Niemann Takes Fourth

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of voting for the BBA's rookie of the year awards; if you'll remember I voted for Tampa's own Jeff Niemann, but in the end he finished 4th (behind Bailey, Porcello, and Andrus respectively), despite my poignant statistical evidence that Niemann's performance proved to be the most deserving of the award.

Check out my reasoning here.

Well, it turns out that the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BWAA) agreed (for the most part) with the sentiments of the BBA, giving the award to Bailey, followed by Andrus, Porcello, and Niemann in a distant fourth.

All four players had stellar seasons, but I still feel as if Andrus was a media darling who only received so many looks based on how often his name was bandied about by the mainstream media, but I digress.

Congrats to Niemann and all of he finalists.

What About Bronze?

Evan Longoria received his first Gold Glove Award earlier this week, and now has been honored with a Silver Slugger Award.

What is a Silver Slugger Award? Its an award given to the best offensive player at each position from both leagues. What makes this award valid is the fact that its voted on by the managers and coaches (they may not vote for players on their own squad).

Longoria finished the 2009 campaign with 113 RBI and 33 homeruns (shhh, don't tell anyone how many GIDP's he had (27)).

Dirtbag is the youngest third baseman to receive the award, and the second Tampa Bay player (Carlos Pena).

So what's next, the Bronze Belt Buckle Award?

Congrats Mr D.!

Dirtbag's Shiny Glove

According to AP reports Evan Longoria has officially won his first Gold Glove Award. I'll go way out on a limb and assume that it will not be his last.

The interesting aspect of Longoria winning the award is that I feel that he was far from his best this season, so if that's all it takes to garner a Gold Glove then so-be-it, he better start erecting a wing in his home for those awards which are forthcoming.

Longo was joined by Jeter, Teixeira, Ichiro, Hunter, Adam Jones, Palanco, Buehrle, and Mauer in receiving the award.

Congrats Evan!

Rays Exercise CC's Option

Not a huge surprise, but the Rays have exercised their option on CC and his $10M salary for the 2010 season.

CC has been the heart of the young organization; owning the franchise marks in hits, AB's, SB's, runs, RBI, and triples, and of course games played.

Much speculation has been made as to whether or not the Rays will still try ot move him during the offseason or at some point during the first half of next season (depending greatly on whether or not the Rays are in contention in 2010).

Rays Index sums it up fairly well here.

Other roster moves included declining the options of catcher Gregg Zaun and reliever Brian Shouse, neither of which came as a surprise, although many (myself included) would like to see the Rays bring Zaun back with a lower salary. The organization also pick-up Ramon Ramirez off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds

Sayonara, Akinora Iwamura

It's official. The Rays have traded infielder Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right-handed, relief pitcher, Jesse Chavez.

Chavez, 26, finished the 2009 season with an ERA of 4.01 while recording 47 K's and 22 BB's.

Chavez should have a legitimate chance at procuring a roster spot for the 2010 season.

By making the trade before the official end of the season the Rays saved around 1/2 million dollars.

I think in the long run that Ben Zobrist will end-up costing the Rays more, but in the short term this move seemed all but inevitable, especially considering that the Rays will have no choice but to continue to carry Burrell's inflated salary, as well as the $10M that Crawford is due.

Crawford Honored as Best Left Fielder

Carl Crawford has been voted as 2009's best left fielder according to The Fielding Bible Awards.

I wholeheartedly agree, and am pleased to see Crawford getting the love he deserves after a stellar season. In my humble opinion a Gold Glove is soon to follow.

Official Press Release (courtesy of The Heater):

Tampa Bay Rays veteran Carl Crawford won the 2009 Fielding Bible Award for left field in an announcement made November 1, 2009, in The Bill James Handbook 2010. This is Crawford's third Fielding Bible Award.

Crawford, who received an almost-perfect score, was chosen by a panel of ten experts, including Peter Gammons, Bill James, Joe Posnanski, and John Dewan, author of the new Fielding Bible—Volume II. In granting the award to Crawford, Dewan wrote: “This was no contest. No player has ever won with a perfect record (10 first-place votes from 10 panelists), but Carl came as close as possible with nine first place votes and one second. That's 99 points. (The best previously was 98 points by Adam Everett at shortstop in 2006.) If Crawford doesn't win his first Gold Glove this year, I'm going to throw up.”

Officially announced annually on November 1 (before any other fielding awards), the Fielding Bible Awards try to name the single best fielder at each of the nine positions (including pitcher) in the major leagues. This distinction came into play this year as Jack Wilson, who split his time between Pittsburgh and Seattle, won the Fielding Bible Award at shortstop. "It is almost impossible for a player who is traded between leagues during the season to win a Gold Glove," Dewan pointed out. "I predict that Wilson will not win a Gold Glove this year, even though our 10 judges voted him the best-fielding shortstop in Major League Baseball."

This year, National League players were chosen at three positions, American League players at five, and Wilson at shortstop. 2009 marks the fourth year of the award. First-baseman Albert Pujols of the Cardinals is the only player to have won a Fielding Bible Award four years in a row. Aaron Hill won over Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley at second base only after a tie-breaker was invoked. The complete voting results and further information are available in The Bill James Handbook 2010, published by ACTA Sports (www.ACTAsports.com).

The 2009 Fielding Bible Award winners are:

First Base—Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (fourth-time winner)
Second Base—Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays (second-time winner)
Third Base—Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals (first-time winner)
Shortstop—Jack Wilson, Pittsburgh Pirates/Seattle Mariners (first-time winner)
Left Field—Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays (third-time winner)
Center Field—Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners (second-time winner)
Right Field—Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners (second-time winner)
Catcher—Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals (third-time winner)
Pitcher—Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (first-time winner)

Free Jason Bartlett Autograph

**UPDATE (Oct 30)

Hey gang, get in while the gettin's good.
There's still time to win a Jason Bartlett Autographed card courtesy of Rays the Stakes and Sports Memorabilia.
Enter now.
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**UPDATE (Sept 19)
The entries keep rolling in, so get in while you still can- and tell your friends... its free.
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Rays the Stakes in conjunction with our good friends over at Sports Memorabilia are proud to announce some good news:

We are having a giveaway contest:

Win this Jason Bartlett Autographed Card (with C.O.A.)

THE CONTEST:

Send an email to raysthestakes@gmail.com telling us who you think will win this season's AL MVP award.

Everyone who correctly guesses the MVP will be entered into a random drawing to see who wins the Jason Bartlett autographed card from Rays The Stakes and Sports Memorabllia. Be sure to include your full name in your response.

Good Luck.

*Click here for more detailed info in regard to the card you could win.

Quick Reminder

Just a quick post to remind everyone that even though the posts have slowed down here at Rays The Stakes, you can still get all the baseball coverage you can handle by stopping over to the Baseball Bloggers Alliance website where you can find material on every major league team, from the Angels to the Yankees (man, I wish there were a team that started with a "Z")...





click image to check out the site.

Rays keep Kapler

I'm a late comer to this party because, to be honest, I wasn't sure what to think about the re-signing of Kapler.

A day has passed and I'm still not in love with the move, but I guess there's a reason why they don't run all of their roster decisions past me (although sometimes I wish they would).

Here's the gory details of the Rays/Kapler press release:

The Tampa Bay Rays have re-signed right-handed-hitting outfielder Gabe Kapler to a one-year major league contract.

Kapler, 34, appeared in 99 games at all three outfield positions for the Rays in 2009. He hit .239 (49-for-205) with eight home runs, 32 RBI, 15 doubles and five stolen bases. Against left-handed pitching, he hit .276 (40-for-145) with all eight home runs, 14 doubles, a .379 on-base pct., and more walks (26) than strikeouts (23). Over the last two seasons (2008-09), he hit .304 (69-for-227) against lefthanders with a .577 slugging pct., 11th best in the majors over that span.

Kapler has played parts of 11 major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1998-99), Texas Rangers (2000-02), Colorado Rockies (2002-03), Boston Red Sox (2004-06), Milwaukee Brewers (2008) and Rays (2009). He initially signed with the Rays as a free agent on January 12, 2009. He retired briefly from playing in 2007 to manage the Class-A Greenville Drive in the Red Sox organization.

The Hebrew Hammer will get an approximate $500K raise over the $1 million dollar salary he drew last season.

Meh.

BBA MVP Winners:

The votes are in, and the BBA (Baseball Bloggers Alliance) AL and NL Most Valuable Players of the 2009 MLB season have been announced.

You can check out how Rays The Stakes voted (with explanations) here.

Tampa Bay got a little love for a change, having had 5 players receive at least one vote, with 2 players (Zobrist and Longoria) finishing inside the top 10 in total votes. In total, 29 American League players received MVP votes, but the AL MVP was a unanimous decision among BBA voters.

Here is the official Press Release from the BBA:

Mauer, Pujols Named MVP By Baseball Bloggers Alliance

Catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and first baseman Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals were overwhelmingly named Most Valuable Player of their respective leagues by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, who completed their voting of major awards with this honor.
Mauer, who posted a 1.031 OPS and slugged 28 home runs while leading the Twins to the American League Central title, was a unanimous selection, gaining a first place nod on each of the seventeen blogs that cast an AL ballot. His 221 points dwarfed his nearest competition, both New York Yankees. First baseman Mark Teixeira received 115 points while shortstop Derek Jeter was third with 101.
Shelly from Seamheads wrote, "Mr. Mauer is a monster with the bat, smooth with the leather, and has proved over the last couple of years to be the rock his team leans on for guidance and leadership." Kevin at DMB Historic World Series Replay pondered, "Imagine the numbers he might put up if he wasn't a catcher!"

Due to more ballots being cast, Pujols was able to put up a higher vote total than Mauer, even though his selection wasn't unanimous. The first baseman, who put up a 1.101 OPS while smoking 47 home runs, was named first on twenty of the 21 National League ballots submitted for 269 total points. Pitcher Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants was the only other National League player to receive a first place selection.
Runners-up to Pujols in the National League race were Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez (164 points) and Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder (145 points).
Jim from Bernie's Crew asked the rhetorical question, "Do I really need to explain why Albert Pujols is your 2009 Most Valuable Player in the National League?" Jim from North Side Notch agreed, saying, "This guy is super-human."

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

American League
Joe Mauer, Minnesota (18) 221
Mark Teixeira, New York 115
Derek Jeter, New York 101
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit 96
Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay 74
Kendry Morales, Los Angeles of Anaheim 64
Kevin Youkilis, Boston 44
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay 36
Zack Greinke, Kansas City 35
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle 29
Aaron Hill, Toronto 25
Alex Rodriguez, New York 23
Jason Bay, Boston 22
Chone Figgins, Los Angeles of Anaheim 20
Adam Lind, Toronto 11
Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle 10
CC Sabathia, New York 10
Dustin Pedroia, Boston 9
Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay 7
Bobby Abreu, Los Angeles of Anaheim 6
Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston 5
Robinson Cano, New York 4
Jason Kubel, Minnesota 4
Justin Morneau, Minnesota 4
Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay 3
Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota 3
Marlon Byrd, Texas 2
Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland 2
Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay 1

National League
Albert Pujols, St. Louis (20) 269
Hanley Ramirez, Florida 164
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee 145
Chase Utley, Philadelphia 110
Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado 76
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia 71
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco (1) 67
Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego 66
Ryan Zimmerman, Washington 50
Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco 42
Matt Kemp, Los Angeles 34
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee 32
Derrek Lee, Chicago 29
Andre Ethier, Los Angeles 22
Javier Vazquez, Atlanta 11
Mark Reynolds, Arizona 9
Matt Holliday, St. Louis 5
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis 5
Joey Votto, Cincinnati 4
Dan Haren, Arizona 3
Jayson Werth, Philadelphia 2
Chris Carpenter, St. Louis 1
Miguel Tejada, Houston 1