2011 MLB Player of The Year

The Ryan Dugan Player Of The Year is selected based on a players previous career statistics, overall team performance, and his potential to repeat the same level of athleticism in 2011, as he has over the rest of his career. I have to pick a man who is not only a team player, but a team leader. The player who most directly affects his team’s successes as a result of his individual performance. As Bob Costas once said “Unlike other sports where a team can continually give the ball to their best player, baseball is different. Babe Ruth, the greatest individual ever to play the game, only came to the plate once every nine times. It’s the individual within the context of the team that makes the game great.”

In the history of modern games, baseball may be the greatest example of a team sport. This makes it very difficult for me to select just one person who not only rises above the rest, but concurrently, elevates his team.

Traditionally I begin my process of selecting this one player by first eliminating positions, and situational players. Starting pitchers are usually the first to be eliminated simply because they work only once every five days, and its difficult for such a player to have great day-to-day impact on a teams overall successes. In fact, on this, the 12th anniversary of the Player Of The Year, only four times has a pitcher won the distinction, and only twice has it been a starting pitcher.

This past February, I was influenced tremendously by MLB-TV’s “Top 100 Players In The Game Today”. The top 100 MLB-players were broken down into a television series, where analysts and MLB-TV personalities ranked the best in baseball going into the 2011 season. I enjoyed their countdown immensely and agreed with most of it. (Although I would have ranked some of the players in slightly different order.) I used their top three finalists as a starting point to select my Player of the Year. Their three finalist were: 1. Albert Pujols, 2. Roy Halladay, and 3. Joe Mauer, in that order. I too finalized my “Player of The Year” pick down to these same three players, asking myself, which of the three affects his team the most dramatically?

My answer, and my 2011 Ryan J. Dugan Player of The Year: Minnesota Twins Joe Mauer.

I have already projected the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL East. And I believe their starting pitching is so good, they could win the division with or without Roy Halladay. The St Louis Cardinals are going to get tremendous contributions from Albert Pujols this season, as they always do. And I have still projected St Louis to finish a distant third with or without Albert Pujols.

But, if the Twins were to lose Joe Mauer for any extended period of time, the Twins would drastically fall out of the AL Central playoff pitcher. Joe Mauer is a text book example of what I look for in a player of the year. He most drastically affects his teams successes. His contributions both offensively and especially defensively are invaluable to Minnesota!

Mauer has a .327 lifetime batting average in seven seasons. He has finished in the top ten in MVP voting in four in those seven seasons, winning it in 2009. But Mauer’s most critical contributions can be found defensively. He is arguably the best catcher in baseball today. His management of the pitching staff, and his leadership contributions make him the best of the best.

Joe Mauer is my guy in 2011! The Ryan Dugan Player of The Year.

The Player Of The Year Alumni

2000 Marino Rivera New York Yankees
2001 Pedro Martinez Boston Red Sox
2002 Jason Giambi Oakland Athletics
2003 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2004 Ivan Rodriguez Florida Marlins
2005 Hideki Matsui New York Yankees
2006 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2007 Johan Santana Minnesota Twins
2008 Matt Holliday Colorado Rockies
2009 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2010 Marino Rivera New York Yankees
2011 Joe Mauer Minnesota Twins

Manny "The Ass Clown" Ramirez

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Since the time that I was just a boy, my uncle G.T. has expressed a strong desire to some day plan a trip to Cooperstown New York. Once there, our destination would be the Baseball Hall of Fame. In the Hall of Fames main concourse, the plan would then be to scout out the plaque of former Yankee, and stolen base king Rickey Henderson. Then the plan would evolve into befouling his plaque in a urinary relief exercise. (He wants to piss on Rickey’s plaque in layman's terms.) I, for one, have never fully understood my uncle’s horrid despise for Rickey. I had yet to become a huge Yankee fan in the late 1980’s when Rickey was in New York. But I’m sure my uncle was never a fan of Rickey’s flamboyant ego during his playing days. I also know that Rickey’s Yankee years surround controversy over his health. Rickey had a reputation , weather true or not, of faking injuries from time to time. Whatever my uncle’s reasons, I’m sure they are valid and legit enough for him to plan this trip.

Personally, I am all for it!

Not because I want to befoul Rickey’s plaque too. But rather because I have my own Cooperstown agenda!

I recently proposed to my uncle, that if he were to go to Cooperstown and befoul Rickey’s plaque, I would, at the same time, find the plaque of Manny “The Ass-Clown” Ramirez, and befoul his simultaneously. Now this trip is at least a few years off. It is souly based on the assumption that Manny will make the Hall-of-Fame. Which based on his steroid controversy, may keep him out. (One can only pray!)

The Los Angeles Dodgers were truly blessed the day they finally ridded themselves of Manny! Ramirez the former power hitting Red Sox slugger has spent the last two seasons in self-proclaimed Manny-Wood, aka Los Angeles California. The Dodgers had finally seen enough of Manny’s shenanigans, and traded him to Chicago the end of last year. This past winter, Manny signed with Tampa, and I project that the Rays will cut him too before the 2011 season ends. Manny deliberately had himself ejected in his last game as a Dodger last season. He quit on the Boston Red Sox, he quit on the Dodgers, he barely showed up for the White Sox. (One homerun and two Ribs in 24 games.) Now he starts a new season of stupidity in Tampa. The difference is now, Manny is in the twilight of his career. His age requires him to tread water twice as fast as everyone else, just to stay afloat. Trouble is that everything in Manny’s life has come easy and natural to him. Now that he has to maintain health, physical endurance, and stamina, without the God-given gift of a 20-year-old body, he will quickly lose interest, and resort to toxic distractions. I half hope that Manny does make the Hall of Fame. Just so I have something that represents him that I can use as a urinal!