2006 Midseason Baseball Awards
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by user Thefeed
With the 2006 MLB All-Star Game behind us and second-half play starting up tomorrow, let’s take a look at some of the standout performances from the first half. We’ll look at the sublime (David Wright) and the ridiculous (Rondell White) in equal measure to see what’s made the season go so far.
AL MVP – David Ortiz, Boston
This race was pretty wide open going into July with Ortiz, Jim Thome, Derek Jeter and Jermaine Dye the contenders for my award. But after Big Papi’s 13-38, eight homers, 17 RBI tear to close the first half; he was the only choice in my mind. It’s amazing how Ortiz consistently sets the bar higher and higher for himself since coming to Boston and then defies the sky-high expectations. As brutal as it is to say for a Yankee fan, there’s something mythical about his at-bats; If it’s after the seventh inning of a close game, you’ll wet yourself instead of missing one swing from Ortiz, as high a compliment as I can pay a player.
NL MVP – David Wright, New York Mets
By a nose over Albert Pujols, who has had the better season but loses votes to injury and the utter incompetence from the rest of the NL Central. Had the Cards tanked with Albert out of the lineup I’d probably rank him above Wright but the Cards played around .500 and then tanked when Pujols returned. Wright is surrounded by a number of stars but he’s shone brightest and in the biggest moments. Chants of “MVP” weren’t unusual during Wright’s first half at-bats. They’ll only get louder.
AL Cy Young – Johan Santana, Minnesota
It could have been Roy Halladay, whose 12 wins show a full comeback from last season’s injuries. Or Jonathan Papelbon for his dominant performance as Red Sox closer. And I’d love to see one of the two phenom starters, Justin Verlander or Francisco Liriano, atop the list. In fact, had Liriano been in the rotation from Opening Day, he’d be my choice here and could end up as the man if he keeps up his stunning first-half. For now, it’s Santana, who strikes out more than a batter an inning, has walked just 24 in his league-high 131 IP and has lost three games in which he’s pitched a quality start.
NL Cy Young – Brandon Webb, Arizona
I’ve been most impressed by Brad Penny’s performance in the first half, but he’s only got 108 innings under his belt thus far. The Met one-two punch of Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine has been great but neither has an individual performance worthy of the award. Bronson Arroyo is the surprise of the first half from a pitching standpoint, Jason Schmidt’s a valiant warrior on a bad team and Chris Carpenter’s only been unluckier than a year ago. All of which adds up to a very halfhearted vote for Webb, one I’m confident will be different when all is said and done this year. The divisional races will have a lot of say in this award as one of the above pitchers could well carry their team to postseason, and individual, glory.
AL Rookie Of The Year – Francisco Liriano, Minnesota
Now, now Red Sox fans, Jonathan Papelbon is a great, great rookie. In most years he’d be on top of this ballot for sure. But it comes down to one thing for me when picking Liriano over Papelbon and that’s 264 being greater than 138. That’s the number of outs both men have recorded thus far this season and while there’s no doubt about which player has been a valuable part of a division leader, there’s also none about who has been the best pitcher in baseball since Twins management came to their senses. Liriano’s stuff is absolutely filthy, wallowing in mire filthy, illegal in 47 states filthy and he’s used it to strike out nearly 11 men per 9IP and a 10-1 record. Papelbon, as brilliant as he’s been, can’t match the performance of a starter putting up those numbers. Throw in Detroit’s Justin Verlander and you have the most impressive crop of rookie pitchers in some time.
NL Rookie Of The Year – Josh Johnson, Florida
I’m rolling with the rookie pitchers in the senior circuit as well. It’s little surprise that a Marlin is atop the list of rookie candidates at this point, after all they have few non-rooks in the lineup, but Johnson’s performance has been the most eye-popping of that crew. He’s 7-2 as a starter with 64 strikeouts in 74 innings and has a 1.95 ERA. He beats out his teammates Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs as well as the second-generation duo of Prince Fielder and Josh Barfield, each of whom have impressed in their debut campaign.
Best Move Of The Year – Detroit hiring Jim Leyland
I was down on this move in the preseason, finding great danger in the mixture of the Tiger’s promising young arms and the history of pitcher overuse that Leyland rang up in Pittsburgh and Florida. Color me wrong. While Leyland has benefited from several players coming of age all at once, the Tigers have benefited more from having a seasoned winner at the rudder. He’s shown great confidence in his young hurlers as well as Curtis Granderson, a budding megastar while showing a willingness to preserve them for the future. As Kerry Wood and Mark Prior’s careers continue their immolation, that’s the most pleasing part of Leyland’s resurrection – he’s adapted his style to work for today.
Worst Move Of The Year – (Tie) The Minnesota Twins sign Rondell White; The Minnesota Twins sign Tony Batista; The Minnesota Twins start season with Francisco Liriano in bullpen
Thankfully they’ve reversed course on the latter decision but between the two the Twinkies dug themselves a hole they aren’t likely to see their way out of. White got $2.5 million in the offseason and has paid the Twins back with a 424 OPS and no home runs through the first half. Sure, he was injured but he’s always injured and has never been much of a player so that makes signing him even more baffling. The worst part is that they already had Jason Kubel in house and for his league minimum salary the Twins get a little power, a good average and a healthy body. As for Batista, he’s the same miserable player that got exiled to Japan, and was released a while back with more errors than homers on the season. See the above for all the reasons why Liriano should have been in the rotation from day one, but if that hasn’t convinced you, meet Kyle Lohse and his 7.48 ERA. The Twins have been among baseball’s best over the last two months and only have themselves to blame for taking so long to get going.
Best Studio Host – Orel Hershiser, ESPN
We suffered through Tino Martinez for too long, not long enough for me to forget that he was a key part of four world champions but long enough that I had to keep reminding myself of the fact. Hershiser, on the other hand, has been terrific. His explanations of things like the slide step delivery and the grips different pitchers use old-time baseball maxims, scientific theories, visual illustrations and plain-spoken terminology in a way that makes them clearer than anyone I’ve seen before. I’m shocked that he isn’t in someone’s dugout or front office because the kind of advice that he’s giving away free is valuable, valuable stuff.
Best New Color Commentators Of The Year – (Tie) Al Leiter, YES and Ron Darling, SNY
New York-centric, I know, but while I watch as much as I can on the Extra Innings package, more often than not I’m enjoying one of the two men above waxing on about the ins and outs of the game. In his first year of retirement (he actually retired in Spring Training), Leiter puts his first-hand knowledge of both the Yankees and the league in general to good use. His analysis of at-bats, pitch by pitch, offers a lot of insight into the mental workings of major league pitchers. Darling has been a candid raconteur of his wild days with the old Mets, as has Keith Hernandez, and does a solid job of enlightening the viewers of what’s going on between the lines. He’s improved all season and with the Merry Mex by his side SNY looks set in the booth for years to come.
Best Trend Of The Year – Young Pitching
After years of moaning about the dearth of quality pitching in the pipeline it’s gratifying to see both leagues so full of potential Cy Young winners. Along with Liriano, Papelbon and Verlander, the American League’s been treated to Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees, Jeremy Bonderman and Joel Zumaya in Detroit, Tampa’s Scott Kazmir, second-year Angel Ervin Santana and most recently, Jon Lester and Jered Weaver of Boston and Anaheim respectively. Over in the Senior Circuit, the junior achievers include Johnson and Scott Olsen in Florida, Matt Cain of San Francisco, upstart Dodger closer Takashi Saito and Jeff Francis of the perpetually pitching starved Rockies. Good times ahead.
Best Cain And Abel Story – Jeff and Jered Weaver, Anaheim
The Angels needed to make room for 2005 first-rounder Jered after Bartolo Colon came back from an injury. That was smart as Weaver went 4-0 in his first call-up and the Angels needed to do something to jumpstart an increasingly unlikely playoff run. The rough part was that Jered’s ascension spelled the end of Jeff’s tenure out west and he was shipped for nothing to St. Louis. He may get the last laugh, if the season ended today his new team would be playoff bound.
Best Place For An All-Star Game – Pittsburgh
With once-hyped prospect Oliver Perez flaming out miserably and the team looking like a good bet to top last season’s 95 losses, the midsummer classic couldn’t have been better located. The proud fans of the once-proud franchise deserved to see something resembling major league baseball this year.
Best Pitching Performance – Scott Kazmir, 7/3 vs. Boston
Kazmir, the bane of Met fans existence, put a flourish on a standout first half in his final start before the break. A complete game, two-hit shutout that saw Kazmir strike out 10 against the division leading, offensively potent Red Sox.
Worst Pitching Performance – R.A. Dickey, 4/7 vs. Detroit
Dickey was a surprising member of the Rangers’ Opening Day roster but had impressed Texas brass with his knuckler. No such luck against the Motor City Kitties who roasted Dickey for 6 home runs in his brief appearance. The performance tied the record for most dingers allowed in one game and if Dickey doesn’t return to the majors this year (don’t hold your breath), he’ll become the first pitcher to ever allow six home runs and record 10 or fewer outs.
Worst Performance – Matt LeCroy, Washington
LeCroy allowed seven stolen bases and made two throwing errors during a rare appearance behind the plate against Houston in May and had to be lifted in the middle of the inning by the winner of our next award.
Best Press Conference – Frank Robinson, Washington
With watery eyes, Nationals manager Robinson discussed how badly he wanted to see LeCroy succeed and how badly he felt because he believed that he’d forced a player into a position where those chances were pretty slim. Robinson, whose picture is under old-school in the dictionary, taught a lesson many coaches and managers need to hear, which is sometimes it’s your fault as much as the players when things go wrong.
Best Wishes – Peter Gammons
It isn’t soon enough that he’s back on the page and the screen.
Date
Wed 07/12/06, 11:22 am EST
