You know the drill. MVP, Cy Young, ROTY, and all that garbage.


American League:

MVP: PERSONAL BIAS ALERT!
Derek Jeter. He hits for average (2nd best in majors), he drives in runs (nearly 100), he scores runs (nearly or over 100), he can hit for power (a hand injury derailed that this year), his average with RISP is the best in baseball (.389?), and he's great defensively (only 12 errors in 555 put-outs last I checked). Plus he pretty much carried the team when Matsui, Sheffield, and Cano were all out and A-Rod was being A-Rod.


Cy Young:
Johan Santana. It's not even close. The only "considerations" are Roy Halladay and Chien-Ming Wang, but Halladay hasn't been lights out, and Wang isn't a strikeout pitcher, so he's fucked. Note: I do not believe a pitcher should be MVP unless he's like 23-2 with a 1.05 ERA, because the Cy Young is the pitchers MVP award.

Rookie of the Year:
Jered Weaver. Touch choice here, since there's at least 2 other choices (Liriano and Verlander) to pick here for the AL, but Weaver has been too good ever since he was called up, so huzzah.

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

MVP:
Ryan Howard. Too dominating to consider anyone else but Pujols. His power numbers have been way too impressive to ignore, and the Phillies have been pretty much relying solely on him since the trade of Abreu to the Yanks.

Cy Young:
Carlos Zambrano... unless he's the one the Rays unloaded for Kazmir. You know, the guy on the Cubs. The NL has been so bad this year, one of the worst teams has had the best pitcher. I think Carpenter would be the only other serious choice.

Rookie of the Year:
Dan Uggla. I'm sure everyone, myself included, was saying "who the hell is Dan Uggla?" at the beggining of the season. Now, 6 months later, everyone's probably saying "who the hell is Dan Uggla?" A Rule V draft pick or whatever that figured to get little playing time ended up making the All-Star team and setting a rookie record for home runs by a second basemen. Other choices could be Ryan Zimmerman and about 5 pitchers on the Marlins.


And Misc:
"What the Heck?" Moment of the Year: Miguel Cabrera blooping a single to center against the Orioles... on an ATTEMPTED intentional walk.

American League:

MVP: PERSONAL BIAS ALERT!
Johan Santana. I know pitchers rarely get considered for this, but Santana has been so lights out and so important to the Twins that I think he has to be the frontrunner. Ortiz does nothing for his team in the field, their team is slipping even with his gaudy numbers, and Jeter's been very good but the Yankees are loaded and Jeter isn't even the best hitter on his team, at least arguably. Santana it is.


Cy Young:
Hey, it's Johan Santana again. Agree with Scrooge here. He's done nothing but dominate the whole season, and his ERA, wins, K's, everything reflect that. He's my choice for both.

Rookie of the Year:
Verlander. Weaver and Liriano have had the better numbers for the most part, I'll admit. But Verlander's done it since the beginning of the year, and he's been an achor in the Tigers' staff.

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

MVP:
Pujols. Great player, great consistency. Howard's been fantastic, too, but I think Pujols is more valuable to his team. Plus I love Pujols.

Cy Young:
Carpenter. Better ERA than Zambrano, better K/BB ratio, dominant as hell.

Rookie of the Year:
Dan Uggla. He's done nothing but impress me, and you can't help but root for a guy with the last name "Uggla".

And Misc:
Definitely Miggy Cabrera's bizarre single.

American League:

MVP: PERSONAL BIAS ALERT!
Santana. Or at least Morneau.


Cy Young:
Santana, for all the reasons stated above. He should have won it last year, too.

Rookie of the Year:
If Liriano had finished strong he would be a lock, but since he's injured again, I'll have to give it to Verlander, who's pitched the entire season and has been dominant.

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

MVP:
Ryan Howard if the Phils make the playoffs. If not, I'll go with Pujols.

Cy Young:
Carpenter. Zambrano walks way to many guys. Carpenter has him beat in almost every statistical category (except homeruns!) as Choate pointed out.

Rookie of the Year:
Dan Uggla. Yeah. Kid's good.

NL
Cy Young-- This is tough, cuz' usually there are about 4 or 5 20 game winners to pick from. It's possibly nobody will notch 20, so I'll go with Brandon Webb

MVP- Ryan Howard's a good pick. If the Phillies snag the wildcard, he's your hands-down winner. Pujols would be second and, as weird as it sounds, David Wright might be #3.

ROY- Uggla has better numbers, but I'd give it to Andre Ethier. Ethier's had more "MVP-type" of hits. Uggla has good stats, though, and the ROY is usually a stat race.

Manage of the Year- Grady Little. Dodgers had no right to contend for their division, yet they did convincingly.

AL
Cy Young- Johan Santna. Tops all 3 of the biggie categories- ERA, Wins and K's. That'll get you the nod 95% of the time.

MVP- I'm okay with Jermaine Dye. Had alot of clutch hits for the White Sox and powers that team.

ROY- Verlander's a good choice. I'm always more impressed with a good performance by a rookie pitcher than a rookie position player.

Manager of the Year- Jim Leyland. C'mon... the ol' "new manager makes winners out of a scrub team" always gets the votes. Plus, he absolutely MADE my annual Spring Training trip by signing my baseball.

My problem with Santana: There's too many good position players to choose from to consider a pitcher who doesn't have an amazingly lop-sided statistical sheet in his favor. If he were 20-4 with a sub 2-ERA or something, I might change my opinion, and if there was no dominant position players, but that's not the case.

Jeter? Maybe
Morneau? Maybe
Ortiz? No... DH's shouldn't win. It's most valuable player, not Most valuable DH.
Dye? Maybe

Even A-Rod should be considered, despite his terrible defense, since he's on pace with Morneau with HR's, and will have 120 RBI's by seasons end if he has a good 2 weeks.

Well, now it's time for my picks.

AL

MVP: Derek Jeter. He pretty much single handedly carries the Yankees every year.

Cy Young: Johan Santana.

Rookie of the Year: I would've said Markakis, but he's sorta slowed down lately. He was hitting .312 at the end of August, but is now hitting .295.. So my choice is the popular pick: Angels SP Jered Weaver.



NL

MVP: Tie between Pujols and Ryan Howard.

Cy Young: Don't really have a favorite for this one. Shows how much attention I pay to the National League.

Rookie of the Year: Again, same reason for NL Cy Young.