Stan Musial Award for Best Player

The last of the Baseball Blogger's Alliance awards is also the biggest: the Stan Musial Award, its version of the MVP.  I'll reveal my thoughts on both leagues, though, as with all the other awards, my ballot is only eligible for the American League voting.

AMERICAN LEAGUE


1. Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS
2. Jose Bautista, TOR
3. Justin Verlander, DET
4. Miguel Cabrera, DET
5. Curtis Granderson, NYY
6. Adrian Gonzalez, BOS
7. Jered Weaver, LAA
8. Alex Gordon, KC
9. Alex Avila, DET
10. Dustin Pedroia, BOS

Also considered: Ian Kinsler (TEX), Robinson Cano (NYY), Adrian Beltre (TEX), Evan Longoria (TB), Dan Haren (LAA), James Shields (TB)


NATIONAL LEAGUE


1. Matt Kemp, LAD
2. Ryan Braun, MIL
3. Troy Tulowitzki, COL
4. Roy Halladay, PHI
5. Joey Votto, CIN
6. Prince Fielder, MIL
7. Cliff Lee, PHI
8. Clayton Kershaw, LAD
9. Justin Upton, ARI
10. Albert Pujols, STL

Also considered: Lance Berkman (STL), Andrew McCutchen (PIT), Jose Reyes (NYM), Cole Hamels (PHI)

Walter Johnson Award for Best Pitcher

I'll continue revealing my ballot for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance's postseason awards.  Today I'll look at the Walter Johnson Award, given to the top pitcher in each league.  Again, my votes count only for the American League, but I'll show you my thoughts on both.

AMERICAN LEAGUE


1. Justin Verlander, DET
2. Jered Weaver, LAA
3. Dan Haren, LAA
4. James Shields, TB
5. Doug Fister, SEA/DET

I think Verlander will run away with this, and rightfully so.  Among AL pitchers, he ranked first in IP, ERA, and WHIP, second in xFIP, third in K/9 and K/BB, and fourth in FIP.  Not to knock the other pitchers on this list, as they all had great seasons in their own right, but I can't see an argument for someone other than Verlander.

Teammates Weaver and Haren put together quite the 1-2 punch for the Angels this season.  Neither struck out a ton of batters, just a respectable amount, but both threw over 235 innings and placed second and third, respectively, in the AL in WHIP.  Weaver also was second by 0.01 points in ERA, and Haren led the league in K/BB ratio, thanks to the second-lowest walk rate in the bigs.  Some batted ball luck certainly helped Weaver, who had the lowest GB% among qualified starters, but he was pretty good too.

Shields almost reached 250 innings and rated well across the board.  Fister is surely the most surprising and controversial name on my list, as I was shocked to find him there myself.  His strikeout rate was mediocre, but because of impeccable control he was fifth in the AL in strikeout-per-walk ratio.  Combining that with an above-average groundball rate, he was also in the top six in ERA, WHIP, and FIP.  I doubt anyone else will have him ahead of C.C. Sabathia, but I thought that statistically Fister had the better year.

Also considered: C.C. Sabathia (NYY), C.J. Wilson (TEX), Josh Beckett (BOS), David Price (TB), Felix Hernandez (SEA)


NATIONAL LEAGUE


1. Roy Halladay, PHI
2. Cliff Lee, PHI
3. Clayton Kershaw, LAD
4. Cole Hamels, PHI
5. Ian Kennedy, ARI

Halladay won this award last year, and he should again in 2011, followed closely by two teammates and Kershaw.  Looking at this, it's hard to believe the Phillies aren't still playing, but that's baseball for you.  The first three were all very close, but Halladay prevailed because of a league-best K:BB ratio and FIP combined with an excellent ERA and WHIP.  Hamels was a pretty easy choice for fourth, and then the last spot was a toss-up between Kennedy and Cain.  Kennedy grabbed it because in the end I valued his superior K:BB ratio more than Cain's continuous home run-dampening ability.  I know a lot of people would have Cain's teammate Lincecum in the top five somewhere, but I just couldn't put him there because of his comparatively high walk rate and subsequently comparatively high WHIP.

Also considered: Matt Cain (SF)

BBA Announces Goose Gossage Award Winner

The following is a press release from the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, of which Twins on Twins is a voting member, announcing the winners of the Goose Gossage Award for the top reliever in each league. Clearly most of the voters valued saves far more highly than I did, although I did agree with the NL choice of Craig Kimbrel.

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BBA SELECTS KIMBREL, VALVERDE FOR GOOSE GOSSAGE AWARD

In earlier voting this postseason by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel won the Willie Mays Award for top rookie handily while the American League race for that award was much tighter.  With the Goose Gossage Award, handed out to the best reliever, Kimbrel got to see how the other half lives, at least somewhat.

Kimbrel beat Milwaukee’s John Axford by 13 points in the votes submitted by the National League voters of the Alliance, accumulating 78 points and garnering 12 first place votes.  Axford, on the other hand, received 65 points on the strength of seven first place selections.  Kimbrel’s bullpen teammate Johnny Venters was a very distant third with nine total points.

The race in the American League was a little more anti-climatic as Detroit closer Jose Valverde gained 13 first place votes on his way to a league-leading 74 point total.  Two New York Yankees followed him in the voting, with Mariano Rivera receiving four first place votes and 56 total points while David Robertson gained 39 points for third.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League
Jose Valverde, Detroit (13) 74
Mariano Rivera, New York (4) 56
David Robertson, New York (3) 39
Jonathan Papelbon, Boston (1) 21
Koji Uehara, Texas (1) 6
Alfredo Acevas, Boston (1) 5
Neftali Feliz, Texas 2
Greg Holland, Kansas City 2
Chris Perez, Cleveland 2
Brandon League, Seattle 1
Vinnie Pestano, Cleveland 1

National League
Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta (12) 78
John Axford, Milwaukee (7) 65
Johnny Venters, Atlanta (1) 9
Joel Hanrahan, Pittsburgh 8
JJ Putz, Arizona 7
Sean Marshall, Chicago 6
Heath Bell, San Diego 3
Tyler Clippard, Washington 3
Sergio Romo, San Francisco 1

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 316 blogs spanning all 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot. Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in all but two instances in the past two years. This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first through third place. In the interest of transparency, links are given below for the ballots. Chapter affiliation is in parenthesis.  Those chapters that decided on the group method are noted with an asterisk.

American League
Baltimore Sports and Life (Baltimore)
Baseball Is My Boyfriend (Texas)*
Baseball North (Toronto)
Boston Red Thoughts (Boston)*
Contract Year (Oakland)*
The Flagrant Fan (General)
Kings of Kauffman (Kansas City)*
Lady At The Bat (New York)
Misc. Baseball (History)
Motor City Bengals (Detroit)
North Dakota Twins Fan (Minnesota)
The Rays Rant (Tampa Bay)
Seattle Mariners Musings (Seattle)
Seedlings To Stars (Other)
Some Thoughts On Baseball (Toronto)
Tigers Amateur Analysis (Detroit)
The Tribe Daily (Cleveland)*
Twins On Twins (Minnesota)

National League
Appy Astros (Houston)
Blog Red Machine (Cincinnati)
Cincinnati Reds Blog (Cincinnati)
Dugger Sports (Philadelphia)
The Eddie Kranepool Society (New York)*
The Flagrant Fan (General)
Misc. Baseball (History)
On The Outside Corner (St. Louis)
Phils Baseball (Philadelphia)
Prose and Ivy (Chicago)*
Raise The Jolly Roger (Pittsburgh)
RJ’s Fro (San Diego)
Rockies Woman (Colorado)
22 Gigantes (San Francisco)
Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (Other)
Websoulsurfer (San Diego)
Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? (Pittsburgh)

Prior Winners: 2010: Rafael Soriano, Tampa Bay; Brian Wilson, San Francisco

The official website of the BBA is located at baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com. The BBA can be found on Twitter by the handle @baseballblogs and by the hashmark #bbba.  For more information, contact Daniel Shoptaw at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.

Willie Mays Award for Best Rookie

So the Baseball Bloggers Alliance has actually already handed out this award, so I'm a little late to the party.  Still, I wanted to share my would-have-been ballot for who deserved each award.

AMERICAN LEAGUE


1. Eric Hosmer, KC
2. Michael Pineda, SEA
3. Jeremy Hellickson, TB

Hosmer and Trumbo were clearly the best of the position players, at least in my opinion.  Hosmer's superior batting average and plate discipline numbers gave him the edge, in addition to Trumbo's huge advantage on defense likely not being an accurate measure of each player's performance in the field.  The three pitches--Pineda, Hellickson, and Ogando--are very closely grouped.  Pineda and Ogando have better peripherals, while Hellickson had better results (i.e. ERA and WHIP).  Pineda's strikeout rate was enough to overcome that, while Ogando's was not.

Also considered: Alexi Ogando (TEX)*, Mark Trumbo (LAA), Ivan Nova (NYY)


NATIONAL LEAGUE


1. Craig Kimbrel, ATL
2. Danny Espinosa, WAS
3. Freddie Freeman, ATL

I have a hard time voting for a reliever over an everyday player, but Kimbrel's dominance was unmatched, as noted by his appearance at the top of my ballot for the best NL reliever.  When you're the top player at your position, that's grounds for the rookie of the year award.  Most people have Freeman over Espinosa for the second position, but I don't agree.  They have similar counting numbers, but Freeman has the better triple-slash while Espinosa played much better defense at a more difficult position.  I gave Espinosa the edge.

Also considered: Brandon Beachy (ATL), Wilson Ramos (WAS), Cory Luebke (SD), Vance Worley (PHI)


*Ogando is not eligible for the Rookie of the Year award.  I mistakenly included him as a consideration.

Goose Gossage Award for Best Reliever

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance has started handing out their awards for the 2011 season.  Up next is the Goose Gossage Award for the top reliever in each league.  As a member of the BBA, I thought I'd share my ballot for the award.  My vote will only count for the American League, as I'm a member of the Minnesota Twins chapter, but I've outlined my thoughts on both.


AMERICAN LEAGUE


1. Mariano Rivera, NYY
2. Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
3. Koji Uehara, BAL/TEX

Believe me, I did not give this to Rivera on reputation.  He earned it once again (I realize he actually did not win it last year, he finished third) with a sparkling season.  With nearly one strikeout per inning and impeccable control, Rivera totaled 7.5 strikeouts for every walk.  He recorded a a 1.91 ERA (4th), a 0.90 WHIP (2nd), and a 2.19 FIP (3rd) to round out another phenomenal campaign at age 41.

Papelbon was a close 2nd, as he exhibited similar control but showed a much greater ability to miss bats, striking out 12.17 batter per nine innings.  His WHIP was also quite comparable, coming in at 0.93, but due to some worse luck he had an ERA of 2.94.  Unfortunately for him, luck is part of the equation, so he gets the runner-up position.

I don't think anyone will quibble with Rivera and Papelbon being on the ballot, but I'm a little worried people won't be as accepting of Uehara.  He doesn't have the saves that Rivera and Papelbon do, but otherwise he's not far behind.  Another guy who showed pinpoint control and still missed a bunch of bats, Uehara actually had the highest K/BB rate in the league (a ridiculous 9.44).  He gave up a ton of homers, even more than you'd expect from a fly-ball pitcher such as himself, but he balanced that out with good luck in the BABIP department (.196).  All in all, his zesty K/BB rate and league-best WHIP of 0.72 were too much to overlook.

Also considered: David Robertson (NYY), Daniel Bard (BOS)



NATIONAL LEAGUE


1. Craig Kimbrel, ATL
2. Tyler Clippard, WAS
3. Sean Marshall, CHC

Kimbrel has already claimed the BBA's Willie Mays Award for the league's top rookie, and now he should add the Goose Gossage Award to his mantle.  His sky-high strikeout rate (14.84/9) was second to Kenley Jansen, and, while his control was never his strong suit, he averaged almost 4 strikeouts for every walk.  Combining that with a solid ground ball rate (44.8 %) allowed Kimbrel to lead the NL in both FIP and xFIP. As long as his ERA (2.10) and WHIP (1.04) were reasonable--and they were better than reasonable--that was a recipe for winning this award.

Clippard may not find his way on to many ballots because he isn't as big a name as closers such as John Axford and Joel Hanrahan (who had very good years in their own rights), but if you don't overvalue saves, he's right there with the best relievers.  He led the league in WPA despite not recording a single save, posted 4 strikeouts for every walk.  In addition his WHIP topped all other NL relievers and his ERA was third among that group.  Critics will point to his infinitesimal ground ball rate (20.2 %) and his unsustainable BABIP (.197), but I think the facts I already offered outweigh those two factors.

Marshall is another non-closer who pitched very well for a bad team, meaning he may not get much recognition here, even though he should.  While he doesn't top any single category, he rates very highly across the board.  He topped one strikeout per inning, kept his walk rate very low, induced a high number of ground balls, and kept runners off the bases and prevented runs from scoring.

Also considered: Rafael Betancourt (COL), Jonny Venters (ATL), Joel Hanrahan (PIT), John Axford (MIL), Eric O'Flaherty (ATL), J.J. Putz (ARI)

2010 Awards

Only about 8 months late, so nobody's interested.  But I'm doing them for my own sake.

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, Texas

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee, Seattle/Texas

AL Relief Pitcher of the Year: Joaquin Benoit, Tampa Bay

AL Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, Detroit



NL MVP: Joey Votto, Cincinnati

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia

NL Relief Pitcher of the Year: Billy Wagner, Atlanta

NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, Atlanta