Strawberry or Gooden. He was going to be our DiMaggio or Mantle. I have pointed out these select memories for a couple reasons. First is to demonstrate just how big of a Mets fan I used to be. And second, is to point out the types of teams and players that I want to root for. Howard Johnson was the consummate professional. The 1986 Mets were about intangibles like: toughness; the team concept; leadership; personality; bravado (just to name a few). Mike Piazza was a gamer. The 2000 Mets will always be remembered as a professional group of overachievers. David Wright is a simple kid who loves baseball. Since the arrival of Omar Minaya, my Met fandom has been put to sleep. There have been no teams that I have enjoyed rooting for. There have been no managers that I have had any faith in. There have been few players that Minaya has brought in that I want to root for. Minaya’s teams from each of the past 3 seasons have arguably been more talented than any other team in the National League; during that span. They have also had the highest payroll in the National League for each of the past 3 seasons. This is no coincidence. During this 3 season span (2006-2008), the National League has been weaker than it has arguably ever been during a 3 year period. It would stand to reason that the Mets, being the most talented team during this period, would have capitalized on the weakened state of the National League and reached the World Series at least once. However, this has not been the case. The reason is quite simple. While Omar Minaya has succeeded each off-season in assembling a talented roster, he has failed on a grand scale in addressing intangibles like: toughness; personality; accountability; bravado; professionalism; etc. The 2006 Mets were universally considered the most talented team in the National League. They lost to an inferior 83 win Cardinal team. The reasons- lack of intangibles such as: toughness; leadership; accountability; professionalism; hustle; energy; bravado; etc. You can also count the ordinary to bad coaching ability of Willie Randolph as another major contributing factor. In 2007, the Mets squandered a 7 game division lead with 17 games to go. They squandered that division lead and missed the playoffs as a result of the most epic collapse in baseball history. The reasons- same as above. They lacked intangibles and the team was coached by the nauseatingly mediocre Willie Randolph. This season, the Mets collapsed down the stretch in less historic but more painful fashion than 2007. Reasons- Intangibles and an ordinary manager in Jerry Manuel who bases every decision he makes on matchups and numbers. As a disenchanted Mets fan for several years, part of me was almost happy that they choked this season. I thought clueless Fred Wilpon would wake up and realize that Omar is not the man for the job. That he would hire someone sharp who has a real vision and that this person would drastically shake things up and put a product on the field that I would be happy to support. This is obviously not the case. Amazingly, Wilpon has already signed Omar to a 4 year contract with an option for 2 more years. And reports indicate that Wilpon and Manuel are close to finalizing a 3 year contract. So what we basically have on the horizon is 4-6 more years with Minaya and another 3 more years with a robot in Manuel. I want to believe that Omar Minaya will wake up tomorrow morning and realize that what’s been missing the past 3 seasons has been intangibles. I want to believe that he will wake up and realize that instead of hiring mediocre managers, he needs to hire excellent ones. I want to believe that he will wake up and understand that a major shakeup of the roster is needed to give the 2009 team any chance of achieving real success. I want to believe all of these things because the alternative is thinking that the next 4-6 years is going to resemble the last 3. Posted by David Martorano at 10/2/2008 8:24:00 PM

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Awards - NL Cy Young

NL Cy Young The MVP awards have been handed out and we are moving on to a hot topic of all the awards in the National Cy Young Award, which went undisputedly to Jake Peavy, who won the pitchers Triple Crown last year with 19 wins, a 2.54 ERA and 240 strikeouts. This year, we have a few candidates that should steal votes from each other. Let’s see who comes out on top. Tim Lincecum. “The Freak” as he is so appropriately dubbed, had an amazing season, accumulating eye popping numbers including a league-leading 265 strikeouts. He kept his ERA at 2.62, ranked 2nd in the league and his opponent’s batting average (.221) was best in the NL and second only to Dice-K in the entire MLB. Also, he didn’t win the 22 that Brandon Webb did, but he managed 18 wins on a pathetic Giants team that saw the second most wins at 10. Need more? He also led the league in win-loss percentage (.773) and home runs allowed per/9 (0.45) and was second in quality starts with 25. He did have some control issues for a stretch there, but never let it get too bad. His WHIP was a little high at 1.17 (12th) but again, he found a way to strand those runners and put up the best set of numbers in the league. Ryan Dempster. The best pitcher on the Cubs this year was Ryan Dempster. He dominated at home and sneaks into the Cy Young race a little under the radar. However, look at his numbers and ranks and the consistency across the board in the top-5 makes him worthy of discussion: Wins (17, t-3rd), opponent’s batting average (.227, 3rd), 2.96 ERA (4th), Winning percentage (.739, 4th). In 13 starts after the All-Star break (which he spent striking out the side in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium), he went 7-2 with a 2.52 ERA. He put up solid numbers but not leading any one of them does hurt his chances. I’ll save the suspense, he won’t win, but should get some top-five votes. Brandon Webb. Luckily for the defending Cy Young winner, wins is the biggest stat the writers focus on when voting and he led the league with 22 of them. That should get him into the top three, but it should end there. Look at the rest of his ranks in key statistical categories: ERA (3.30, 10th), strikeouts (183, 11th), opp. BA (.242, 13th) and WHIP (1.20, 19th). Those numbers just aren’t good enough to keep him up there with Lincecum. He should hang around the number two spot because he did win at a .759 clip and had 24 quality starts (3rd) but he really shouldn’t get his second award in as many years. That doesn’t mean he won’t. Johan Santana. Coming over to the National League should be a little easier and he won two of these bad boys over in the AL. His dominating finish on short rest should linger in the minds of voters and he could be considered a front-runner. His numbers don’t quite stack up to Lincecum’s and the fact that he lost at least four or five wins from that faltering bullpen hurts. The key here is that he does lead in a top category (ERA, 2.53) and another important category, innings pitched (234.1). He single-handedly kept the Mets in the race until the very end when the offense couldn’t answer the bell and they missed the playoffs on the last day of the season for the second straight year. Fact remains, 16 wins doesn’t look good on the resume. He did have 206 strikeouts, which was tied for second with Dan Haren, but even that was 59 behind Lincecum. The argument is strong in his favor. Dan Haren. Haren might actually be a more deserving candidate than his teammate Webb. Again, 16 wins doesn’t immediately strike interest, especially with eight losses attached. A 3.33 ERA is a little lofty for this award as well and a .247 opponent’s batting average shows he might have had a little luck on his side. That’s where the negatives end. He is tied for second in strikeouts (206), 3rd in WHIP (1.13) and 1st in K/BB ratio (5.15). That’s not enough to convince writers to vote for him, but a great season nonetheless. Quick question: how bad could an offense be when two starting pitchers are in the running for Cy Young from the same roster? The D-Backs should be playing in October and could’ve made a run. Brad Lidge. Here is our annual closer candidate and while I would like to make a case for Lidge, I simply can’t justify it. Being a starting pitcher, the grind, the bullpens, the wear and tear throughout the season, it’s simply a much tougher job than coming out of the pen, sometimes with a three-run lead and giving max effort to get three outs. Don’t get me wrong, Lidge did a fantastic job this year and he is the best at what he does in the National League, but he should be happy with the “Comeback” player award because that is all he should take home this year. Cole Hamels. Hamels had just 14 wins this year, which wasn’t even the most on his team (16, Moyer), but he did put up a solid year and he does deserve at least a whisper for the award. He led the league in WHIP at an impressive 1.08. Opponents batting average was tied with Dempster for 2nd at .227. His 3.09 ERA was ranked 5th. His 196 strikeouts was 6th. And his K/BB ratio was 4th (3.70). Again, a very solid season and worth the whisper, but if he could’ve managed a couple more wins he would be taken a little more seriously. Ricky Nolasco. Like Hamels, Nolasco isn’t a real candidate to win this thing, but deserves some credit for a very solid season. He only has 15 wins and his ERA was ranked 12th at 3.52. His 186 strikeouts isn’t overly impressive. But a 1.10 WHIP (2nd behind only Hamels) and a 4.43 BB/K ratio (2nd behind only Haren) are very impressive. Again, worth a mention and a vote in the top 10, but not a threat to the top contenders. Edinson Volquez. Volquez is a nice story, coming over from the Rangers for Josh Hamilton, he really put together a nice season. Granted, it’s not a Cy Young season, but there is only one of those to go around. His 17 wins on a weaker Reds team is impressive. His 3.21 ERA is also impressive but his 9.46 K’s/9 is the most impressive. C.C. Sabathia. First of all, I don’t believe that a player can come over in a trade after the All-Star break and win an award of this caliber. It’s not possible. I must admit though, if anybody is capable it is Sabathia and if he went 13-0, he would deserve it. I won’t go into all of his numbers, just flip on the Brewers-Phillies game and you can see for yourself. The guy is just plain dirty. He is probably more worthy of a mention for MVP over Cy Young because of what he meant to the Brewers down the stretch and the fact that he is never hurt. My Ballot: 1. Tim Lincecum 2. Johan Santana 3. Cole Hamels 4. Dan Haren 5. Ryan Dempster 6. C.C. Sabathia 7. Brandon Webb 8. Edinson Volquez 9. Ricky Nolasco 10. Brad Lidge Honorable Mention (and could replace Lidge): Chad Billingsley. Gibson Awards 2008 NL MVP – Albert Pujols, 1B, STL AL MVP – Dustin Pedroia, 2B, BOS NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, SP, SF Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/2/2008 1:40:00 PM

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Awards - AL MVP

AL Most Valuable Player With Albert Pujols taking home the Stanley Gibson NL MVP Award, it’s time to check out who could and who should take home the American League version. Unlike last year, when Alex Rodriguez was the clear choice, we have many candidates to choose from. Alex Rodriguez. We’ll start with the defending champ and while his numbers are good enough to warrant consideration, the Yankees missing the playoffs softens talk of him winning his fourth MVP award. He hit .302 with 35 homers and 103 RBI which is way down from the .314-54-156 line that won him the award last year. He was just two off the lead in homers and ranked 5th in on-base percentage (.392) and 1st in slugging (.573), good enough for 3rd in OPS. Again, the numbers are there in his stat line, but there weren’t enough W’s in that all-important column for the Yanks. Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis is a quiet contender for the award but after looking at the numbers, he should be considered a favorite especially considering he carried this Red Sox offense down the stretch. He finished with 29 and take a gander at some other key numbers and ranks: .312 average (6th), .569 slugging (3rd), 76 extra-base hits (4th), 115 RBI (4th), .390 on-base percentage (6th) and 43 doubles (t-7th). He hit .327 (99-for-303) in his final 83 contests and drove in 76 runs during that stretch in September. During one span from July to September he reached base in 44 straight games. The kicker is his defense. He proved so valuable to the team by playing first base in 110 games and third base 31 times (19 games he played both). His error on June 7th was his first at first base since July 4, 2006 which was a span 238 games and 2,002 chances. He fielded at a .996 clip at first base and overall between first and third made just 5 errors in 1,107 chances. Milton Bradley. Where did he come from? After playing in just 42 games last year with the Padres and just 19 the year before in Oakland, Bradley ended up leading the AL in OPS (.999) and hit 22 homers with 77 RBI in just 414 at-bats. He led the AL with a .436 on-base percentage, 3rd in the AL with a .321 batting average and 4th in slugging (.563). Quick trivia question: Can you name the last player to win the triple crown of percentages (average, on-base and slugging)? Answer at the end. If he gets 600 at-bats, he is on pace for 32 jacks and 112 RBI. His MVP chances are slim-to-none with the Rangers falling out and staying out early, but his individual performances this season warrant a mention. Dustin Pedroia. Can the reigning AL Rookie of the Year take home the highest honors in his sophomore season, a year in which he is supposed to slump? Well, he lead the entire MLB in doubles with 54 and tied Ichiro for the most hits with 213. He finished first in the AL in runs (118) and multi-hit games (61). He also stole 20 bases and only was caught once, a 95.2% success rate. Still not impressed? How about the fact that he is only the fourth American Leaguer to with 200 hits, 50 doubles and 20 steals in a season, joining Alfonso Soriano in 2002 and greats Tris Speaker in 1912 and Nap Lajoie in 1910. He made just six miscues at second base this season in 727 chances, a .992 fielding percentage, ranked 2nd in the A.L. The knock on him is the power numbers which writers fall in love with, just 17 homers and an OPS that ranked 17th in the American League. However, think of what this guy did for his team all season long. Carlos Quentin. It’s a shame this guy got hurt because he would’ve been a front-runner as well. His numbers were still impressive, hitting .288 with 36 homers and 100 RBI. He was injured on 9/1. That is a whole month left. He was on pace for 43 homers and the White Sox likely don’t relinquish their lead to the Twins if he is around during the stretch run. Again, his name is worth mentioning, but the injury will likely keep him out of the running. Justin Morneau. Did you know this guy hit clean-up in every game this season for the Twins and helped carry them to a tie for the AL Central crown? He hit .300 (16th) with 23 HR (t-18th), 129 RBI (2nd), .374 on-base % (t-15th), .499 slugging % (15th). Those ranks just don’t jump off the page at anybody. He is a consistent performer on a good team, but he isn’t even the best candidate on his own team. Joe Mauer. Segway to the best player on the Twins. Mauer won the batting title with a .328 mark. He also finished 2nd in on-base (.413) and he plays what many view as the most important position on the field, the captain behind the plate. The fact remains, you don’t win an MVP with single-digit homers (9) and less-than 100 RBI (85). Grady Sizemore. You can’t blame the Tribe’s disappointing season on Sizemore. 33 homers and 90 RBI to go along with 38 stolen bases are impressive numbers. The reason he isn’t considered: lack of team wins and an unimpressive .268 batting average. Josh Hamilton. Another great season spoiled by zero team success. 32 homers and an AL leading 130 RBI to go with a .304 batting average and that amazing performance in the Home Run Derby (just kidding, that doesn’t factor in). My ballot: 1. Dustin Pedroia 2. Kevin Youkilis 3. Carlos Quentin 4. Alex Rodriguez 5. Joe Mauer 6. Justin Morneau 7. Miguel Cabrera 8. Grady Sizemore 9. Josh Hamilton 10. Milton Bradley Trivia question answer: George Brett in 1980. Posted by Stanley Gibson at 10/1/2008 2:11:00 PM

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7/8/2007 - 7/14/2007
7/1/2007 - 7/7/2007
6/24/2007 - 6/30/2007
6/17/2007 - 6/23/2007
6/10/2007 - 6/16/2007
6/3/2007 - 6/9/2007
5/27/2007 - 6/2/2007
5/20/2007 - 5/26/2007
5/13/2007 - 5/19/2007
5/6/2007 - 5/12/2007
4/29/2007 - 5/5/2007
4/22/2007 - 4/28/2007
4/15/2007 - 4/21/2007
4/8/2007 - 4/14/2007
4/1/2007 - 4/7/2007
3/25/2007 - 3/31/2007
3/18/2007 - 3/24/2007
3/11/2007 - 3/17/2007
3/4/2007 - 3/10/2007
2/25/2007 - 3/3/2007
2/18/2007 - 2/24/2007
2/11/2007 - 2/17/2007
2/4/2007 - 2/10/2007
1/28/2007 - 2/3/2007
1/21/2007 - 1/27/2007
1/14/2007 - 1/20/2007
1/7/2007 - 1/13/2007
12/31/2006 - 1/6/2007
12/24/2006 - 12/30/2006
12/17/2006 - 12/23/2006
12/10/2006 - 12/16/2006
12/3/2006 - 12/9/2006
11/26/2006 - 12/2/2006
11/19/2006 - 11/25/2006
11/12/2006 - 11/18/2006
11/5/2006 - 11/11/2006
10/29/2006 - 11/4/2006
10/22/2006 - 10/28/2006
10/15/2006 - 10/21/2006
10/8/2006 - 10/14/2006
10/1/2006 - 10/7/2006
9/24/2006 - 9/30/2006
9/17/2006 - 9/23/2006
9/10/2006 - 9/16/2006
9/3/2006 - 9/9/2006
8/27/2006 - 9/2/2006
8/20/2006 - 8/26/2006
8/13/2006 - 8/19/2006
8/6/2006 - 8/12/2006
7/30/2006 - 8/5/2006
7/23/2006 - 7/29/2006
7/16/2006 - 7/22/2006
7/9/2006 - 7/15/2006
7/2/2006 - 7/8/2006
6/25/2006 - 7/1/2006
6/18/2006 - 6/24/2006
6/11/2006 - 6/17/2006
6/4/2006 - 6/10/2006
5/28/2006 - 6/3/2006
5/21/2006 - 5/27/2006
5/14/2006 - 5/20/2006
5/7/2006 - 5/13/2006
4/30/2006 - 5/6/2006
4/23/2006 - 4/29/2006
4/16/2006 - 4/22/2006
4/9/2006 - 4/15/2006
4/2/2006 - 4/8/2006
3/26/2006 - 4/1/2006
3/19/2006 - 3/25/2006
3/12/2006 - 3/18/2006
3/5/2006 - 3/11/2006
2/26/2006 - 3/4/2006
2/19/2006 - 2/25/2006
2/12/2006 - 2/18/2006
2/5/2006 - 2/11/2006
1/29/2006 - 2/4/2006
1/22/2006 - 1/28/2006
1/15/2006 - 1/21/2006
1/8/2006 - 1/14/2006
1/1/2006 - 1/7/2006