MLB FanHouse

NL MVP: Cardinals' Albert Pujols

Andrew Johnson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Albert Pujols won his second straight National League MVP Tuesday, a unanimous selection of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Pujols is just the sixth player in National League history to win the award unanimously , and the first since Barry Bonds, who swept the honors in 2002. He is also the 12th player in either league to win the award in consecutive seasons. Bonds was also the last player to accomplish that feat, winning MVP in four straight seasons from 2001-04.

It is the third time Pujols has won the award -- he also won in 2005 -- and he has finished in the top five in the MVP voting in every year of his career except one, 2007, when he finished ninth.

The three MVPs ties Pujols with Alex Rodriguez for the lead among active players and ties him with Rodriguez and seven others for the second most all-time. Bonds holds the record, with seven career MVP awards.

Pujols was his usual historically productive self in 2009 as he led the Cardinals to their first NL Central title since 2006. He was first in the senior circuit in OPS and slugging for the third time in the last four seasons. He also led the league in on-base percentage for the first time ever and was tops in home runs (47), runs (124), extra-base hits (93) and total bases (374). He was also in the top three in the league in batting average, games played, doubles, walks and RBI.

Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez was the runner-up to Pujols, garnering 15 of 32 second-place votes. It's the first time he has finished higher than 10th in the voting. Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who beat out Pujols in a tight race to win the 2006 NL MVP, was third in the voting, followed by Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder and Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval, Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, and Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp rounded out the top 10.

This is the 17th time a Cardinals player has been honored, putting St. Louis behind only the Yankees for the most by one team.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 NL MVP (14 points for first-place vote, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
Albert Pujols, Cardinals	32										448
Hanley Ramirez, Marlins		15	5	3	3		2	3	1		233
Ryan Howard, Phillies		6	8	7	5	1	3	1			217
Prince Fielder, Brewers		5	9	7	3	1		3	1	3	203
Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies		3	6	5	5	5	1	1			172
Andre Ethier, Dodgers		2		3	2	5	4	5	3		113
Pablo Sandoval, Giants			1		2	5	5	6	1	4	89
Chase Utley, Phillies			2	2	1	5	4		3	1	84
Derrek Lee, Cubs		1			3	3	2	2	5		66
Matt Kemp, Dodgers				2	1	2	3	1	1	2	49
Ryan Braun, Brewers					3	1		2	4	6	43
Adrian Gonzalez, Padres				1		1		3	2	5	30
Todd Helton, Rockies			1	1		1	1		2		28
Chris Carpenter, Cardinals					1	2	1		2	1	25
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals					1			2	1	2	16
Matt Holliday, Cardinals				1			1		2		15
Jayson Werth, Phillies					1		1				10
Shane Victorino, Phillies							2				8
Tim Lincecum, Giants							1		1	2	8
Yunel Escobar					1						6
Mark Reynolds, D'backs								1	1	1	6
Joey Votto, Reds							1				4
Yadier Molina, Cardinals								1			3
Miguel Tejada, Astros								1			3
Huston Street, Rockies									1		2
Justin Upton, D'backs									1		2
Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals										2	2
Jeremy Affeldt, Giants										1	1
Chris Coghlan, Marlins										1	1
Brad Hawpe, Rockies										1	1

NL MVP: Cardinals' Albert Pujols originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AL MVP: Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer

Andrew Johnson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Twins, MLB Awards

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was a nearly unanimous selection for 2009 American League MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes to win the award in a landslide Monday.

He beat out Yankee teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, who finished second and third, respectively, to win the award for the first time in his career. Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who finished fourth in the voting, was the only other player to receive a first-place vote.

Mauer hit .365 to win the batting title for the second straight season and third time in his career, matching the total number of batting titles won by all other catchers in major league history. Babe Phelps is the only backstop in major league history to qualify for a batting title and hit for a higher average, hitting .367 for the 1936 Brooklyn Dodgers.

But Mauer's triumph is complete. In addition to winning the batting title, he also led the American League in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS, a feat never accomplished by a catcher before.

On top of that, he helped the Twins climb out of seven-game hole in the AL Central on Sept. 6, leading them to the division title after they defeated the Tigers in a one-game playoff.

Mauer wins the award without ever having played a game in April. He missed most of spring training and the entire first month of the 2009 season recovering from an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his back, returning to the Twins lineup on May 1 and hardly missing a beat from there.

Mauer is the first catcher to win the MVP in either league in a decade. Ivan Rodriguez was the last backstop to garner the honor, winning it in 1999 as a member of the Texas Rangers. Mauer is just the fourth catcher since 1972 to win the award (again in either league). Eight catchers have won the award in American League, while seven have won it in the NL.

On the other hand, he's the second Twin to win MVP honors in the last four years. Teammate and former roommate Justin Morneau captured the award in 2006. Three other Twins besides Mauer and Morneau -- Zoilo Versalles in 1965, Harmon Killebrew in 1969 and Rod Carew in 1977 -- have won the award.

Teixeira's second-place finish was the 21st by a Yankee, but the first since 2004 (Gary Sheffield).

The top 10 was rounded out by Angels first baseman Kendry Morales in fifth, a pair of Red Sox -- Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay -- in sixth and seventh, Rays utilityman Ben Zobrist in eighth, Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in ninth and three-time MVP winner Alex Rodriguez in 10th.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 AL MVP (14 points for first-place vote, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
Joe Mauer, Twins	27	1									387
Mark Teixeira, Yankees		15	6	4	1	1		1			225
Derek Jeter, Yankees		9	5	3	5	3		1	1	1	193
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers	1	1	5	8	4	3	2		1	3	171
Kendry Morales, Angels			3	9	10	3	2				170
Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox		2	7	3	4	2	2	4		1	150
Jason Bay, Red Sox			1	1		4	5	4	5	1	78
Ben Zobrist, Rays						1	4	3	1	2	34
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners						2		4	4	3	33
Alex Rodriguez, Yankees			1		3				2	1	31
Chone Figgins, Angels						3	1	2	3		31
Aaron Hill, Blue Jays					1		2	2		3	23
Bobby Abreu, Angels						2	1	1	1	4	23
Mariano Rivera, Yankees						2	1	1			17
Adam Lind, Blue Jays							1	1	2	3	14
Michael Young, Rangers							1	1	2	2	13
Zack Greinke, Royals						1	1		1	1	12
Robinson Cano, Yankees							3				12
Evan Longoria, Rays							1	1	1		9
Justin Verlander, Tigers						1			1		7
CC Sabathia, Yankees							1				4
Michael Cuddyer, Twins								1		1	4
Victor Martinez, CLE/BOS									2		4
Jason Kubel, Twins								1			3
Placido Polanco, Tigers									1		2
Felix Hernandez, Mariners										1	1
Ian Kinsler, Rangers										1	1

AL MVP: Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What the FIP? Cy Voters Still Missed

Jeff Fletcher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Cardinals, Giants, MLB Awards

Since Zack Greinke and Tim Lincecum won Cy Young awards this week with modest victory totals, there has been much discussion about how baseball writers are finally moving into the 21st century and looking beyond the win column.

Although I'm all for patting baseball writers on the back -- since I am one, and I did vote for Greinke -- I think in the case of the NL Cy Young, my colleagues may have looked past victories, and still picked the wrong guy to make their point.

Let's start with the ol' FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching. FIP is a stat intended to quantify how well a pitcher performed based solely on the things in his control (strikeouts, walks and homers) without regard to the vagaries of the defense behind him.

More Coverage: Lincecum Ekes Out NL Cy Young

FIP is a great stat when trying to project the future. If I were a scout or a GM, I'd be all over pitchers who had a good FIP.

However, when we're talking about the Cy Young, it's not about projecting the future. It's about evaluating what the pitcher actually did. And as far as evaluating what he did, an out is out is an out.

What really matters in pitching? Getting outs. Preventing runs.

Fortunately, we already have two excellent, garden-variety stats that tell us what we need to know about these things. As far as getting outs, opponents' on-base percentage is the ultimate measure. It's easier-to-calculate cousin is WHIP. As far as preventing runs, we've got ERA.

So let's look at our two NL Cy Young contenders: Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter. (Two? Yes. More on that later.)

Lincecum had a 2.48 ERA and a WHIP of 1.05, while Carpenter's numbers were 2.24 and 1.01. Looks to me like Carpenter did a better job than Lincecum at those two jobs: getting outs and preventing runs.

Now, the pro-Lincecum people are going to bring out his FIP. Lincecum's FIP of 2.34 was much better than Carpenter's 2.78. The reason for that is essentially that Lincecum had 10.42 strikeouts per nine innings, and Carpenter had just 6.73.

Lincecum is a power pitcher. He struck guys out. Carpenter is not. He let guys put the ball in play and his defense got the outs.

If I'm trying to project the future of both pitchers, or if I'm trying to decide which guy I'd like on my team for 2010 or beyond (ignoring their age, in this case), I'll take the guy with the strikeouts. Strikeouts are nice and clean and don't require any help from the defense.

But if I'm filling out a 2009 Cy Young ballot, I don't care about 2010 or projections. I care about what actually happened. What actually happened was that Carpenter got outs at a better rate than Lincecum. Just that more of them were boring grounders to the shortstop instead of big exciting punchouts. You can say that strikeouts are better than groundouts because you can't move a runner or score a run on a strikeout, but Carpenter still did a better job preventing runs, so it didn't matter.

Is it really fair to penalize a pitcher who did his job (got outs, prevented runs) because he didn't do it a certain way (with strikeouts)?

Not to me.

Let's look at another of the numbers that went against Carpenter: Innings pitched. Carpenter was hurt for a little over a month. He made four fewer starts and pitched 32 fewer innings than Lincecum.

If I'm judging the pitchers on their value to the team, that's a consideration. Those 32 innings Carpenter didn't pitch were pitched by guys much worse than him, and it hurt the Cardinals when he wasn't out there. That counts against his value, for sure. In an MVP race, Carpenter would definitely lose points for not being out there.

But the Cy Young isn't about "value." It's about performance. It's about how well a guy pitched. A pitcher should be evaluated for what he did when he was on the mound, not for what happened to his team when he wasn't. Penalizing Carpenter for a game Mitchell Boggs pitched is no better than penalizing Greinke because (pick your own Royals player) is lousy.

The only reason to consider innings is if one pitcher was so far short in innings that you could question whether his rate stats would have been sustainable if he'd pitched a full season. If a pitcher made five starts in April with a 1.20 ERA and then blew out his arm and missed the rest of the year, you couldn't assume that he'd have maintained that level over five more months. In Carpenter's case, though, he made 28 starts. I feel pretty confident that anything he could do over 28 starts he could also do over 32.

If you want to put a premium on "stuff" (read: strikeouts) or "value" (read: innings pitched), that's OK. That's just not my interpretation of what the Cy Young is. I don't think picking Lincecum is an egregious mistake. I just wouldn't have picked him.

Hey, you ask, what about Adam Wainwright? He's not even in this conversation because he was well behind Lincecum and Carpenter in my Big Two stats, ERA and WHIP. When it came to the fundamentals of the pitcher's job, getting outs and preventing runs, he simply wasn't as good as the other two.

What he was good at was sitting in the dugout while his team scored runs, or sitting in the dugout while his bullpen recorded saves. The fact that Wainwright still got the most first-place votes for the Cy Young shows that too many of my colleagues are still over-valuing victories.

We are moving in the right direction, but we're not there yet.

What the FIP? Cy Voters Still Missed originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NL Cy Young Award: Tim Lincecum

Jeff Fletcher — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Cardinals, Giants, MLB Awards

Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive Cy Young Award on Thursday, pulling out a narrow victory that is likely to be the story of this awards season.

The Giants' 25-year-old flame-thrower edged out Cardinals' teammates Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright in an election that was just as tight and unpredictable as expected, with a twist at the end.

Lincecum (15-7, 2.48) had the fewest victories of any starter to win the Cy Young in a nonstrike season, and he also became only the second pitcher to win the Cy Young without getting the most first-place votes.

Lincecum received 11 first-place votes among the 32 ballots cast, from two writers in each National League city. Wainwright got 12 first-place votes, but he finished third because he had only five second-place votes. Carpenter, the only one of the three who was not named on all 32 ballots, got nine first-place votes and finished second.

In 1998, Tom Glavine edged Trevor Hoffman, despite getting two fewer first-place votes than Hoffman.

With voting based on a 5-3-1 points system, Lincecum totaled 100 points, followed by Carpenter with 94 and Wainwright with 90.

The six-point margin between the top two was tied for the third smallest since Cy Young voting expanded to three spots per ballot in 1970. The smallest margin was Steve Bedrosian's two-point victory over Rick Sutcliffe in 1987, followed by Fernando Valenzuela's three-point win over Tom Seaver in 1981. The 1979 election was also a six-point victory, for Bruce Sutter over Joe Niekro.

This race was expected to be a tight one because the pitchers had such similar performances.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 NL Cy Young (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Lincecum, Giants	11	12	9	100
Carpenter, Cardinals	9	14	7	94
Wainwright, Cards	12	5	15	90
Vazquez, Braves		1		3
Haren, D-backs			1	1

Lincecum led the league with 261 strikeouts, but he finished just behind Carpenter (17-4, 2.24) in ERA. Wainwright (19-8, 2.63) led the way in victories. Wainwright and Lincecum both pitched at least 30 more innings than Carpenter, who missed a month early in the season with an injury. Wainwright and Carpenter pitched the Cardinals into the playoffs, while Lincecum's Giants finished in third place in the NL West.

The voting was completed before the start of the playoffs (and before Lincecum had been arrested for possession of marijuana, by the way).

With the repeat victory, Lincecum became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson to win consecutive Cy Youngs. Johnson won four in a row from 1999-2002.

Lincecum, at 25 years, five months, is the youngest pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs since Roger Clemens won his second in 1987 at 25 years and three months.

There have been eight pitchers who have won back-to-back Cy Young awards. Johnson and Greg Maddux hold the record at four in a row, followed by Clemens, Sandy Koufax, Lincecum, Pedro Martinez, Denny McClain and Jim Palmer, who each won two in a row. Clemens won two in a row twice.

At the end of Lincecum's conference call with the media, he read a statement regarding the marijuana charges.

"I made a mistake and I regret my actions earlier this month in Washington. I want to apologize to the Giants organization and to the fans. I know as a professional athlete I have a responsibility to conduct myself appropriately both on and off the field. I certainly have learned a valuable lesson through all this and promise to do better in the future. I hope and expect the matter will be resolved soon. In the meantime, I am focused on preparing for the 2010 season. Since all this is still pending before the courts, this is all I can say on the topic right now."

NL Cy Young Award: Tim Lincecum originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BaseCast: Heavy on the Cys

Andrew Johnson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Cardinals, Giants, Royals, MLB Awards, BaseCast

It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy, right? BaseCast. Let's rock.

The American League Cy Young Award winner, Zack Greinke, was announced Tuesday and the National League Cy Young winner will be announced Thursday, so what better time for the MLB FanHouse crew to discuss both pieces of hardware.

In this edition of BaseCast, Jeff Fletcher, Ed Price and I discuss the implications of Greinke capturing the award, both for the voting body and for the team he plays for, before trying to wrap our head around the intriguing NL race, which features three excellent pitchers (Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Tim Lincecum), but no clear favorite.

Listen in after the jump.

Listen to the podcast above, or click here to download the file.

BaseCast: Heavy on the Cys originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AL Manager of the Year: Los Angeles Angels' Mike Scioscia

Ed Price — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, MLB Awards

As much for keeping the Angels together through the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and a rash of early-season pitching injuries as for winning the AL West, Mike Scioscia was named American League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Wednesday.

Scioscia earned 15 of 28 first-place votes. Runner-up Ron Gardenhire of the Twins got six first-place votes. Joe Girardi of the Yankees, Don Wakamatsu of the Mariners and Ron Washington of the Rangers all got at least one first-place vote, and no manager was named on all 28 ballots (first, second or third place).

This is Scioscia's second Manager of the Year award. He also won in 2002 as the Angels won the World Series.

This year was different. The Angels lost starters John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Ervin Santana in spring training, and then on April 9, Adenhart was killed in a car crash.

More Coverage: Tracy Honored in NL

Scioscia was forced to use 14 different starting pitchers and 12 rookie pitchers. Stars Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter also had to spend time in on the disabled list. And after the games of June 12, the Angels were 4 1/2 games out of first with a 30-29 record.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 AL Manager of the Year Award (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Manager, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Scioscia, Angels	15	10	1	106
Gardenhire, Min.	6	12	6	72
Girardi, Yankees	4	3	5	34
Wakamatsu, Sea.	2	2	3	19
Washington, Tex.	1	1	11	19
Leyland, Det.			2	2

But they went 67-36 from then on, including a 19-7 record in July. Scioscia now gets some credit for that.

"He's our leader," Hunter said. "We see him, and he's OK, so we just go play hard, no matter what."

In September, Scioscia said it was just a matter of staying the course.

"At no point did we think that we weren't going to have a team that was championship caliber," Scioscia said. "We had a lot of confidence that we'd play at a high level, and as the summer went on, we did."

Voting was conducted before the postseason, during which the Angels swept the Red Sox in the Division Series but lost to the Yankees in six games in the ALCS.

Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in the AL, is the first manager to reach the playoffs in six of his first 10 seasons as a big-league manager.

Gardenhire has finished second in the voting five times, a record for an AL manager.

AL Manager of the Year: Los Angeles Angels' Mike Scioscia originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NL Manager of the Year: Colorado Rockies' Jim Tracy

Jeff Fletcher — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Awards

Jim Tracy didn't even need a whole season to earn the NL Manager of the Year Award, or to earn a three-year extension.

Tracy, who took over for fired Clint Hurdle in late May, became the second manager to win this award after taking over a team in the middle of the season. The other was Jack McKeon, who took over the Florida Marlins early in 2003 and led them to a World Series title.

Shortly after Wednesday's announcement of the Manager of the Year award, the Rockies announced that Tracy had signed an extension through 2012, which had been expected for a few weeks.

Tracy was picked first on 29 of the 32 ballots submitted, from two writers in each NL city. On a 5-3-1 voting system, Tracy earned a total of 151 points, easily outpolling Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa, who got two first-place votes and 55 points. Dodgers manager Joe Torre finished third, collecting the remaining first-place vote and 33 points. In all, eight managers were named on ballots, and none of them were listed on all 32.

More Coverage: Scioscia Honored in AL

When Tracy took over the Rockies on May 29, the team was 18-28, 14 games out of first place. They soon won 11 games in a row, jumping back into the race. They went 74-42 under Tracy over the remainder of the season, closing to within one game of the first-place Dodgers before finishing three games back, taking the wild card.

Tracy helped Troy Tulowitzki bounce back from his slow start, suggesting that the shortstop adjust his stance. Tulowitzki was hitting .227 when Tracy took over, and he hit .322 with 27 homers and 77 RBI the rest of the way. Tracy also settled what had been a revolving-door infield situation, playing Clint Barmes at second base and Ian Stewart at third, over the slumping Garrett Atkins.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 NL Manager of the Year (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Tracy, Rockies	29	2		151
La Russa, Cardinals	2	13	6	55
Torre, Dodgers	1	7	7	33
Bochy, Giants		5	3	18
Cox, Braves		3	6	15
Manuel, Phillies		2	4	10
Gonzalez, Marlins			4	4
Black, Padres			2	2

A month into Tracy's tenure, there was an obvious difference to the Rockies players in the atmosphere around the team.

"It's hard to say something good about the new manager without saying something bad about the old manager," Todd Helton told FanHouse in June. "I have a lot of respect for Clint and what he did. That being said, Tracy knows what he's doing. That was pretty apparent from the beginning."

Closer Huston Street said at the time that Tracy "added a new discipline. It was something that the team had lost."

La Russa finished second for a record sixth time, to go with the four times that he has won the award. He won in 1983 with the White Sox, in 1988 and '92 with the A's and in 2002 with the Cardinals. He previously finished second in 1989, 1990, 2000, 2004 and 2005.

Torre's streak of reaching the postseason and not getting much consideration for manager of the year continued. He has taken his team to the playoffs 14 years in a row, but he has not won the Manager of the Year Award since 1998. In the 11 years since, he's gotten just 14 first-place votes.

NL Manager of the Year: Colorado Rockies' Jim Tracy originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AL Cy Young Award: Kansas City Royals' Zack Greinke

Ed Price — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Royals, MLB Awards

With his American League-best 2.16 ERA, Royals right-hander Zack Greinke became the first starter to win the AL Cy Young Award with fewer than 18 wins.

In results announced Tuesday, Greinke received 25 of 28 first-place votes. Mariners ace Felix Hernandez got two first-place votes and finished second in the balloting, and Detroit's Justin Verlander received one first-place vote and finished third, one point ahead of Yankees lefty CC Sabathia.

Greinke was 16-8, and his relatively low win total was due to a poor Kansas City offense. The Royals averaged 3.8 runs scored in his starts, tied for the worst run support in the AL. Greinke had six starts in which he allowed fewer than two runs but did not get a win.

But his ERA was best for an AL qualifier since Pedro Martinez in 2000, and Greinke led the league in opponents' on-base percentage (.276), baserunners allowed per nine innings (9.81) and fewest home runs per nine innings (0.43). He was second in complete games (six), shutouts (four), strikeouts (242), opponents' average (.230) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.75).

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 AL Cy Young Award (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Greinke, Royals	25	3		134
F.Hernandez, M's	2	23	1	80
Verlander, Tigers	1		9	14
Sabathia, Yankees		2	7	13
Halladay, Blue Jays			11	11

It was a remarkable year, even more so because Greinke missed almost half the 2006 season with an anxiety disorder.

So the hardest part of his season might have been the media attention.

"It's not so much it takes away so much time that you can't [keep to a routine]," Greinke said in July. "My mind, I can't get back to the right mindset after I leave the right mindset. It takes a while to get back to it sometimes."

He began this season with a 0.00 ERA in his first four starts and became the third big-leaguer to have an ERA better than 1.00 over his first 10 starts. Greinke also finished strong, setting a team record with 15 strikeouts on Aug. 25 against Cleveland, following that up with a one-hitter against Seattle and going 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA over his final eight starts.

Greinke, who turned 26 on Oct. 21, is the third Royals pitcher to win a Cy Young Award, after Bret Saberhagen (1985 and 1989) and David Cone (1994).

Hernandez (19-5 with a 2.49 ERA) tied for the league lead in wins and was second in ERA. Verlander was 19-9 with a 3.45 ERA and led the AL with 269 strikeouts. Sabathia was 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA.

AL Cy Young Award: Kansas City Royals' Zack Greinke originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NL Rookie of the Year: Florida Marlins' Chris Coghlan

Ed Price — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Marlins, MLB Awards

The National League featured a strong class of rookies in 2009, and although Florida left fielder Chris Coghlan didn't get called up until May 8, he impressed enough to win the Rookie of the Year award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Coghlan wasn't named on seven of the 32 ballots (which included three players each) but had 17 first-place votes to 10 for Philadelphia left-hander J.A. Happ.

Atlanta right-hander Tommy Hanson was third in the voting, with Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen fourth.

Upon his promotion to the majors, Coghlan was inserted as the Marlins' left fielder, and three weeks later he became the team's leadoff man -- two roles he had never been asked to do. But it never stopped him from hitting, and Florida went 67-54 in his starts.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 NL Rookie of the Year (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Coghlan, Marlins	17	6	2	105
Happ, Phillies	10	11	11	94
Hanson, Braves	2	6	9	37
McCutchen, Pirates	2	5		25
McGehee, Brewers	1	3	4	18
Wells, Cubs		1		3
G.Jones, Pirates			2	2
E.Cabrera, Padres			1	1
Fowler, Rockies			1	1
G.Parra, D-Backs			1	1
Rasmus, Cardinals			1	1

"You never know until you live with a guy what kind of guy he is," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said in September. "I tell you what, he's off the charts. You see him day in, day out -- you see the character, you see the work habits, you see the grit.

"You label certain guys as 'baseball players.' And he's one of those guys. And if next spring training you said, 'Hey we need you to maybe catch,' he'd say, 'OK, let's go.' "

Coghlan, 24, batted .321 -- best by a rookie since Albert Pujols in 2001. And Coghlan had 113 hits after the All-Star break, easily the most in the majors (Derek Jeter has 102) and most by anyone since 2004.

He led the majors in hits in September with 47, most by a rookie in September since 1928. He also had the most August hits by a rookie (47) since 1954. And no NL player had 94 hits over a two-month span since Dave Parker in 1978.

Coghlan led NL rookies in runs (84), total bases (232), doubles (31) and on-base percentage (.390).

Happ went 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA and two shutouts in 35 games (23) starts for the Phillies. He tied for third in the NL with three complete games.

In 21 starts for the Braves, Hanson was 11-4 with a 2.98 ERA and .225 average allowed.

More coverage: Oakland's Bailey Wins AL Award

McCutchen hit .286 with 12 homers, 54 RBI, 74 runs scored and a .471 slugging percentage after being called up when the Pirates traded Nate McLouth to the Braves in early June.

In all, 11 rookies earned at least one point in the 5-3-1 voting system.

Coghlan is the third Florida player to be named Rookie of the Year, after Dontrelle Willis in 2003 and Hanley Ramirez in 2006.

NL Rookie of the Year: Florida Marlins' Chris Coghlan originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AL Rookie of the Year: A's Andrew Bailey

Jeff Fletcher — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, MLB Awards

For the second time in five years, an A's closer has won the American League Rookie of the Year, but this one came as a bit of a surprise.

Andrew Bailey, who was a longshot to even make the team out of spring training, followed 2005 winner Huston Street in taking the award. Bailey had 26 saves and a 1.84 ERA for the A's, earning an All-Star berth along the way. Despite those numbers, he was considered by many to be behind Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus and Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello in the race.

Bailey earned 13 first-place votes among the 28 ballots cast, from two writers in each of the 14 American League cities. Based on a 5-3-1 voting system, Bailey totaled 88 points. Andrus came in second with eight first-place votes and 65 points, followed by Porcello, with seven and 64.

More Coverage: Marlins' Coghlan Wins NL Award

Bailey, 25, was the only rookie in the league to have more than two saves. He led all rookies in ERA, and he allowed opponents to hit just .167. He struck out 91 and allowed 47 hits in 83 1/3 innings.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 AL Rookie of the Year (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Bailey, A's	13	6	5	88
Andrus, Rangers	8	6	7	65
Porcello, Tigers	7	8	5	64
Niemann, Rays		5	6	21
Beckham, W.Sox		2	4	10
Anderson, A's		1	1	4

Bailey, a sixth-round pick in 2006, had pitched just one game above Double A coming into this spring. He was not considered one of the A's better prospects, and he was struggling as a starter in June 2008 at Double A, but then he learned the cut fastball from A's roving pitching instructor Gil Patterson, who had been with the Yankees when Mariano Rivera developed the pitch.

Bailey and Rivera were teammates at the All-Star Game in St. Louis. Bailey had hoped to talk to Rivera about the cutter, but he told FanHouse's Ed Price in July that he didn't get the chance.

"I just kind of sat there and was listening to his conversation with the other guys," he said. "I didn't want to bother him.

"I didn't get a chance to pick his brain. But hopefully there will be a chance down the road. ... We were there to have a good time and experience that."

Andrus, who joined the White Sox Gordon Beckham as the only postion players to receive any votes, led all AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8) and total bases. One of the players acquired in from the Braves in the 2007 Mark Teixeira deal, Andrus also established himself as an excellent defensive player. The Rangers thought enough of him to move All-Star Michael Young to third before the season began.

Porcello was the best starting pitcher among the AL rookie class, going 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA at age 20.

Bailey is the third A's player in the past six years to win the Rookie of the Year, joining Bobby Crosby (2004) and Street. The A's have now had eight players win the Rookie of the Year, tying the Yankees for the most in the American League. Other closers to win the award include Street, Baltimore's Gregg Olson in 1989 and Seattle's Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000.

AL Rookie of the Year: A's Andrew Bailey originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MLB Hands Out Its Silver Slugger Awards

Tom Fornelli — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:28:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Awards

MLB awards season continued on Thursday afternoon as the league announced the winners of the 2009 Silver Sluggers, which go to the players voted the best hitters at their position in each league. The award is voted on by managers and coaches from throughout the league who are allowed to vote for anybody that's not on their team.

While there are some familiar faces on the list in each league, there are also some that aren't so familiar. Find out who's adding some hardware to their trophy case after the jump.
The recipients in the American League are Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter of the Yankees, Aaron Hill and Adam Lind (DH) of the Blue Jays, Evan Longoria of the Rays, Jason Bay of the Red Sox, Torii Hunter of the Angels, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners and Joe Mauer of the Twins.

So much like in the standings, the AL East dominates.

In the National League the awards went to Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, Chase Utley of the Phillies, Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins, Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Brian McCann of the Braves and Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

All in all a pretty solid group, and though there are certainly some other deserving players who were kept off the list, it's pretty hard to argue against any of the selections.

MLB Hands Out Its Silver Slugger Awards originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:28:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gold Gloves in Need of More Polish

Andrew Johnson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Awards

This isn't about Derek Jeter. Repeat that three times to yourselves, Yankee fans, and then continue reading.

Rawlings has been awarding its Gold Gloves to nine players in each league since 1957. It has become as much a part of the baseball lexicon as Cy Young and Cooperstown, and far exceeds the gravitas of something like the Silver Slugger, the hitting equivalent of the award.

When announcers go through a team's defensive alignment before every game, they highlight the Gold Glovers around the diamond, and if a prospect is known for his glove and he's not described as a plus defender, he's called a future Gold Glover.

So, other than tradition and alliteration, why do we give so much credence to them?

OK, this is the part where it becomes a little bit about Derek Jeter.

The Yankees shortstop won his fourth Gold Glove on Tuesday, this despite a poor defensive reputation among statistically-oriented analysts and a middling one among scouts. (FanHouse's Frankie Piliere, a former scout, descibed his glovework as such: "I think it's flat-out ridiculous that he was ever a poor shortstop like these statistics say, but I don't believe he was elite either. ... I'd take him to make the routine play any day, he just won't be spectacular.")

Defensive analysis is still more clumsy art than science, whether you trust UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), The Fielding Bible or the grizzled guys holding radar guns in the scouts' section, it doesn't seem very likely that all three evaluation systems are wrong. Jeter may not be one of the worst defensive shortstops in the game (or he could be), but he's not among the best either.

He is the patron saint of baseball, though. Jeter is the biggest star the game has, if not its best player, and he's lionized for playing the game the right way in every broadcasting booth in America.

Which is not to say he doesn't deserve to be celebrated.

It's just that along the way, it became sacrilege among a certain, fairly large segment of people to criticize Jeter for anything, to point out any flaws in his game, to wonder aloud if he deserves one Gold Glove, much less four, even if that takes none of the shine off of his wonderful Hall of Fame career.

On the last point, at least, it shouldn't be, mainly because the selection process itself is so flawed.

Rafael Palmeiro famously won the Gold Glove at first base in 1999 despite playing only 28 games in the field the entire season. Why? Because he won it the two previous years and because he was a famous and established hitter -- reasons that had nothing to do with his actual defensive prowess that season (in the 28 games where his glove mattered).

With the coaches and managers voting on the Gold Gloves at the end of each season, it's not surprising that this is how it often works, even if Palmeiro is an extreme example of the dysfunction of the process. Precedence, name recognition and Web Gems seem to be the most significant factors in who wins.

That's not a knock on the guys casting votes, by the way. It's a knock on the folks charging them with that duty in the first place. Coaches and managers aren't paid to worry about who the best defensive second baseman in the American League is, even in an abstract or secondary way like the sportswriters who vote on the MVP and Cy Young Awards.

They're paid to manage bullpens, fill out lineup cards, nurture young players, coddle egos and put out clubhouse fires. Is Mike Scioscia really sitting in the dugout or his office in the middle of a pennant race worrying about who was the third-best defensive outfielder in the AL for his Gold Glove ballot? Was Jim Riggleman, fighting to get the interim tag removed from his name last September so he could manage his hometown Nationals in 2010, doing the same for the NL?

Of course not.

Say what you want about the Baseball Writers' Association of America, but no one can accuse most of its members of not devoting blood, sweat and tears (and research and hand-wringing) to the voting process, even if they haven't gotten every award right over the years. The guys voting on the Gold Gloves seem to make their picks on a lark, voting for whoever won it last year or the big star at each position. Anonymous guys like Adam Everett or this year's darling Franklin Gutierrez don't stand a chance no matter how slick they are in the field.

So why should we lend any importance to the Gold Gloves until the process is overhauled and handed to a more capable electorate?

The answer, of course, is that we shouldn't.

Jeter, by the way, had one of the best defensive seasons of his career in 2009, at least according to UZR, posting a positive mark for the first time since 2002.

Of course, the Gold Glove he just won wouldn't be a reliable indicator even if he was really the best defensive shortstop in the AL this year. And that's really the point here.

See. Told you this wasn't about Derek Jeter.

Gold Gloves in Need of More Polish originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Four First-Time Gold Glovers in NL Class

Andrew Johnson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:54:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Awards

Four of the nine Gold Glove winners in the National League were recognized for the first time when Rawlings announced the 2009 awards Wednesday afternoon.

Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, Astros outfielder Michael Bourn, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright were the first-time honorees.

Two members of the NL champion Phillies -- center fielder Shane Victorino and shortstop Jimmy Rollins -- were recognized for their defensive excellence. Victorino was a Gold Glover for the second straight year, while Rollins won it for a third consecutive time.

The Cardinals were the only other team with multiple honorees in the NL. Catcher Yadier Molina joined Wainwright, both pictured above right, in forming only the fifth Gold Glove battery made up of teammates in the history of the award. The last came in 2006, when the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers both won Gold Gloves.

Rounding out the 2009 team were Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who won for the second straight year, and Dodgers second baseman (and free agent) Orlando Hudson, who was recognized for the fourth time, his third in the NL.

The AL Gold Glove winners were announced Tuesday and can be found here.

Four First-Time Gold Glovers in NL Class originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jeter Headlines AL Gold Glove Winners

Andrew Johnson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:04:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Awards

Long considered one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball by those in sabermetric circles, Derek Jeter won the fourth Gold Glove of his career on Tuesday, proving that no matter what statistically-oriented folks think of Jeter's glovework, he enjoys a good defensive reputation among those within the game.

Joining Jeter on the AL Gold Glove team is Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira, who was recognized for the third time, as well as outfielders Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) and Torii Hunter (Angels), who both won the award for the ninth time.

Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco and Twins catcher Joe Mauer were recognized for the second time, with first-time winners pitcher Mark Buehrle (White Sox), third baseman Evan Longoria (Rays) and center fielder Adam Jones (Orioles) rounding out the team.

The Gold Glove Awards are voted on by managers and coaches from every team, though they are not allowed to vote for players from their own club.

The National League awards will be announced at a later date.

Jeter Headlines AL Gold Glove Winners originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hideki Matsui Named World Series MVP

Andrew Johnson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:13:00 EST

Filed under: Yankees, MLB Awards, MLB Playoffs, World Series

Hideki Matsui was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2009 World Series after a record-setting performance in the decisive Game 6.

Matsui drove in six of the Yankees' seven runs in their World Series-clinching victory, staking New York to an early lead with a two-run homer off of Pedro Martinez in the second inning and falling a triple short of the cycle. His six RBI were the most by any player in a World Series clincher. Five others -- including Reggie Jackson -- held the record of five RBI previously.

"It's awesome," Matsui said through a translator of his achievement. "Unbelievable. I'm surprised myself.

"It's certainly different. All I can say right now is I feel great," he added.

Due to be a free agent this winter, Matsui is the first native of Japan to win the award -- yet another milestone as Japanese players begin to lay their roots in the major leagues.

Asked whether he would return to the Yankees next season, Matsui, 35, sounded optimistic.

"I hope so. I hope it works out that way," he said. "I love New York, I love the Yankees."

The Yankees will look to get younger this offseason, so Matsui may not fit into their plans, particularly with some of their other veterans like Jorge Posada headed for more DH duty down the line. It will certainly be a lot harder to let him hit the open market after his performance throughout the 2009 season, but particularly in the playoffs.

Matsui is only the second designated hitter to win World Series MVP after Paul Molitor, who won it with the Blue Jays in 1993.

Molitor played three games at DH, two at first base and one at third base in that series, but Matsui did not start any games for the Yankees when the series shifted to Philadelphia (where National League rules were in play) for Games 3, 4 and 5, being relegated to pinch-hitting duty instead.

Matsui hit .615 in the series, with three home runs and eight RBI.

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World Series 2009

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: The New York Yankees celebrate after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Johnny Damon

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Getty Images North America

World Series

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: Alex Rodriguez #13 of the New York Yankees celebrates after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Alex Rodriguez

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: Mariano Rivera #42 (C) and Mark Teixeira #25 (L) of the New York Yankees celebrates after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mark Teixeira;Mariano Rivera

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: The New York Yankees celebrate after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Joba Chamberlain

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees celebrates with his teammates after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Derek Jeter

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: Alex Rodriguez #13 of the New York Yankees celebrates after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Alex Rodriguez

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 04: Alex Rodriguez #13 of the New York Yankees celebrates after their 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the 2009 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Alex Rodriguez

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Hideki Matsui Named World Series MVP originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:13:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clay Zavada Is Your 'Mustached American of the Year'

Tom Fornelli — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:09:00 EST

Filed under: Diamondbacks, NL West, MLB Awards

While the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are busy battling for the meaningless title of World Series champion Arizona reliever Clay Zavada was in St. Louis to receive some real hardware. Yes, after much debate throughout the country and campaigns that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, Zavada was named the "Mustached American of the Year" by the American Mustache Institute on Sunday night.

We shall all now bow to the power of Zavada's Rollie Fingers-esque mustache, and hope that through the will of being too lazy to shave, we too can one day achieve such greatness for ourselves.

"Clay and his menacing mouth garden were a great story throughout the 2009 baseball season, and Quicken and the American Mustache Institute are proud to honor him as the 'Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year' award winner," said Chelsea Marti of Quicken(R), who herself is a robust supporter of the Mustached American way of life.

Zavada won the Goulet award after more than 100,000 total online votes were cast. He was joined at 'Stache Bash by fellow finalists Dr. John Yeutter, a Northeastern State University professor and CBS News reporter Bill Geist, who grabbed the microphone after the announcement and bellowed "Kayne West was right." Other finalists included U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Brendan Ryan of the St. Louis Cardinals, USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson, US Airways pilot Sully Sullenberger, and Mayor Dan Snarr of Murray City, Utah. Several cartoon characters including JStache and FOX Television's "Cleveland" received votes, but after much debate, were disqualified because they violated a clause that required the winner to sign an ethics agreement as well as actually exist in real life.

It's hard to disagree with Kanye West. Zavada really did deserve this award over any other members of his "competition." Captain Sullenberger? Please, how hard can it be to land a plane in the Hudson River? It's so wide! Bring that beast down in Times Square without killing anybody, and we can talk.

Let's see Sullenberger strike out 52 batters in only 51 innings. Not even his mustache could help him there.

Clay Zavada Is Your 'Mustached American of the Year' originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Joe, Albert and the Rest Of the Award Winners

Ed Price — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, Cardinals, Nationals, Phillies, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins, MLB Awards, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Ron Gardenhire was asked how teams try to pitch Joe Mauer.

"I can't give you all that information," Gardenhire, the Twins manager, said of his No. 3 hitter. "You'll write it and then other people might figure it out."

So you know, Ron, how to get him out?

"Hell, no, I don't! That's why I don't want to say anything.

"You just better have your defense standing in the right place, and that's where he's going to hit the ball hard -- that normally works. Catch the rocket that he's going to hit somewhere."

It's awards time here at Baseball Brunch, and we're casting our lot in the AL MVP race with Mr. Mauer.

Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, Miguel Cabrera, Kendry Morales -- nice years, guys. Very nice.

But come on.

Mauer leads the American League in batting, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. And he's a catcher. Maybe as not as good a catcher as Teixeira is a first baseman, but at least as good a catcher as Jeter is a shortstop.

And better offensively, this year, than both of them.

If Mauer was playing in New York, teammate Michael Cuddyer said, "It would be ridiculous. He'd be everywhere. He would be on every billboard, every magazine cover.

"He's having arguably the best year in the history of the position. Not even arguably, really. It's pretty much the best year in the history of the position."

And that's a pretty good MVP argument.

With one caveat. We had some hesitation on Mauer because he missed the first month because of an inflamed joint in his lower back. So he has fewer total bases than Teixeira and fewer hits than Jeter. And playing time is an explicit criterion for picking the MVP.

But Mauer will end up playing in 137 or 138 games, only eight or nine fewer than last year, and with about 600 plate appearances. That's about 100 fewer than Jeter or Teixeira, but more than Youkilis. He will have been the DH more, with nearly 300 fewer innings caught than in 2008 -- but still sixth- or seventh-most innings caught in the league.

Our conclusion: his overwhelming production, and his near constant playing since returning, make up for the missed month.

Just for icing, Mauer leads the AL in batting average at home, on the road, against right-handers and in night games. He is second in average with runners in scoring position, third in average in day games and fourth in average vs. lefties.

o. NL MVP: Even an easier pick than in the AL. St. Louis' Albert Pujols also leads his league in on-base percentage and slugging percentage -- plus homers, runs scored, total bases, grand slams and extra-base hits. Like Mauer, he's second in batting average with men in scoring position.

Also worthy of being on the ballot: Hanley Ramirez, Chase Utley, Prince Fielder, Derrek Lee, Troy Tulowitzki, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier and Ryan Howard.

o. AL Cy Young Award: There should not be a debate. The MVP award should -- in our opinion, because that is what it has come to represent -- contain an element of contributing to a contender. But not the Cy Young.

And Kansas City's Zack Greinke is the best pitcher in the AL. Period. Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia are great. And if Greinke wasn't around, it would be a tasty three-way debate.

But this year, that debate is about second place.

o. NL Cy Young Award: A similar three-way choice between San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and St. Louis teammates Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. They're 1-2-3 in ERA and 1-2-4 in wins.

Carpenter has been the most brilliant and dominant, but he's not in the top 10 in the NL in innings pitched because of early-season health issues. Lincecum has the lowest OPS allowed, but he plays in a great pitcher's park. And while we don't want to give wins too much weight, they are significant, and Wainwright leads the league.

So Wainwright, by a hair.

o. AL Rookie of the Year: What a great season for rookie talent, in both leagues. The White Sox are pushing third baseman Gordon Beckham, who has hit well (he has a ways to go defensively) but wasn't called up until June. And if Beckham is a candidate, Baltimore outfielder Nolan Reimold should be as well. Reimold leads Beckham in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and homers.

Texas' Elvis Andrus, meanwhile, has played all season -- excelling at shortstop with acceptable production at the plate for a 20-year-old.

And here we have to compare apples and oranges. How do we judge these position players against a closer (Oakland's Andrew Bailey with his .168 opponents' average) and starters (Detroit's Rick Porcello, Toronto's Ricky Romero, Tampa Bay's Jeff Niemann and Oakland's Brett Anderson)?

Tough call, but we go with Porcello. He's 20, he made 30 starts while pitching in a pennant race to the finish and he went 14-9 with a 4.04 ERA.

o. NL Rookie of the Year: Just as loaded, with Philadelphia's J.A. Happ, Atlanta's Tommy Hanson, Randy Wells of the Cubs, Milwaukee's Casey McGehee, Florida's Chris Coghlan, Colorado's Dexter Fowler and Pittsburgh's Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen.

If we whittle it down to one position player and one pitcher, we get Coghlan (229 total bases, 82 runs scored and .319 average) over McCutchen and Jones and a very close call between Happ (12-4, 2.85 ERA) vs. Hanson (11-4, 2.89 ERA).

The cop-out would be to go with Coghlan to avoid the choice between the pitchers. But while Hanson is a terrific prospect, Happ threw 164 innings and the Phillies would have been in big trouble without him.

o. AL Manager of the Year: Great job by Ron Washington to help make the Rangers relevant. Jim Leyland may take the Tigers from worst to first -- their first division title since 1987!

But Mike Scioscia didn't just guide the Angels to another division title. He kept the team from falling apart through a rough first few months, not only because of a rash of pitching injuries but also because of the death of Nick Adenhart. Managing a team is about managing people, and Scioscia did a great job this year.

(Amazingly, Joe Girardi will manage his team to 102 or 103 wins and not get a sniff of this award.)

o. NL Manager of the Year: We have a vote on this award this year, so due to BBWAA rules, we can't reveal our vote before the award is announced in November.

But there are good candidates. Fredi Gonzalez kept the Marlins in contention for 25 weeks. Tony La Russa had little in his lineup other than Pujols for the first three months. Charlie Manuel got the Phillies back on top, as did Joe Torre with the Dodgers. And Colorado has gone 74-41 since Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle -- the equivalent of a 104-win season.

Overheard and Understood

o. The Angels could look a bit different in 2010. Unless owner Arte Moreno puts his foot down, they seem likely to not pick up the option on Vladimir Guerrero. Then, if Bobby Abreu comes back -- no slam dunk -- he could be the DH. Otherwise, it could rotate among a few players. Ace John Lackey is bound to go elsewhere, as mentioned last week in this space, meaning the Angels will probably try to add a mid-rotation pitcher.

Chart of the Week
No team has ever been more efficient at stealing bases than the recent vintage Phillies -- who have three of the seven best seasons ever in stolen-base percentage:
Team	SB%
2007 Phillies	87.9
2008 Phillies	84.5
1994 Orioles	84.1
1995 Blue Jays	82.4
1975 Reds	82.4
2004 Mets	82.3
2009 Phillies	82.3
2007 Diamondbacks	82.0
STATS LLC

The potential free agent the Angels feel the best about keeping, although it isn't a sure thing, is leadoff man Chone Figgins. And if he comes back, he'd likely move to left field, with Juan Rivera going from left to right and Brandon Wood taking over at third.

o. The Reds, whose attendance will drop about 15 percent from 2008, have to cut payroll for 2010. Which could make some pitching available on the trade market.

o. By going 57-24 at home, the Yankees tied the record for most wins in the first year at a new park. The Red Sox went 57-20 at Fenway Park in 1912.

o. We have gone six years without a World Series going to a deciding game, the longest such stretch since 1913-23. In fact, there hasn't been more than one winner-takes-all postseason game in any year since 2004 (the two LCS).

o. Through June 14, Washington had 16 losses in its opponent's final at-bat and just three wins in its final at-bat. But since then, the Nats have 12 last-at-bat wins and eight last-at-bat losses.

o. Jason Bartlett is likely to be the second Tampa Bay player ever to finish in the top 10 in the AL in batting average. The other? Aubrey Huff, when he hit .311 in 2003 to finish ninth in the league.

o. The Rockies are the second team since the 1989 Blue Jays to reach the playoffs after being 12 games under .500 at some point. The other was the 2005 Astros.

o. Pujols has an NL-record 184 assists from first base. He also the big-league record of 184, set by Bill Buckner in 1985. In other words, don't leave Pujols in for the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 2010 World Series.

Baseball Brunch: Joe, Albert and the Rest Of the Award Winners originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Meet the Rarest Breed

Ed Price — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Rays, Royals, Tigers, Twins, Yankees, MLB Awards, MLB Biz, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Cody Ross blames his mom.

"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."

Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.

"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.

Some of the other names are recognizable -- early 20th-century Yankees star Hal Chase, Mets outfielder Cleon Jones, and more recent players Mark Carreon, Brian Hunter and David McCarty.

Some aren't -- Rube Bressler, Johnny Cooney, Al Nixon and Delos Drake.

"I think it's something that's kind of cool, something to be proud of," Ludwick said. "It's kind of an honor to be able to be in such little company."

Why so rare? There have certainly been plenty of players who throw right and bat left (582 with 1,000 or more at-bats), so it can't be that it's hard to be opposite-handed for hitting and throwing.

The simplest explanation is that a left-handed thrower can really play only four of the eight positions -- outfield and first base -- and is even less valuable if he bats right-handed, since lefties are less common and have the advantage against right-handed pitching.

"I think being a left-handed hitter is viewed as having an advantage," Ludwick said, "so you see a lot more people who throw right and are taught to hit left because it's an advantage."

Nether Ross nor Ludwick could explain how they ended up batting right and throwing left.

"It just happened," said Ludwick, who last year joined Henderson and Jones as the only bat-right/throw-left players to make an All-Star Game. "Natural."

Said Ross: "I have no reason why I do it. Nobody ever taught me to do it."

Both tried switch-hitting as kids -- "for a minute," Ludwick said, "but I was so much better right-handed."

Said Ross, "My dad tried to get me to switch-hit when I was younger. I did for a little while. But I realized really quickly that I had a lot more power from the right side and I didn't want to waste an at-bat [left-handed]."

It's not like Ross and Ludwick can't play. Ross, 28, is third on the Marlins with 22 homers and 83 RBI. Ludwick, 31, has 20 home runs and has driven in 87 runs, both second on the Cardinals.

"I feel like you see a lot of left-handed hitters that are right-handed throwers that have a lot of pop because they're right-hand-dominant, so they can really pull that bat through the zone," Ludwick said. "So I feel like being left-hand-dominant, I can [do the same]."

The bottom hand provides the power in a swing, and some recent boppers who throw right and bat left include Jim Thome, Prince Fielder, Larry Walker, Tino Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Adam Dunn, Jason Giambi and Mo Vaughn.

But those guys who throw left and bat right -- they don't get the love.

Ludwick was a second-round draft pick out of UNLV in 1999, so he never felt a bias because of his bat/throw combination. But Ross, a fourth-rounder in the same draft out of high school in New Mexico, said it worked against him. (Louie Medina, who played 51 games in the majors while throwing left and batting right, scouted both players for that '99 draft. Medina, now a special assistant to the GM in Kansas City, was then a scout for Arizona.)

"You have scouts come to watch you," Ross said, "and I was already challenged because of my height and I wasn't your prototypical baseball player, pushing 5-10. And also throwing left and hitting right, that's a lot against you going into pro ball. Or even college. So I think it affected me a little bit when it came to drafting and stuff like that.

"It's one of those things I knew I had to overcome, and I just did. A little bump in the road."

Both Ludwick and Ross didn't get a chance to become regulars in the majors until they had gone through multiple organizations. Ludwick was traded from Oakland to Texas to Cleveland and then had to sign on with Detroit and St. Louis as a minor-league free agent.

Ross was traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers to the Reds to the Marlins, including being traded twice in 33 days in 2006.

But he didn't blame that bouncing around on throwing left-handed and batting right-handed.

"I think once I got into pro ball, I think all of that kind of goes out the window," he said. "If you can play, you can play, and they'll find a spot for you."

Overheard and Understood

-- If you think Derek Jeter's pursuit of the Yankees' franchise hits record was overblown, wait until next spring training. Because the Yankees seem intent on letting Jeter go into 2010 without a contract beyond this year, and it will be a season-long storyline next year: Is this the Captain's last year in pinstripes?

Chart of the Week
Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria became the ninth player to have 40 doubles, 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season before the age of 24:
Player	Year
Hal Trosky	1934/36
Ted Williams	1939
Alex Rodriguez	1996
Scott Rolen	1998
Eric Chavez	2001
Aramis Ramirez	2001
Albert Pujols	2001-03
Miguel Cabrera	2005
Evan Longoria	2009
Source: Rays

While it might seem good public relations and, emotionally, a no-brainer to try to lock up Jeter long-term this winter, that wouldn't be good business for the Yankees. Not that they don't want him, but Jeter will be coming off his best season in at least three years, maybe 10. So in any contract negotiations this winter, Jeter would have the upper hand. The Yankees couldn't tell Jeter they have an alternative in mind, since both sides know he'll be the team's shortstop in 2010.

And it's not like the Yankees have ever gotten any kind of hometown discount from Jeter; the sides went to arbitration in 1999, avoided arbitration in 2000 with a $10 million salary and then worked out his current 10-year, $189 million deal in February 2001. Considering what he means to the franchise -- and its fans -- Jeter now could have every right to ask for more than Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia.

The only way an extension would get done before Jeter's contract is up (or close to up) is if ownership -- the Steinbrenner brothers -- steps in. They did in the fall of 2007, after the Joe Torre fiasco, to bring back Rodriguez (after his ugly opt-out), and with Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera on above-market deals. But the Steinbrenners may realize now they overpaid then and hold firm on Jeter.

Which will make for a fascinating winter of 2010-11, because the next negotiations will determine how much Jeter makes compared to A-Rod, whether he will be signed for the same length of time (through 2017!) and -- as part of the whole equation -- whether he ever moves from shortstop, and when, and where.

-- With a new ballpark opening next year, the Twins plan to spend more this winter than in any recent offseason. They "won't be picking up the scraps" of free agency, as one person put it.

-- Washington (including its Montreal years) is the only franchise never to have had two teammates with 100 RBI in the same season, but that could be corrected this year as Adam Dunn has 99 RBI and Ryan Zimmerman has 94. Tampa Bay got its first 100-RBI duo this year, with Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena.

-- The Angels could be the first team since the 2005 Cardinals to make it through the season without a four-game losing streak.

-- Figure this: Seven of the Dodgers' final 18 games are against the Pirates. Three others are against the Nationals.

-- Arizona's Chris Young last Sunday became the first player to go into a game batting less than .200 and then hit three homers.

-- The Cubs did not gain ground on the Cardinals in any day from Aug. 3 through Thursday.

-- If the A's, who have 85 errors, can finish with fewer than 100, they will set an all-time record by doing that for the sixth straight year. The Phillies had double-digit errors from 2001 to 2005.

-- Attendance at the Mets' new Citi Field on Thursday, for a game against the Marlins, was 37,620. But the Mets estimated 20,000 no-shows and about 17,000 in the stands.

-- The Rays are promoting right-hander Jeff Niemann (12-5, 3.57 ERA) for AL Rookie of the Year. They cite that he is in the top 10 all-time for winning percentage by an AL rookie starter; the first rookie to beat Roy Halladay twice; the first rookie in 55 years to lead the defending AL champs in wins and ERA; and that he could have three more wins but for two blown two-run leads and a blown three-run lead by his bullpen.

-- Since the start of last year, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, just two AL teams have swept four series from the same opponent (three or more games). It figures that the Yankees swept the Orioles five times, but not that the Royals have swept the Tigers four times.

-- Detroit's Brent Dlugach, called up Sept. 1, is the first big-leaguer ever whose name begins with "DL." Unless you count Mike Hampton.

Baseball Brunch: Meet the Rarest Breed originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trio Takes Cy Young Race Down to Wire

Jacob Wheatley-Schaller — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Cardinals, Giants, MLB Awards

By mid-September, there is usually a favorite for most of the MLB regular season awards. Looking around this year, there are clear frontrunners in the races for the AL MVP (Joe Mauer), AL Cy Young (Zack Greinke), NL MVP (Albert Pujols). But, even with less than 3 1/2 weeks remaining in the regular season, the race for the National League Cy Young remains muddled.

Half a dozen pitchers could make an argument for the honor, but for now we'll focus on just three. They were determined by the Neyer/James Cy Young Predictor, which uses a variety of traditional statitics to take a stab at who will end up winning. The top three starters, according to the Predictor, are currently Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals, and Tim Lincecum of the Giants.

After seven shutout innings in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Wainwright is probably the favorite. That not so much because of his performances -- which was good; he threw seven shutout innings -- but the result: his 18th win. His 18-7 record puts him two wins ahead of anyone else in baseball, and we all know how much of an effect a pitcher's win total has on the voting.

Even beyond that one notoriously overrated statistic, Wainwright is having a very strong year. In 205 innings, he's posted a 2.59 ERA while striking out 175 batters against only 60 walks. His home run rate of 0.7 per nine innings is excellent as well.

The problem is that one of his competitors, Tim Lincecum, has him beat in nearly every statistic except wins. The Giants righty has thrown five fewer innings, but in that time he's amassed a whopping 233 strikeouts, while walking just 55. His home run rate, 0.4 per nine innings, is one of the best in the league, and he beats Wainwright in ERA as well, at 2.34.

Those numbers are strong enough to give him the league lead in both Baseball Prospectus' Value Over Replacement Player (64.3) and FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement (7.7, more than two wins above any other NL pitcher). The fact that Wanwright leads the league in wins because his teammates have scored a ridiculous 7.3 runs per game in his starts certainly doesn't trump Lincecum's superiority according to just about any other, more relevant metric.

Top NL Cy Young Candidates
Stat	Carpenter	Lincecum	Wainwright
W-L	16-3	13-5	18-7
ERA	2.16	2.34	2.59
K	129	233	175
BB	30	55	60
IP	166 2/3	200 1/3	205
WHIP	0.96	1.02	1.21
VORP	60.8	64.3	61.1
WAR	5.0	7.7	4.7
Sources: baseball-reference.com, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs.com

We haven't even gotten to the pitcher who has arguably been the most effective pitcher in the league on a per-inning basis: Chris Carpenter. In 24 starts Carpenter has an ERA of just 2.16, with a ridiculous 5.2:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The latest gem on his resume was a complete game one-hitter in Milwaukee (rough week for the Brewers) on Monday night.

Those are pretty impressive numbers, save for the number of games started. Carpenter made only five starts over the season's first two months, and although he was brilliant in those 29 innings, allowing just two earned runs, the missed time has caused him to trail Lincecum, who threw 65 1/3 innings in April and May, all season.

While the ERA gap between the two is quite small, the innings gap, at 33 2/3, is not. For that reason, the deserving winner, if the season ended today, is clearly Lincecum, although the actual hardware would probably go to Wainwright.

Of course, there is still a good deal of regular season baseball left to be played, and Lincecum missed his last start with back spasms. If he misses any more time that may open up the door for one of the Cardinals starters to pass him in some of the advanced metrics. Unfortunately, if Wainwright reaches the vaunted 20-win mark (which is likely), the award is probably his to lose regardless of who actually deserves it.

Trio Takes Cy Young Race Down to Wire originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coghlan Learns on Job, Turns Into Star

Ed Price — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Marlins, MLB Awards

NEW YORK -- On the day the Marlins told Chris Coghlan he was getting the call to the majors, they asked him to play one more day in Triple-A.

That's not standard procedure -- why risk an injury? -- but Florida had a good reason.

The Marlins wanted Coghlan to get one career game in left field under his belt before asking him to do it in the big leagues.

In fact, Coghlan has been asked to do two things this year he had never done before. Besides moving from second base to left, Coghlan has become a leadoff hitter.

And while that might seem like piling on, asking a youngster to learn two new jobs at the same time he adjusts to the major leagues, Coghlan has handled it all calmly and well.

"There's adjustments, there's no doubt," Coghlan told FanHouse. "And at this level, there's a lot of it. And doing both of those things -- I try not to look at it so much. I try to take it as a grain of salt and try to make it as simple as possible. Otherwise I think it can be overwhelming. And for me, it's been a transition. I can't say it's seamless. There's definitely been ups and downs."

But many more ups, enough that he might be National League Rookie of the Year.

"You never know until you live with a guy what kind of guy he is," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "I tell you what, he's off the charts. You see him day in, day out -- you see the character, you see the work habits, you see the grit.

"You label certain guys as 'baseball players.' And he's one of those guys. And if next spring training you said, 'Hey we need you to maybe catch,' he'd say, 'OK, let's go.'"

Coghlan, 24, led the majors with 47 hits in August -- most by an NL rookie in a calendar month since Wally Moon had 52 in July 1954. Coghlan's streak of eight multi-hit games to start August was the longest for a rookie since Dan Driessen in 1973.

"He has a great idea of what he's trying to do, and he executes it," hitting coach Jim Presley said. "His approach is as good as you can have with a young player.

"He stays inside the ball really well. And he hits the ball the other way, which is really hard for a young player to learn how to do."

A supplemental first-round pick in 2006 -- the draft choice Florida got when A.J. Burnett signed with Toronto -- Coghlan played third base at Ole Miss and moved to second base in '07.

But outfield? Never.

Yet when Cameron Maybin faltered early in the year, Cody Ross moved from right field to center and Jeremy Hermida went from left to right to open left field for Coghlan.

Thus that final game in the minors before joining the Marlins on May 8.

"I feel comfortable in the outfield, I feel comfortable hitting leadoff. Now the game's slowing down."
-- Chris Coghlan "I didn't get any fly balls," Coghlan said. "That was really nerve-wracking because I went, 'Man, I'm going. My dream come true.' And I was just thinking about how fortunate and blessed I was -- but at the same time I didn't want to get injured."

The Marlins rave about Coghlan's work ethic, which he has applied to his defense. It has improved so much, Gonzalez no longer takes Coghlan out in the late innings for a defensive replacement.

"To his credit," Gonzalez said, "here's a guy that bought into: 'Hey, I'm going to play left field in the big leagues,' instead of just going, 'Ah, [expletive].'"

Gonzalez moved Coghlan atop his lineup at the end of May. And instead of just treating batting first like batting anywhere else, Coghlan set about learning, and embracing, some of the subtle intricacies of hitting leadoff. Things such as making sure to see a lot of pitches in the first inning, so his teammates get a look at the opposing pitcher's stuff. Or taking his time when his pitcher makes the second out of the inning, so the pitcher has time to rest before going back to the mound.

"There's a lot of unselfishness that comes with hitting leadoff," he said. "I haven't mastered it by any means, but each day I learn something new."

Since Coghlan took over the No. 1 spot, Florida has averaged more than five runs a game, best in the NL. And the Marlins continue to hang around in the playoff hunt.

There's some thought the Marlins could trade Dan Uggla, who's due to make $7-8 million next year as an arbitration-eligible player, this winter and move Coghlan back to second. (If you don't think there's a market for a power-hitting, erratic-fielding second baseman, you probably believe Jeff Kent hurt himself washing his truck.)

But some on the Marlins believe Coghlan could be an above-average left fielder and that he is already better there than in the infield.

Really, there shouldn't have been any question whether Coghlan would hit. As a high school senior in Tarpon Springs, Fla., he led his county with a .573 average. He hit .302 as a college freshman, .363 as a sophomore and .350 as a junior. He hit .297 his first year of pro ball, .287 his second and .298 last year in Double-A.

All along he used the same daily routine, a progression from hitting off a tee to work in the indoor batting cage to on-field batting practice.

"He's had success," Presley said. "He knows what he needs to do."

Coghlan started out slow, batting .205 through his first 25 games, but now leads big-league rookies in batting average, hits, multi-hit games, total bases, runs and on-base percentage.

Since June 6, he is second in the NL -- among all players, not just rookies -- in hits (110, behind only teammate Hanley Ramirez), fourth in runs scored (59), sixth in batting average (.332) and 14th in on-base percentage (.396).

Coghlan also had a 14-game hitting streak, Aug. 23-Sept. 6, that was longest by an NL rookie since 2006.

"Things have started to fall together," Coghlan said. "I haven't lost confidence, even when things are going bad. And now they just seem to be falling in place.

"I feel comfortable in the outfield, I feel comfortable hitting leadoff. Now the game's slowing down, and everything feels like it did in the minors."

Coghlan Learns on Job, Turns Into Star originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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