AL

MVP - Trout. Sorry, but Cabrera is an awful fielder and Trout is ungodly at everything he does. He's the best defensive player in the AL, maybe all of MLB, and all-hit, no-field players should not be given MVP consideration.

Cy Young - Verlander. Pisses excellence. Has thrown 50 more innings than Weaver and has six complete games.

ROY - Heh.

Manager - I agree with either Showalter or Melvin. Probably should just name them co-MOTY

NL

MVP - Molina. Plays catcher more than Posey. Runners have attempted fewer stolen bases than Posey has allowed. McCutchen over Braun. Defense wins out for me on that one.

Cy Young - Gio

ROY - Rosario is so bad defensively, but I agree.

Manager - Concur with Roenicke. My hunch is that Dusty or Davey win.

JV wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Manager - Ron Roenicke: Lost his cleanup hitter from last year. First baseman got hurt. Shortstop got hurt. Catcher got hurt. Best pitcher was traded. Contended with a flammable bullpen. Had to sit in the dugout with Nyjer Morgan. That he's got the Brewers in the top half of the division is miraculous.

Good points, but IMO the adversity argument is even stronger for Matheny, who also started with a club that finished six wins behind Milwaukee last regular season and didn't get 50 games from a known cheater. Since we all agree Ron is more deserving of MOY than Mike is, there's got to be some other data I'm missing.

It's hard to give MOY to a guy whose team was leading the league in run differential for most of the season and is hanging on to the second wild card spot. I try to keep the perspective that MM is following a Hall of Fame manager coming off maybe the most improbable championship since ... well, his last championship, and I'm optimistic he's going to be a good manager someday, but it seems like there's at least one moment every game that makes me think to myself something like: "Did the second batter of the game just lay down a bunt to move a runner to third? Does he think a pitching matchup between Chris Volstad and a guy who hasn't been on a mound in almost a year is going to end up being 1-0?"

"My hunch is that Dusty or Davey win."

Then it ought to go to Johnson, because Baker barely has to manage the best team in the history of baseball.

artie_fufkin wrote:

TK, I know we almost never do ifs and buts on this board, but if Cabrera ends up winning the TC, do you still vote for Trout?

I'd link the article, but it's an ESPN Insider story, so unless you're a member, the link won't help.  Our old friend Keith Law weighs in on this question:


"With that in hand, let's consider some of the major counterarguments that Cabrera supporters use to claim that he should win the award over Trout.

But Cabrera may win the Triple Crown, so he's the MVP!

This is begging the question: It assumes that the Triple Crown is an accurate measure of value, which it's not. Here's a short list of important factors not covered by the Triple Crown categories: Walks, the added value of doubles and triples, stolen bases, other aspects of baserunning, defensive value, positional value, park effects -- in other words, huge swaths of the game that are completely ignored.

Triple Crown is cute, but there's something very arbitrary and dated about its categories, an anachronistic way to look at the game that is wildly out of tune with how front offices look at players today. Once you realize, as you must, that a player who wins the Triple Crown has not necessarily delivered the most value, this argument evaporates."

forsberg_us wrote:

Triple Crown is cute, but there's something very arbitrary and dated about its categories, an anachronistic way to look at the game that is wildly out of tune with how front offices look at players today. Once you realize, as you must, that a player who wins the Triple Crown has not necessarily delivered the most value, this argument evaporates."

I agree with what is said here but the triple crown has been done in a long time.  If someone can do that and is named MVP I wouldnt have a problem with it.  Cute as it may be I think it is a pretty cool thing to witness and these awards are always a joke anyway.

I can't wait until Dusty wins MOTY for being sentient enough to call LeCure, Marshall, Chapman, etc into the game.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/20386104/nl-manager-of-the-year-watch-its-dusty-and-davey-with-bochy-lurking

Call me a traditionalist (a/k/a "old") but I don't even think it's a close issue anymore.  Cabrera's team won its division and is gearing up for the playoffs.  Trout's team finished 3rd in a 4 team division and didn't make it into an expanded playoff pool.

I realize that the Angels didn't finish 72-90, but a player from a non-playoff team has to be exponentially better than everyone else to get the MVP nod, and with Cabrera winning the Triple Crown, I don't think that can be said.

You know what pisses me off? Every bleepin' day, our advertising director waddles over to our part of the bleepin' building and rips out the part of the page of the Boston bleepin' Herald with the bleepin' state bleepin' lottery numbers. The problem is the bleepin' lotterty numbers are on the same bleepin' page as the bleepin' baseball scoreboard, so right now I couldn't bleepin' tell you who led the bleepin' National League in bleepin' RBIs this season because I can't see it in bleepin' print. OK, I know it's Chase bleepin' Headley, but it's such a bleepin' selfish move to tear out a bleepin' part of the bleepin' paper you didn't even bleepin' pay for. Bleep him.

And to be clear, if any BBWAA voting member punches the hole next to any name other than Miguel Cabrera for AL MVP, a wizard ought to instantly appear and vaporize said voting member and his ballot.

I didn't get the sense that the named finalists were the only names people could choose.  I'm pretty sure those are just the names of the top finishers.  For one, they voted on these things before the playoffs.  Also, IIRC, each person with an MVP vote votes for something like the top 10.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

I didn't get the sense that the named finalists were the only names people could choose.  I'm pretty sure those are just the names of the top finishers.  For one, they voted on these things before the playoffs.  Also, IIRC, each person with an MVP vote votes for something like the top 10.

So why even bother naming the "finalists?" What does the BBWAA think it's doing? Handing out Oscars?

Don't know, but didn't they do the same thing with the Gold Gloves?

It better be a long story. The awards are announced over a 4 day stretch next week. My guess is the league is trying to generate discussion before the announcement. Who were the NL MVP finalists? Molina, McCutcheon, Posey, Braun, Headley and whoever. Maybe they just want people to be debating who among those people should win.