Tony's 2009 Postseason MLB Awards

By Tony Mazur

In years past, the awards handed out at the end of the season were pretty clear-cut. Throughout the 1990s, it was always obvious as to who would win the Cy Young Award or the MVP trophy. In 2009, the choices were not so cut-and-dry, which made the season more interesting. Here are my postseason awards for the 2009 season.

AL Cy Young Award: Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

This choice may come as a shock, but check his stats. "King Felix" went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA for a much improved Mariner team. While Zack Greinke has looked dominant most of the year, Hernandez has made even the best teams look silly. He may be the most underrated pitcher in the game today.

Runner-Up: Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals

NL Cy Young Award: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals

This will be up for debate for years to come, but Wainwright, in my humble opinion, should win the award. Unlike teammate Chris Carpenter, Wainwright has stayed healthy all year, and has provided the stability the Cardinals needed, especially in the second half, as they trounced the Cubs significantly. Also, a .263 ERA with 19-8 record doesn't look to bad, either.

Runner-Up: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

AL MVP: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

For the majority of the season, I was pretty sure the award would have gone to the Yankees' Mark Teixeira. But Mauer is indeed the Most Valuable Player. Aside from Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, and, for one year, Todd Hundley, catchers aren't known for their bat. Mauer has won his third batting title in four years, a feat even Ichiro hasn't accomplished. Mauer also hit 28 home runs, more than doubling his previous record of 13 set in 2006.

Runner-Up: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

Is there any doubt? Pujols led the league in home runs with 47, and ranked near the top of every other offensive category. He also covers a lot of ground at first base, similar to former Cardinal first baseman Keith Hernandez. Pujols just might be one of the greatest right-handed hitters to have ever played the game.

Runner-Up: Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers

AL Rookie of the Year: Gordon Beckham, Chicago White Sox

This was a very tough choice, but I chose Beckham because of his style of play. Beckham was one of the few bright spots to a mediocre White Sox club. One can make a case for Elvis Andrus, Rick Porcello, and Nolan Reimold, which would also be understandable. In my opinion, this one is a toss-up.

Runner-Up: Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers

NL Rookie of the Year: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

Yes, the Pirates are certainly not a model organization, but I loved the performance from McCutchen. He has the skills to become a five-tool player in the near-future, even if the Bucs trade him for more prospects. What sets him apart from the rest is his speed. McCutchen stole 22 bases in 108 games, and pounded out 9 triples. He reminds me of Marquis Grissom in his Montreal days.

Runner-Up: Chris Coghlin, Florida Marlins

AL Manager of the Year: Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels have been a favorite in the baseball circles for a few years, but Scioscia has kept this team together after the tragic death of Nick Adenhart. Also, he has groomed players like Kendry Morales and Maicer Izturis to fill the big shoes of the injured Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero, and they stepped up greatly.

Runner-Up: Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins

NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy, Colorado Rockies

After an 18-28 record, the Rockies fired Clint Hurdle and replaced him with Jim Tracy. Since then, the Rockies went 74-42, and won the Wild Card for the second time in three seasons.

Runner-Up: Tony La Russa, St. Louis Cardinals

AL's Most Improved Team: Texas Rangers

Traditionally, the Rangers are stacked with hitters, but are thin in the pitching department. That improved immensely with Scott Feldman and Kevin Millwood, though they still have work to do if they want to give the Angels a run for their money. Still, an 87-75 mark is something nice to build on.

Runner-Up: Seattle Mariners

NL's Most Improved Team: Colorado Rockies

Can you blame me for picking the Rockies to finish in fourth in the NL West? The Rockies used the magic beans from 2007 and implemented them into the current team. Their 92 wins was third in the National League, though "Rocktober" may be short-lived.

Runner-Up: Atlanta Braves

AL's Biggest Disappointment: Cleveland Indians

Personally, I did not pick the Tribe to win anything this year, but many of my colleagues drank the Kool-Aid. When you part ways with all-stars and replace them with unproven prospects, negative results typically ensue. 2010 does not look too promising, either.

Runner-Up: Tampa Bay Rays

NL's Biggest Disappointment: New York Mets

For the fourth year in a row, the Mets let their fans down. This time, however, the Metropolitans finished 22 games under .500, reminiscent of the underachieving teams of the early '90s. The team fell short on everyone's expectations, though key injuries to Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and Jose Reyes did not help matters.

Runner-Up: Milwaukee Brewers

Baseball’s best players by position

By Rick Morris

This past weekend, during our 4^th annual FDH-produced charity marathon webcast, we utilized as we had during every earlier event bracket-style voting to determine the best players in Major League Baseball at each position. This was a key component of our broadcast and arguably our best one as it so often has been before. The judges may use any criteria: stats, defense, intangibles, being a good or bad teammate – any of these elements and others are equally valid.

The FDH judges were as follows: Nate Noy and me for the entire event, with the role of “third judge” being filled on a rotating basis by Tony Mazur for part of the first round, Mike Ptak for the other part of the first round and Jason Jones for the semifinals and finals.

First, let’s list our winners by position:

C: Victor Martinez

1B: Albert Pujols

2B: Chase Utley

SS: Jimmy Rollins

3B: Alex Rodriguez

LF: Manny Ramirez

CF: B.J. Upton

RF: Vladimir Guerrero

DH: David Ortiz

LHP: Johan Santana

RHP: Jake Peavy

CL: Jonathan Papelbon

NOTE: Players listed in bold won every round of votes by a unanimous decision.

Now, let’s examine the balloting by position:

CATCHER

First Round

Victor Martinez 3-0 over Benji Molina, Jorge Posada 3-0 over Joe Mauer, Brian McCann 2-1 over Ivan Rodriguez (Tony Mazur dissenting), Russell Martin 2-1 over Kenji Johjima (Tony Mazur dissenting).

Second Round

Victor Martinez 3-0 over Jorge Posada, Russell Martin 2-1 over Brian McCann (Jason Jones dissenting).

Finals

Victor Martinez 2-1 over Russell Martin (Rick Morris dissenting).

Notes

This position contained few real surprises, with the possible exception of Joe Mauer getting shut out in the first round against a player we all agreed would have significantly less offensive production this year in Jorge Posada. Russell Martin has to keep producing at a high level if he is to win the bracket next year.

FIRST BASE

First Round

Albert Pujols (3-0) over Paul Konerko, Carlos Pena (2-1) over Justin Morneau (Rick Morris dissenting), Ryan Howard (3-0) over Lance Berkman, Prince Fielder (2-1) over Derek Lee (Nate Noy dissenting).

Second Round

Albert Pujols (3-0) over Carlos Pena, Ryan Howard (3-0) over Prince Fielder.

Finals

Albert Pujols (2-1) over Ryan Howard (Rick Morris dissenting).

Notes

I was greatly surprised that Pena’s one great year was enough to get him past a former MVP in Morneau. Nate offered a very passionate and entertaining defense of Lee, who he sees as the epitome of an all-around player. We all liked Fielder a great deal, but each of us preferred Howard by a slim margin. I took Howard in the finals just because of remaining questions about the health of Pujols’ elbow.

SECOND BASE

First Round

Chase Utley (3-0) over Placido Polanco (3-0), Jeff Kent (2-1) over Dan Uggla (Tony Mazur dissenting), Robinson Cano (2-1) over Brian Roberts (Nate Noy dissenting), Brandon Phillips (3-0) over Mark Ellis.

Second Round

Chase Utley (3-0) over Jeff Kent, Brandon Phillips (2-1) over Robinson Cano (Jason Jones dissenting).

Finals

Chase Utley (3-0) over Brandon Phillips.

Notes

We saw very few surprises at this position. Jason had such respect for Cano that he took him over Phillips in the second round, but that was about it. Utley made it through on three consecutive 3-0 votes.

SHORTSTOP

First Round

Jimmy Rollins (2-1) over J.J. Hardy (Tony Mazur dissenting), Derek Jeter (2-1) over Troy Tulowitzki (Rick Morris dissenting), Hanley Ramirez (3-0) over Miguel Tejada, Jose Reyes (3-0) over Khalil Greene.

Second Round

Jimmy Rollins (2-1) over Derek Jeter (Jason Jones dissenting), Hanley Ramirez (2-1) over Jose Reyes (Rick Morris dissenting).

Finals

Jimmy Rollins (3-0) over Hanley Ramirez.

Notes

This position turned out to be way more fun and interesting than second base. My regard for Tulow’s upside was controversial in the first round inasmuch as it came at the expense of the sainted Derek Jeter, “King of All Intangibles.” The role of defense came up in both second-round matchups as Nate and I voted for Rollins in part because of his superior range and I voted for Reyes because Ramirez is a butcher with his glove. Ramirez lost in the finals because Rollins could trump him on defense but also match him for power.

THIRD BASE

First Round

Alex Rodriguez (3-0) over Mike Lowell, Aramis Ramirez (3-0) over Garrett Atkins, Miguel Cabrera (3-0) over Chipper Jones, David Wright (3-0) over Troy Glaus.

Second Round

Alex Rodriguez (3-0) over Aramis Ramirez, David Wright (3-0) over Miguel Cabrera.

Finals

Alex Rodriguez (2-1) over David Wright (Rick Morris dissenting).

Notes

In a round filled with 3-0 results, the most surprising by far was Wright/Cabrera. Wright’s speed and defense guided him to a narrow win on each of our ballots. I voted for Wright in the finals largely on the strength of getting along with his teammates significantly better than Rodriguez.

LEFT FIELD

First Round

Manny Ramirez over Eric Byrnes (3-0), Carl Crawford (3-0) over Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano (2-1) over Ryan Braun (Tony Mazur dissenting), Matt Holliday (3-0) over Hideki Matsui.

Second Round

Manny Ramirez (2-1) over Carl Crawford (Rick Morris dissenting), Matt Holliday (2-1) over Alfonso Soriano (Nate Noy dissenting).

Finals

Manny Ramirez (2-1) over Matt Holliday (Rick Morris dissenting).

Notes

I came close to voting for Braun in the first round, but his poor defense at third base, combined with his position switch, made him too suspect in my book. I preferred Crawford to Ramirez largely because of defensive considerations, as well as the fact that Crawford turns the statistically-significant age 27 this year. Nate voted against Holliday in the semifinals largely because of his home/road splits. I was fairly incredulous that I got outvoted in the Ramirez/Holliday finals. In my personal opinion, too much weight was given to the outcome of the World Series and the length of Manny’s track record and too little weight was given to Holliday’s defensive and team-oriented advantages.

CENTER FIELD

First Round

B.J. Upton (3-0) over Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter (2-1) over Andruw Jones (Nate Noy dissenting), Carlos Beltran (2-1) over Ichiro (Nate Noy dissenting), Grady Sizemore over Curtis Granderson (3-0).

Second Round

B.J. Upton (2-1) over Torii Hunter (Nate Noy dissenting), Carlos Beltran (3-0) over Grady Sizemore.

Finals

B.J. Upton (2-1) over Carlos Beltran (Nate Noy dissenting).

Notes

This position looked like it would be the most wide-open when we started and it did not disappoint. The twists and turns were amazing, from the dubious-about-Beltran Nate Noy voting against him in the first round and for him in the next two rounds (including the finals, when he was on his own on that one!). The battle of emerging young AL Central centerfielders between Sizemore and Granderson was closer than it looked, as all of us narrowly gave Grady the nod and then all of us narrowly voted against him vs. Beltran in the second round! In the end, an unlikely candidate came out on top, as a player who only moved to center field in the second half of 2007 was proclaimed the best in the game at the position – largely due to the matchups he faced in this topsy-turvy bracket.

RIGHT FIELD

First Round

Vladimir Guerrero (3-0) over Brad Hawpe, Nick Markakis (2-1) over Jeff Francouer (Mike Ptak dissenting), Alex Rios (2-1) over Jermaine Dye (Nate Noy dissenting), Magglio Ordonez (3-0) over Corey Hart.

Second Round

Vladimir Guerrero (3-0) over Nick Markakis, Magglio Ordonez (2-1) over Alex Rios (Rick Morris dissenting).

Finals

Vladimir Guerrero (3-0) over Magglio Ordonez.

Notes

The Francouer/Markakis discussion was a lot of fun as we debated the merits of these different but compelling young stars. I felt strongly that Rios and Ordonez might well be ships crossing in the night this season, but I was outvoted. Guerrero did not have a vote cast against him in either of the three rounds, although I really hedged on voting for Markakis.

DESIGNATED HITTERS

First Round

David Ortiz (3-0) over Frank Thomas, Jim Thome (3-0) over Barry Bonds (listed because we felt he would be most likely to play as a DH this year if he signs with anyone), Travis Hafner (3-0) over Jack Cust, Gary Sheffield (3-0) over Sammy Sosa.

Second Round

David Ortiz (3-0) over Jim Thome, Travis Hafner (2-1) over Gary Sheffield (Nate Noy dissenting).

Finals

David Ortiz (3-0) over Travis Hafner.

Notes

This position didn’t have a ton of drama, as Ortiz was not seriously challenged in any round en route to three 3-0 victories and the rest of the first round matchups were not very competitive. Nate cast the only dissenting vote in the entire round in taking up for Sheffield’s ability to hang on at a level higher than Hafner this year. The judges agreed that a year ago, Hafner would have won in the finals given his career trajectory, but that he’d have to have a great 2008 to get within sniffing distance of Ortiz next year.

LEFT-HANDED STARTING PITCHER

First Round

Johan Santana (3-0) over Mark Buehrle, Scott Kazmir (3-0) over Oliver Perez, Cole Hamels (2-1) over Francisco Liriano (Rick Morris dissenting), C.C. Sabathia (3-0) over Jeff Francis.

Second Round

Johan Santana (3-0) over Scott Kazmir, C.C. Sabathia (2-1) over Cole Hamels (Rick Morris dissenting).

Finals

Johan Santana (3-0) over C.C. Sabathia.

Notes

Santana breezed through with 3-0 decisions in every round, although he might not have beaten Liriano on my ballot had he advanced to the finals (and Jason Jones, who was not part of the balloting where Liriano was eliminated, agreed with me on that). I was a bit surprised that Sabathia beat Hamels, but that Cy Young Award apparently carried some weight. In the finals, we all agreed that we had probably seen Sabathia’s high-water mark in ’07, and it was still barely better than an average year by Santana’s standards.

RIGHT-HANDED STARTING PITCHER

Qualifying Round (we added an extra round at this position because of the sheer depth of it)

Josh Beckett (3-0) over Tim Hudson, Roy Oswalt (2-1) over Roy Halladay (Tony Mazur dissenting), Chris Young (2-1) over Brad Penny (Nate Noy dissenting), John Lackey (2-1) over John Smoltz (Nate Noy dissenting), Jake Peavy (3-0) over Felix Hernandez, Dan Haren (3-0) over Erik Bedard, Justin Verlander (2-1) over Fausto Carmona (Nate Noy dissenting), Brandon Webb (2-1) over Carlos Zambrano (Nate Noy dissenting).

First Round

Josh Beckett (3-0) over Roy Oswalt, John Lackey (3-0) over Chris Young, Jake Peavy (3-0) over Dan Haren, Brandon Webb (3-0) over Justin Verlander.

Second Round

Josh Beckett (2-1) over John Lackey (Rick Morris dissenting), Jake Peavy (3-0) over Brandon Webb.

Finals

Jake Peavy (2-1) over Josh Beckett (Jason Jones dissenting).

Notes

We had surprises a’plenty here, from Haren eking out the slimmest 3-0 victory you’ve ever seen from the judges to him being on the reverse end of such a decision in the next round against Peavy. Webb also lost a narrower-than-it-looked 3-0 result to Peavy. Beckett and Peavy both looked like freight trains rolling into their final matchup, but ultimately Peavy’s longer track record of dominance outweighed Beckett’s ascension as the best big-game pitcher in the game.

CLOSER

First Round

Jonathan Papelbon (3-0) over Mariano Rivera, J.J. Putz (3-0) over Francisco Cordero, Joe Nathan (3-0) over Trevor Hoffman, Francisco Rodriguez (3-0).

Second Round

Jonathan Papelbon (3-0) over J.J. Putz, Joe Nathan (2-1) over Francisco Rodriguez (Jason Jones dissenting).

Finals

Jonathan Papelbon (3-0) over Joe Nathan.

Notes

Papelbon just rolled through our competition, destroying even those closers who themselves won 3-0 battles. The only real drawn-out discussion was Rodriguez/Nathan, which was a good one.

The World Series and superstars

By Rick Morris

Since the post-lockout/wildcard playoff format/serious 'roiding era of baseball began in 1995 (this started the culmination of these factors, even though steroids had been around before that), what kind of correlation has there been between the World Series teams with the greater number of top-end players and ultimate victory? I decided to determine this. Keep in mind that by definition the labeling of a player as a "superstar" is inherently a bit arbitrary, so I make no pretense whatsoever about the scientific nature of this piece. In terms of how I arrived at whether a player was a superstar at the time, I went by track record (in other words, I eliminated players who appeared at the time to be a one-year wonder) and, because I'm a big roto/stats guy, dominating statistical production. Here's how my fun little study proceeded in terms of whether it was predictable or not by this admittedly random criteria:

2006: St. Louis (3 superstars: Chris Carpenter, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen) over Detroit (2 superstars: Ivan Rodriguez, Justin Verlander). While Verlander didn't have an extensive track record through 2006, he was a very high-ceiling prospect and I factored in his pedigree in determining that he already was a legitimate superstar. I did not include everyone's favorite intangibles player/underdog David Eckstein to keep the good folks at Fire Joe Morgan from having their heads explode!
PREDICTABLE.

2005: Chicago White Sox (3 superstars: Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Mark Buehrle) over Houston (5 superstars: Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brad Lidge). Remember, Lidge was tarnished only by the Pujols homer in the NLCS at this point and had yet to lose his invincible image. UNPREDICTABLE.

2004: Boston (5 superstars: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke) over St. Louis (5 superstars: Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Jason Isringhausen). PUSH.

2003: Florida (1 superstar: Ivan Rodriguez) over New York Yankees (6 superstars: Jorge Posada, Alfonso Soriano, Derek Jeter, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera). While the Marlins had many youngsters on the verge of stardom, by the fall of '03 few if any could be said to have proven themselves at that level yet. UNPREDICTABLE.

2002: Anaheim (2 superstars: Garret Anderson, Troy Percival) over San Francisco (3 superstars: Jeff Kent, Barry Bonds, Robb Nen). UNPREDICTABLE.

2001: Arizona (3 superstars: Luis Gonzalez, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling) over New York Yankees (6 superstars: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens). UNPREDICTABLE.

2000: New York Yankees (5 superstars: Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera) over New York Mets (3 superstars: Mike Piazza, Mike Hampton, Al Leiter). PREDICTABLE.

1999: New York Yankees (4 superstars: Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, David Cone, Mariano Rivera) over Atlanta (6 superstars: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Kevin Millwood, John Smoltz, Andruw Jones). UNPREDICTABLE.

1998: New York Yankees (5 superstars: Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, David Cone, Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill) over San Diego (4 superstars: Tony Gwynn, Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby, Greg Vaughn). PREDICTABLE.

1997: Florida (5 superstars: Gary Sheffield, Moises Alou, Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Robb Nen) over Cleveland (4 superstars: Matt Williams, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Dave Justice). PREDICTABLE.

1996: New York Yankees (4 superstars: Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, David Cone, John Wetteland) over Atlanta (9 superstars: Javy Lopez, Fred McGriff, Chipper Jones, Marquis Grissom, Ryan Klesko, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Mark Wohlers). UNPREDICTABLE.

1995: Atlanta (5 superstars: Fred McGriff, Ryan Klesko, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux) over Cleveland (7 superstars: Carlos Baerga, Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Eddie Murray, Dennis Martinez). UNPREDICTABLE.

So the team with more elite players lost in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. 2004 was a push with an equal number of superstars on each team and the team with more superstars won in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2006. Now, the '06 determination could come as a surprise to some, because the Cards only won 83 games in a vastly inferior National League, but St. Louis certainly had fewer players just below the superstar level than Detroit.

Other notes:

^ A more talented Braves team on paper lost the Series in '96 after winning in '95. Their young talent was a year more advanced, but couldn't get past a cohesive Yankees squad, who would go on to beat them notwithstanding a similar talent situation again in '99.

^ The World Series with the most combined superstars? 1996 (minor surprise that it had more than the year before, but it did because of the previously mentioned maturation of the Braves lineup) with 13, 1995 with 12 (no surprise at all), 1999 with 10 (with many of the same players as 1996) , 2004 with 10, 1997 with 9 (the Tribe in its prime and the Marlins with their mercenaries) and 2001 with 9 (the beginning of the end of the Yankees dynasty).

^ The World Series with the least combined superstars? 2002 and 2006, each with 5.

I'm at a loss in terms of spotting definitive trends out of that data. The team with more elite players has failed to win the World Series 7 times since 1995, but in many instances they had more players on the next tier down. If anything, we could speculate that the "superstar effect" can be overrated in October, but I wouldn't stake my life on that claim.

How do this year's potential teams rate?

Colorado (5 superstars: Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton). I'd still consider Helton at that level by the skin of his teeth given his power decline and I rate Tulow up there based on the "Verlander Precedent" of 2006 in that his superb pedigree means that we can give him the benefit of the doubt sooner than most.

Cleveland (5 superstars: Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona). Ryan Garko comes close to making the cut but misses just barely on experience (and thus not being given the benefit of the doubt given that his minor league projections were high, but just a shade below Tulow and Verlander). But since I included Troy T., so too will I include Fausto, who was projected as a #1 starter in the minor leagues and has survived more adversity than most major leaguers already with his infamous disaster at closer in '06. Rafael Betancourt was not listed because I did not include Mariano Rivera in 1996 -- it's hard for me to regard a setup man, no matter how dominant, on the level of other elite players.

Boston (6 superstars: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon).

The quick note that comes to mind when looking at a Cleveland-Colorado matchup is that the lazy national media template would be to regard both teams as a collection of ragamuffins because they haven't been here before or recently, as the case may be. Regardless of who comes out of the American League Championship Series, this will mark only the second time since 1999 that we have seen a World Series with a double-digit number of superstars being involved, albeit many of them lesser-known to the casual fan. So reject that superficial storyline for the pabulum that it is if you encounter it.