MLB Mlb Awards

It hasn't been the greatest week for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Not only is he feeling the heat of the Chicago media with the Cubs scuffling, but he's also gotten into an argument with Milton Bradley in which he called his right fielder a "piece of [expletive]." Regardless of whether the exchange should have ever left the clubhouse or not, it's not exactly the type of thing you want the world to know about.

All of this was done after a recent poll by Sports Illustrated in which Major League players were asked anonymously which manager in baseball they would least like to play for, and which one they'd most like to play for. Guess which one Sweet Lou emerged "victorious" in.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Friday night was not a good time to leave a game early.

There were three walk-off wins – by the Rays, Yankees and Braves – and three other games decided in the visitors' final-at bat.

Tampa Bay overcame a seven-run deficit and beat Cleveland 8-7 on B.J. Upton's homer in the ninth. The Yankees scored three off Twins closer Joe Nathan in the ninth to win 5-4. And Atlanta allowed Arizona to tie the game in the top of the ninth and then won the game in the bottom of the inning on Yunel Escobar's sacrifice fly.

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We still have more than seven months before the Baseball Writers' Association of America hands out its hardware, but why wait? MLB FanHouse's staff is ready to name the award winners today.

But don't hold us to it.

These predictions are nothing more than having some fun. Think about it; there's two ways to predict who wins the MVP or Cy Young Award: take the obvious guy who's been at the top of his game (Johan Santana, Albert Pujols) or go with a hunch and make a stab at some so far unrewarded talent (Grady Sizemore, David Wright).

I remember when it was announced that Rocco Baldelli was diagnosed with mitochondrial disorder at the beginning of the 2008 season. It was sad. Here you had a dude who just could never stay healthy. He wasn't just sitting out and gathering paychecks without attempting to come back and play. He was just a guy with miserable fortunes when it came to staying healthy.

After the latest diagnosis, it was thought his career was over. Instead, he fought back and got back on the field for 28 regular season games and eight postseason games -- he even hit two home runs in only 20 postseason at-bats.

For these and many more inspirational achievements this season, Rocco Baldelli has won the Tony Conigliaro Award. The award is given to a player who has "overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage." You get it, just like the namesake of the award, who never got to scratch the surface of his enormous potential due to having his face caved in by a pitch at age 23.

Some past winners of the award who battled notable adversity include Jim Eisenreich, Dickie Thon, Jim Abbott, Eric Davis, Tony Saunders, and Jon Lester -- last season's winner.

And so the Albert Pujols-Ryan Howard MVP debate rages on. You already know the sides at work here: Smart people who understand baseball on one side (Pujols') and Phillies fans on the other. Plus, of course, Murray Chass; he thinks Ryan Howard should have won too. Of course he does.

So, unfortunately, does legendary Washington Post writer Thomas Boswell. If Boswell's legacy wasn't so well entrenched, it would have just about undone it with circular logic like this:

This week, Albert Pujols won the NL MVP Award. Why? Mostly because he had a better OPS and VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) than Ryan Howard. Say what? Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Phils' first baseman had 48 homers and 146 RBI to Pujols' 37 homers and 116 RBI.

You can imagine where it goes from there: Numbers are bad, except these numbers, which for Boswell happens to be RBI. That's literally his only stat -- RBI. The most team-dependent statistic in the history of ... you know what? Nevermind this. Far smarter writers have already written takedowns of Boswell's post, guys like Jonah Keri and Joe Posnanski, who are clearly baffled and sort of saddened by the whole mess. I suppose that's a fair reaction. In the meantime I'm going to go read more of the comments on Boswell's post. Now that's entertainment.

Albert Pujols rightfully won the National League MVP this past season, but there is still a raging debate and many people think Ryan Howard deserved the award. The overwhelming majority of those people are Phillies fans, who think their team is entitled to every single award due to their World Series victory (Howard is the MVP! Brad Lidge should win Cy Young! Charlie Manuel is manager of the year!!) and older writers who can't evolve past their own stubbornness.

Murray Chass, famed baseball writer from the New York Times, falls into the latter group. His argument centers around the fact that Howard carried the Phils into the playoffs and Pujols didn't accomplish the same feat with his Cardinals. He also accuses Pujols supporters of not being able to grasp the concept of value, and instead being obsessed with stats. Of course, later he uses September stats to explain why Howard was more valuable down the stretch.

Where I unequivocally disagree is the claim that Pujols backers don't understand value. Isn't this just a pompous claim, by the way? If someone disagrees with you, you just assume they are ignorant and don't understand the intricacies of "value" the way you do.

The big baseball news of the day was the announcement the Dustin Pedroia was named the American League MVP. A minor footnote to that story, though, was the fact that Pedroia won despite being completely left off the ballot by one of the voters.

For what it's worth, voters seem to be getting better at this: they rightly recognized Tim Lincecum as NL Cy Young and Albert Pujols as the NL MVP despite the fact that neither one played on a team that even resembled a playoff contender, which in the past would have disqualified as serious candidates by a lot of voters.

But on the other hand, you're telling me there's someone out there who actually watched the games and didn't walk away thinking that Pedroia was one of the 10 best players in the game? That's not quite as bad as thinking Edison Volquez was still eligible for the NL Rookie of the Year award (which three voters did), but it certainly reeks of a backlash against the Red Sox ... right?

The Baseball Writers' Association of America announced its final 2008 award on Tuesday, as Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia emerged from a wide open field to edge out Minnesota's Justin Morneau.

Pedroia had a breakout season in 2007, taking AL Rookie of the Year honors, and he improved this year, with a .326 batting average, .376 on-base percentage, and 54 doubles while playing an above average second base. He received 16 first place votes, and was in the top four on every ballot except one, which strangely left him off entirely.

The top four finishers all came from the Red Sox and Twins, as Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis finished third, and Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer came in fourth. Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez finished sixth, receiving a single first place vote.

Though it wasn't always pretty, the BBWAA ended up with entirely reasonable selections for each of the eight awards it hands out. Pedroia wasn't head and shoulders above the competition like Albert Pujols, who won the NL MVP on Monday, but he was a deserving candidate. It's very rare to find a second baseman who hits for a high average, draws some walks, steals bases at a high clip (20/21 on the year), and even displays some power.

There's still time for them to screw it up, but it appears that the voters for the National League MVP and Cy Young Awards may actually be starting to get it. Tim Lincecum's Cy Young win rejected the long held notion that wins are more important than how well you pitched and, today, voters ignored Ryan Howard's monster RBI totals and selected Albert Pujols as the National League's Most Valuable Player.

Pujols turned in a magnificent offensive season, finishing as the NL's leader in OPS+, Isolated Power and Runs Created. His counting stats weren't too shabby either. He hit .357 with 37 homers, 116 RBI and scored 100 runs. His production carried an otherwise mediocre Cardinal team for most of the season, and had he not missed 13 games with a calf injury the Cardinals may have made a serious push for the Wild Card.

Howard finished second, snapping the string of Phillie MVPs at two and keeping alive the belief that baseball writers prize things that have more to do with circumstance than actual ability. Howard's 146 RBI and a strong September were the only things to recommend him for the award. Ryan Braun of the Brewers finished third and Manny Ramirez finished fourth in the voting, even though he was only a National Leaguer for 53 games.

In a shocking turn of events, it was announced on Thursday that Cleveland Indians pitcher Clifton "Cliff" Lee had been voted the AL Cy Young Award winner for 2008. His 22-3 record and 2.54 ERA were good enough to top Roy Halladay, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Francisco Rodriguez, and even fireballer Kyle Farnsworth. It certainly did not hurt that Lee won 22 games for an Indians team that only won 26 all season.

As an Indians fan and a resident of Cleveland (well, Bedford), two things have gotten me excited about this: One, that another Indians pitcher gets honored by the league, and two, that next year I will undoubtedly get a Cliff Lee Cy Young bobblehead to go on my shelf next to Cy Cy Sabathia.

Tonight's Dugout Wahoo Messenger is after the jump. And yes, the story about the little girl in Heritage Park is 100% true.