The 2007 Major League Baseball awards week is about to kick off. Monday MLB will announce the Rookie Of The Year Award in both Leagues, Tuesday will be the AL Cy Young Award, Wednesday will be the Managers of the Year, Thursday NL Cy Young, and then next week, just before the Holiday the MVP awards will be announced.
It's the time of year when baseball writer’s get together and critique, evaluate and assess baseball’s most covenanted possession, its numbers. These writing men and women of suits and laptops judge players on their already accomplished feats. Those men and women consistently looking awkward on the baseball diamond before and after the game, find their niche within the pastime and attribute praise to it.
(I must remember jealousy will get me nowhere!)
Any who, 2007 looks to be pretty cut and dry when it comes to handing out the games most sought after awards. I doubt there will be any big surprises over the next two weeks. Allow me to do some predicting, so I can be wrong as always.
AL Rookie- Dustin Pedroia
Red Sox Nation’s new lover! Especially now that reports have been released that Pedroia played his final games of the season with a broken wrist. He already had the reputation of a pesky pain in the rear for opposing pitchers, but now he is a New England hero too! Hitting lead off down the stretch for Boston, Dustin was as much a part of the Sox second World Series title in four years as anyone.
NL Rookie- Troy Tulowitzki
Already being compared to Cal Ripken Jr., Troy is heavily favored to bring Colorado only its second ROY award in team history. Troy has tremendous range at shortstop, and committed only 11 errors in 155 games this season. In addition to his remarkable play at short, Troy handled the bat pretty well too. He hit .291 with 24 Homers and 99 RBIs. Tulowitzki kept himself busy too whenever striking out in a game. Troy would work out in the clubhouse between innings as punishment for not putting the ball in play. With tremendous offensive numbers for a National League shortstop in addition to great defense and a positive work ethic, Troy is the favorite to win the award in a few short hours from when I am typing this.
AL Cy Young- Josh Beckett
This is one of the few awards that could surprise me, but I doubt it will. Voting the Cy Young is allegedly done before the post season. However no one had a better season or post season then that of Red Sox Ace Josh Beckett. The games only 20 win starter, Josh won his 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th when it counted the most, in October. His 3.27 ERA in the American League wasn’t too shabby either. C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians could give Josh a little voting competition for the Award, but at the end of the day Tuesday, Josh will have his first career Cy Young.
AL Manager- Terry Francona
It isn’t often that the winning manager of the World Series wins the Manager Of The Year award. In fact it has only happened for three managers in the last ten years. (Ozzie Gullien, Jim Leyland, Jack Mckeon) However no other manager has done a better job in the American League in 2007. With a crazy mix of players, Terry keeps is clubhouse fun, and his attitude positive each and every day, in the second most difficult market in all of baseball.
NL Manager- Clint Hurdle
This is the one I am sure of! How could Clint not win the award based on what he has accomplished this season in Denver. In this, Clint’s sixth season in Colorado, he is the first Rockies manager to win 90 games. Clint and the Rockies had not even finished within ten games of .500 in each of the last five years. Leading a team that is 25th in all of baseball in overall salary, Hurdle could have given up years ago, and no one would have though the lesser of him. Yet this September something finally clicked. Hovering around .500 all year, Hurdle’s team played all the way into the Fall Classic by winning 22 of their last 23 in the regular season games. With great pose, and never say die attitude, Hurdle is the prime candidate in the NL for Manager Of The Year Honors.
NL Cy Young- Jake Peavy
Leading the National League in wins and in ERA this is the favorite to win the Cy Young. Finishing with 19 victories it’s ironic that his 20th win would have sent his team to the post season. Regardless his inadequacy, his season should not be scrutinized because of one poor game. Without Peavy, the Padres would have fallen well short of the Post Season, instead of only one game short. He is a leader of the Padres rotation and team itself. I just hope the Yankees can trade for him, and not have to give up any prospects!
AL MVP -Alex Rodriguez
Despite his cries of, “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!” during game four of the World Series, and his incredible lack of intelligence off the field, his arrogance, greed and disrespect, his offensive numbers in 2007 are off the charts! Evaluating only his endeavors between the base lines, A-Rod had a monster offensive season. He is the favorite for the MVP by a country mile! But I simply can’t write another decent thing about the money grubbing careless jock! His conduct off the field robs him of his true potential.
NL MVP- Jimmy Rollins
This is another tough prediction! I could see Matt Holliday beating Rollins out for NL MVP. But if he does, it is wrong! After all Justin Morneu beat out Derek Jeter last season in the same category, and that was wrong then too! Rollins and Holliday have even numbers, and there importance to their respective teams is equal. But the major variation can be found in Rollins’s near flawless defense at the third most important defensive position in the field. Jimmy Hit .296 with 30 homers and 94 RBIs as a lead off hitter! But the most amazing stat is only 11 errors in all 162 games for the Phillies this year! Rollins played flawless defense and hit for power at the top of the batting order in each and every game for the Phillies this year!
Well that is my story and those are my picks! I am no different then every other die-hard baseball fan in November. Struggling for any kind of worthy baseball news!
For the next two weeks, the MLB Awards are the next best thing to baseball itself.
