Connie Mack Award (Manager of the Year)
1. Jeff Bannister
2. Terry Francona
3. Scott Servais
I REALLY wanted to give this award to Tito. It would be very fitting with Dave Roberts getting the National League one, but I couldn't ignore facts. The Indians had five pitchers make 25 or more starts. The Rangers had two, and one of them had a losing record. They won the division by 9 games with a Pythagorean record that had them expected to win 82 games. I kept hearing that they weren't that good of a team, and their record was just smoke and mirrors -- and Jeff Bannister's influence, I guess. The third choice was tough. Not a lot to pick from, I don't think any of the AL East playoff team managers really distinguished themselves this season. Scott Servais made big strides in first year at the helm of the Mariners, and based on that he gets my last checkmark.
Willie Mays Award (Rookie of the Year)
1. Michael Fulmer
2. Gary Sanchez
3. Tyler Naquin
A very tough choice. If this award was for whom I thought would be the best player next season, or have the best career, Gary Sanchez would be an easy choice. But the award is based on who had the best Rookie SEASON. If you had your choice of getting Sanchez and what he did for 2 months, or Fulmer for the whole season, who would you have taken? Fulmer provided 2 more WAR of value, and that made the decision easy for me.
Goose Gossage Award (Rookie of the Year)
1. Zach Britton
2. Andrew Miller
3. Sam Dyson
4. Kelvin Herrera
5. Wade Davis
Britton was an obvious choice (unless you're Buck Showalter, I guess?), The only interesting thing here is there are two Royals' teammates in the top 5.
Walter Johnson Award (Pitcher of the Year)
1. Corey Kluber
2. Rick Porcello
3. Jose Quintana
4. Zach Britton
5. Justin Verlander
Much to the chagrin of my Red Sox readers, I did not give this to Pretty Ricky. It was close, but I do not give much value to pitcher wins and thought overall Kluber had a better season.
Stan Musial Award (Player of the Year)
1. Mike Trout
2. Mookie Betts
3. Jose Altuve
4. Manny Machado
5. Robinson Cano
6. Brian Dozier
7. Kyle Seager
8. Carlos Correa
9. Corey Kluber
10. Adrian Beltre
This one was easy. Spare me the Mike Trout was on a losing team bullshit. I've already explained it. I also gave some recognition to a few under the radar guys. There are seasons where Dozier, Correa or Beltre could have won the MVP with the numbers they put up this year.
Ruben, you absolutely have the right call: Terry Francona absolutely deserves recognition. But where's my boy Trevor Story for ROY? Oh well. I'm thinking of doing a piece about him on my blog www.pitchersandpigskin.com. I don't mean to use your site as a ad hub, but please check it out if you can!
ReplyDeleteI did say it was tough to leave Story off the ballot. There were just too many good rookies in the NL this year.
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