Month: November 2006

I don’t want to take anything away from Joe Girardi, He’s a former Cub and he hails from “up the the road a bit” (ok, he grew up in Peoria, IL about 90 miles from here).

He did a fantastic job this year with the Fish. I know that. But I also think there was a lot of sentimentality behind this vote. Let’s not forget despite how well he did, Joe Girardi did have a losing record.

I’m going to beg off on making my own definitive choice. But I will say this… I thought Willie Randolph did a pretty good job.

Brandon Webb was the best pitcher in the National League in 2006.

I’m still trying to convince myself of that. It’s not that I necessarily disagree or anything. This year was just a weak year for superstar pitchers. Start with the fact that the high in wins, among ALL NL pitchers was 16 and six pitchers tied for that total. Add to that, only one starter Roy Oswalt, had a sub-3.00 ERA.

By the way, that total of 16 is the lowest amount for a league leader in wins (we’re not counting the strike-shortened seasons of 1981 or 1994).

Trevor Hoffman with his 46 saves and 2.14 ERA came second in the voting. I’m not so sure it’s because he was the second best pitcher. I think it was more that the voters saw what was out there and were looking for an alternative way to spend their vote. I think Hoff is a quality reliever but the fact is that if there was a Johan Santana in the NL, sorry, no votes for Hoffman.

Much was made of Carpenter and why he didn’t win. Many pointed to his performance in the last few weeks of the season. Faulty logic, I say but there’s nothing you can do about it. I just think you take the whole season, as is without letting a few games affect your vote.

That said, I think that the Cy Young vote was

As a Cub fan, I must bring up Carlos Zambrano. He came in fifth with only six votes. His stats were very similar to Webb’s with one exception. Walks. His control is what really killed him.

But put those two in a homerun derby. No doubt who’s the winner there.

It’s awards week at the MLB. We got a sniff of it last week with the Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and the like but now we get to the big ones. Of course, we’ll have to wait till next week for the Big Daddy awards, the AL and NL MVP.

Monday, they announced the 2006 Rookies of the Year.

National League Rookie of the Year

Hanley Ramirez

.292/.480/.353, 119 runs, 46 doubles, 51 sb

In a crowded field of talented NL rookies, Hanley Ramirez edged out Ryan Zimmerman by four votes. In my estimation, this choice was:

As a matter of fact, not only do I agree with the final choice, I pretty much agree with how the voting went down. I really think Zimmerman should have been a close second. The fact remains that Ramirez had a better overall hitting stats if you look past the fact that he won’t have as many rbis due to his spot in his batting order.

Ramirez was one of six Marlins in the top 12 in the ROY voting.

American League Rookie of the Year

Justin Verlander

17-9, 3.63, 124 K, 30 GS

The AL ROY decision was not difficult in my opinion. It came down to Verlander, Jonathon Papelbon, and Francisco Liriano. I think think that choosing Verlander was:

Let’s face it. Papelbon and Liriano had great seasons but their injuries did them in. Verlander was solid, durable and dependable.

Verlander was the first starting pitcher to win the AL ROY in 25 years (Yankee Dave Righetti in 1981 was the last).

Today they announce NL Cy Young winner.