AL Award Winners
MVP: Sometimes it takes a couple of good years for people to figure out how good you are, and if that’s the case then Indians DH Travis Hafner will be the AL MVP in 2006. His numbers will be enough to overcome the East coast awards bias. Look for him to post a 40 HR season and a top five batting average to go along with his league leading RBI total. He’s an animal with runners on base, and thrives in pressure situations. Apologies to Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.
Cy Young: How Colon ever won this award last year I will never know. Apparently, too many writers value wins over any other indicator of what constitutes quality pitching. This year the award will return to its rightful owner in the person of Johan Santan. His 2005 season was just as dominant as his 2004 Cy Young season, though he came up just short in wins. So if the major qualifier for this award is ticks in the win column then here’s to hoping Johan tops 20 wins so that the writers who vote will get it right this year. Apologies to Rich Harden and Cliff Lee.
Rookie of the Year: A glimmer of hope for Red Sox Fans will be the budding star of Craig Hansen. Out of the Huston Street mold, Hansen may be pressed into duty if Foulke can’t come back from last year’s injuries. And while many will want to move Timlin into the closers role, it’s eventually going to be Hansen’s, and Boston will give him his shot. Apologies to Kenji Johjima and Francisco Liriano.
Comeback Player of the Year Award presented by Viagra: I had to bone up on my baseball knowledge to figure this one out. There were some stats I had to straighten out before. . . okay, I’ll stop. The new South Side Thumper Jim Thome takes home this award. He will benefit greatly from not having to play the field, not to mention being surrounded in the batting order by Konerko and Dye. Apologies to Roy Halladay and Rocco Baldelli.
Manager of the Year: Since the White Sox edged out Cleveland last year, and Guillen edged Wedge as well, it only seems natural that the better of the two teams’ managers will win the award in 2006. So because I have Cleveland besting Chicago in the AL Central, that means Eric Wedge is in line to win the best skipper of 2006. Apologies to Ken Macha and John Gibbons.
posted by gondeee @ 9:27 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
AL MVP. Hafner is a fantastic player, but the same thing that was against Ortiz this year will be against Hafner in 2006, and that is the fact that he is a DH.
However, Hafner will not put up bigger numbers than Ortiz. I can't see that happening.
In 2005 Hafner had a higher OPS than Ortiz, second only to A-Rod in the AL. This stat and others indicate that his stock is on the rise. In choosing him, I am assuming that Clevland wins the Central, and that he is the 'man' in the middle of that order. And because I'm not picking Boston to make the playoffs, even if Ortiz has a monster year, he is less likely to win the MVP because the Red Sox miss the playoffs (see Derrek Lee).
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