MLB Awards Predictions

By Matt Smith


National League

MVP

Matt Holliday- Holliday led the league in batting average (.340), RBIs (137) and was fourth in home runs, but it wasn’t the statistics as much as it was his performance down the stretch. The Rockies won 14 of their final 15 games to sneak into the playoffs as he hit .367 in the month of September with 12 home runs and 30 runs driven in. He battled an oblique injury and went 24-for-52 during Colorado’s final 15-game stretch.

Jimmy Rollins- Rollins talked the talk then he walked the walk. After off-season comments about the Phillies being the team to beat in the NL East, the shortstop played a big part in the Phils erasing a seven-game lead over the final 17 games of the season. He hit .296 and drove in 94 runs as a leadoff hitter, but he also did something nobody has ever done. He is the first ever 200-20-20-20-20 guy as he had 212 hits, 38 doubles, 30 homers, 20 triples and 41 stolen bases. Plus, he went to Encinal High School in Oakland, giving him bonus points.

Prince Fielder- He is a really big human, who hits balls far. The 23-year old did his part to keep the Brewers from sinking as he bashed an NL-leading 50 home runs and drove in 119 runs. Milwaukee’s collapse may hurt him, and out of sheer anger the Prince might eat Bernie the Brewer.


CY Young

Jake Peavy- Filthy. Only the sixth player to ever win the pitching triple crown as he led the National League in wins with 19, ERA with a 2.54 and strikeouts with 240. He has absolutely devastating stuff and it’s a miracle he ever loses.

Brandon Webb- If Mariano Rivera is proof a closer needs just one pitch, then Brandon Webb is proof a starter can get by with one pitch. He might bore you to death with sinker after sinker, but 18 wins, a 3.01 ERA to go along with four complete games and three shutouts are proof enough. Let’s not forget the 42 straight scoreless innings.

Brad Penny- For the second straight year, Penny won 16 games but the difference this time is he lost only four times and had an ERA of 3.03. He had only three wins after July 26 and didn’t exactly end the season pitching terrific.


ROY

Ryan Braun- Let’s forget that he’s a butcher at third base, just look at his offensive numbers. Even though he didn’t get to the bigs until May 25 he still had 34 home runs, 97 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. If he had that quarter of a season to his credit his numbers might be something like 42 home runs, 121 RBIs and 20 steals. Scary.

Troy Tulowitzki- He has all the momentum going into voting because of how hot he got during the Rockies run to the playoffs. After a miserable April which saw him hit .244 with just two homers, he turned it around and hit .291 with 24 home runs and 99 RBIs. Also, he led all National League shortstops with a .987 fielding percentage and committed just 11 errors compared to 26 errors and a horrendous .895 fielding percentage by Braun.

Hunter Pence- This guy was on his way to winning the award early, but a broken wrist forced him to miss four weeks. He still wound up hitting .322 with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs.


MANAGER

Clint Hurdle- The Rockies are in the playoffs. Nuf Ced.

Bob Melvin- The Diamondbacks have the best record in the National League despite being outscored by 20 runs. Stupid, but also, Nuf Ced, again.

Charlie Manuel- Between threatening to fight baseball writers, he got the Phillies on a hot streak and took advantage of a huge choke job by the Mets.


American League

MVP

Alex Rodriguez- This just in; A-Rod is good. Of course we know he lead the universe in home runs and RBIs, but lest we forget the Yankees were 10 games under .500 and sinking like a stone when he came to the rescue. Also, did anyone notice that he led the AL in fielding percentage for third baseman that played more than 120 games?

Magglio Ordonez-Magglio rode his super-mullet to a batting crown, hitting .363 and he was also second in the AL with 139 RBIs to go with 28 home runs and 54 doubles. Had this guy been playing in the National League he would be bringing home some hardware.

David Ortiz- Ortiz had yet another great year, despite his home runs dropping from 54 to 35. He hit .332 and had 117 runs driven in and 52 doubles. Now if he would only play a position……


Cy Young

John Lackey- I think it is going to get overlooked, buy Lackey had the best year of any AL pitcher by far. He was second in wins, he led the league with a 3.01 ERA and he threw a pair of complete game shutouts. He threw 224 innings and walked only 52 batters. That’s less than two per nine innings.

Josh Beckett- Beckett will likely win this award because he won 20 games and he plays in Boston and blah, blah, blah. Don’t get me wrong, he had a great year. But his ERA (3.27) is a quarter of a run higher than Lackey’s. He also threw nearly 24 less innings and had no shutouts.

C.C. Sabathia- No one takes the ball and delivers as many innings as the Tribe’s big fella. He lead the league in innings with 241 as he threw four complete games, had 19 wins and an ERA of 3.19. If I wasn’t so sure that Beckett is going to win because the BBWAA loves Boston, I would have picked him second.


ROY

Dustin Pedroia- And the winner by default is……Dustin Pedroia. It’s a weak rookie class in the American League, but Pedroia bounced back nicely from a disastrous April that saw him hit .182. He wound up hitting .317 with eight homers and 50 RBIs.

Delmon Young- When this guy’s not throwing his bat at umpires, he’s a pretty good ball player. This year he played in all 162 of the Devil Rays’ games as he drove in 93 runs. He also stole 10 bases and hit .288.

Brian Bannister- I know what you’re thinking: “Who in the hell is Brian Bannister?” Well, he’s a kid that the Mets gave six starts to last year and gave up on him. All he did was go 12-9 with a 3.87 ERA for one of the worst teams in baseball, the Royals. He also tossed a complete game.


MANAGER

Eric Wedge- 96 wins and you have Paul Byrd in your rotation and Joe Borowski as your closer. He did something right.

Mike Scioscia- The guy flat out knows how to get the best out of his guys. Their lineup is not the most imposing, but he knows how to manage them the right way. He is strategic and surrounds himself with interchangeable parts, which is why the Angels don’t get bothered when somebody gets hurt as much as other teams do.

Joe Torre- So if you gave me a team with a $200 million payroll, I would probably win too. But this year Torre took a sinking ship and did his best job of taking what was a near disaster and turning it into a successful season. His best job yet if you ask me.