From the Windup: And the 'Winner' Is ...

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly look at some aspect of America's pastime.

Instead of handing our hardware to Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, Zack Greinke and Chris Carpenter (yes, those would be my votes), I thought we'd mix it up a bit. Plus, being a Cubs fan, I'm plenty filled with negativity at this time of the year -- which, really, is normal. So these are the Bizarro World Awards. The Suck Awards, if you will. The envelopes, please ...

NL LVP (Least Valuable Player): Well, let's see ... you sign a multi-year deal, proclaim your love for your new team and promise health. Instead, you end up getting hurt several times, suspended a few more, alienating your manager, general manager, teammates and fan base and, on top of that, post an OPS 224 points lower than last season. Mix in some bone-headed plays and constant sparring in the media, and you have a recipe for destroying a team that won 97 games last season. This is a no-brainer. Milton Bradley in an absolute landslide. I'm embarrassed I ever tried to defend him.

AL LVP: With apologies to Alex Rios and B.J. Upton, our winner here is another player who switched leagues after signing a free-agent contract. Pat Burrell inked a two-year deal to bolster the lineup of the defending American League champs. They got whatever the opposite of a career year is from Burrell. He sported the lowest OPS of his life, a career-low in home runs and has a shot at a career-low in RBI. Talk about a lack of run production from a supposed run producer. Plus, he had a spat with team captain and most respected Ray, Carl Crawford. You think CC grew tired of Burrell's apparent indifference and lack of hustle? That's conjecture, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. When you play well, being laid-back is OK. When you suck, it comes off as apathy.

NL Anthony Young (Opposite of Cy Young): Brad Lidge was one of the reasons the Phillies were great last year. This year, he's prevented them from being the bar-none best team in the NL. If Lidge threw this year the way he did last, the Phils would have around 100 wins. Instead, they are headed to the playoffs with a huge question mark at the back end of the bullpen. His 7.34 ERA, eight losses and 11 blown saves sound fake. They aren't; just ask Phillies fans.

AL Anthony Young: Fausto Carmona was supposed to join Cliff Lee to form one of the more menacing 1-2 punches in the league. Instead, the Tribe traded Lee and watched Carmona sandwich three different minor-league stops (including one all the way down in Single-A) between a 5-12 record and 6.32 ERA. In 125 1/3 major league innings, he's walked 70 guys and allowed 16 home runs. And 151 hits.

NL Mismanager of the Year: Lou Piniella went with Kevin Gregg as his closer instead of Carlos Marmol. Then he stuck with him too long. Speaking of which, he kept an albatross (Alfonso Soriano) atop the order for far too long. He continued to run Aaron Heilman out in big spots. His fire from the past few years turned into what appeared to be the equivalent of throwing his hands in the air and saying, "I'm not the one on the field." There's more, but we don't have enough time -- or inclination, frankly -- to cover all his snafus. An awful year for Sweet Lou.

AL Mismanager of the Year: Yes, I realize the Orioles have a huge uphill battle in their division, but they are 20-50 since the All-Star break. They've lost 13 games in a row, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the hapless Indians. Dave Trembley needs to find a way to develop his youth a bit better than this. If they plan on contending with this group, and this is the rate they are developing, 2013 seems more realistic than 2011.

NL Most Disappointing Team: Cubs Pretty simple. You take a 97-win team who entered the season with World Series aspirations and instead end up by losing the division by close to double-digits. Can't get more disappointing than that.

AL Most Disappointing Team: Rays Not to be outdone by the Cubs, last year's World Series loser is going to finish more than 20 games out of first.

NL Executive Failure: Jim Hendry: (noticing a theme?) changed the landscape of the NL's best regular season team based upon a three-game sample (last year's NLDS) against a white-hot Dodgers team. Where he could have made tweaks (leadoff spot in the order, promoting Marmol to closer; to name two), he didn't. Hendry also signed Milton Bradley. I've heard the argument that Piniella made Hendry attempt to balance the batting order. If that's the case, it makes Hendry look even worse. The general manager is the boss. You don't take orders from underlings. Oh, and by the way, the Cubs were second in the National League in OPS against righties in 2008. This year? Fifth. Good thing that batting order got balanced.

AL Executive Failure: I'm gonna go with Mark Shapiro here. It's tough to try and mix and match veterans with still-developing youth. In the past two seasons, Cleveland has traded CC Sabathia, Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee and Mark DeRosa while also signing Kerry Wood and trading for DeRosa. They are playing with Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore while trying to develop young players like Matt LaPorta. It's possible for the combination plan to work (see the Dodgers' Ethier/Kemp/Loney/Martin/Billingsley mix with Jeff Kent, Derek Lowe et al in 2007 and 2008), but if it doesn't, the team will need to blow it up and start over. That's where the Indians are now. It's hindsight, but Shapiro has to take some heat for this season.

NL Fall-Flat (Opposite of Comeback Player): We're gonna give a group award here to the New York Mets. Can a hamstring pull end your season? A bruised knee keep you out for half the year? It can on the Mets! It's amazing how afflicted nearly an entire team can be for one season. But, hey, they are the "Amazins." It's going to be interesting to see their direction this offseason under embattled executive Omar Minaya.

AL Fall-Flat: Josh Hamilton's team took a huge step forward this season. If he had shown up for the party, they might have made the playoffs for the first time since 1999 under the late Johnny Oates. The anchor of one of the best offenses in baseball in 2008, Hamilton had a .901 OPS with 32 home runs and 130 RBI in 2008. This year, he suffered from injuries in a big way and failed to really help the offense when in the lineup. His OPS (.741) is below average and he's only hit 10 home runs.