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.

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.

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

AL MVP. And The Winner Is...

My duties as a member of the BBA include casting votes for all the major annual awards, and no award in all of sports is more major than the coveted title of MVP.

The BBA voting is set-up essentially like the "real" voting:

• Votes are made for the top 10 candidates in a weighted vote (ie. first place votes get 10 pts, second place 9 pts, and so on).
• MVP is awarded for a plethora of reasons- not always based solely on statistical standings. Other factors to be considered include, overall value to team, versatility, and sportsmanship.

Now, with a little help from my buddy Prof from over at Rays Index, here are Rays The Stakes' votes for the 2009 AL MVP (in reverse order):

10. Miguel Cabrera (1B, Detroit). Miggy put together another great season, posting 34 doubles and 34 homers to go with his 103 RBI, .324 BA, and .396 OBP

9. Zack Greinke (P, Kansas City). I don't generally consider pitchers eligible but Greinke was more valuable to his team than any other player in the league (don't believe me? His WAR (wins above replacement ) was 9.4)

8. Jason Bartlett (SS, Tampa Bay). As someone who covers the Rays I got to witness JB's magic on a nearly daily basis, and let me assure you these numbers aren't fluky: Jason had 29 doubles to go with his 30 stolen bases and his .320 BA, .389 OBP, and .879 OPS. Bartlett also played great defense from the SS position (it helps to have Longoria eating up space to your right, I'm sure), earning himself a .962 fielding percentage.

7. Kevin Youkilis (1B, Boston). Youk has shown versatility all season, playing on both corners of the infield as well as playing some outfield if necessary. Youkilis posted good numbers this season; 36 doubles, 27 HR, and 94 RBI. He also posted an OPS of .961.

6. Alex Rodriguez (3B, New York). A-Rod missed a portion of the season, and to be quite honest nearly missed this list, but The Prof from Rays Index convinced me that he belonged, reminding me that: "the Yankees were 13-15 before he made his debut on May 8th. They were a team in big trouble at that point. They went 90-44 after that, with A-Rod putting up very good numbers while playing on a hip that might still need surgery." Point well taken- A-Rod slides in at number 6.

5. Chone Figgins (3B, Los Angeles). Figgins garnered a lot of attention this season (convenient considering it's a contract year) and earned a place on the list with impressive numbers: 30 doubles, 42 steals, .298 BA, and .395 OBP. Figgins also managed to finish with a .968 fielding percentage from the hot-corner. His WAR was solid at 5.9, as well.

4. Derek Jeter (SS, New York). Jeter is the prototypical baseball player; a good clubhouse guy, plays the game the right way, is consistently one of the best players in the league, breaks decades old records every year, and does it all with a smile. What a shame that he plays for New York. Jeter finished the year with another impressive stat line: .334 BA, .406 OBP, .871 OPS, and even at the ripe old age of 35 he still managed to record 30 stolen bases (his most since 2006 (34)).

And the Big Three (drumroll please)...

3. Ben Zobrist (Everywhere, Tampa Bay). Zobrist has single-handedly redefined the term utility player. Zorilla is th edefinition of versitile as he can be a legitimate starter at 5 different positions, and played at least one game at not 4 or 5 but 7 different positions this season (that's all of them folks (except catcher/pitcher of course). Zobrist tallied 28 doubles to go with his 27 HR's and his 91 RBI. Zorilla put together a decent batting line; .260 BA, .346 OBP, and an OPS of .948. His 8.5 WAR was the highest of any position player in the majors (even Pujols).

2. Mark Teixeira (1B, New York). Tex finished the regular season with 43 doubles and tied for the league lead with 39 HR's (Carlos Pena), he also amassed a league-leading 122 RBI, all while maintaining a .292 BA, a .383 OBP, and an OPS of .948. Mark also led the league in total bases for the second time in his career (2005) with 344. Tex has been a major cog in the Yankees wheel and I'm nearly certain they wouldn't be on the cusp of World Series birth without him. And remember kids, I before E except in Teixeira.

And the winner is:

1. Joe Mauer (C, Minnesota). Mauer has amazed everyone with his performances both beside and behind home plate this season. Mauer led the league in batting average almost from the start of the season and finished with a league-leading .365 BA to go along with his league-leading OBP (.444), league-leading SLG (.587), and his league-leading OPS(1.031)... well, you get the hint. Mauer was a near lock for the MVP by August 1st, and he didn't disappoint. Congratulations Joe on a season well played!

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*other players receiving consideration for the top 10 included: Gutierrez, Halladay, Crawford, Morneau, and Longoria.

The Votes Are In...

So the BBA votes for AL Rookie of the Year are in and I couldn't disagree more with the votes of my BBA brethren.

I find it nearly impossible to bestow the award on a closer, much less a closer who only worked 26 games, but alas, that's why they vote instead of just asking me what they should do (although that might've helped during the presidential election too, but i digress).

Furthermore, despite having the least impressive stats of the bunch, a certain Texas SS garnered enough votes for third place, while the most statistically efficient pitcher missed the cut.

Oh yeah, and McCutchen won the NL vote... talk about a no-brainer.

At any rate, here's the BBA Press Release (the link to my votes with explanations follow):

Bailey, McCutchen Chosen As Rookie of the Year By Baseball Bloggers Alliance

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance announced today that Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics and Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates were selected in a vote of the membership as American League and National League Rookies of the Year.
Bailey, who stepped into Oakland's closer role and recorded 26 saves with a sparkling 1.84 ERA, garnered seven of the nineteen first-place votes from the participating BBA blogs and a total of 48 points overall. Rick Porcello, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers in the tie-breaking playoff game versus the Minnesota Twins to culminate a strong season, finished second with four first-place selections and 36 total points.
"Even if Bailey hadn't been bestowed with the closer role, those numbers out of the pen put him amongst the elite late inning pitchers," stated the bloggers at The Tao of Stieb. "Too bad he plays for Oakland and has a generic name--he should be as famous as Joba [Chamberlain]," noted Lisa at Subway Squawkers.
McCutchen started the year at AAA, but was called to the majors in June and made an immediate impact. His blend of power and speed were reflected in his twelve home runs and 22 steals in roughly a half season of work.
McCutchen received twelve of the twenty first place votes on his way to 65 points overall. Atlanta Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson was the runner-up with 50 points, including five first place nods.
"The sky is the limit for McCutchen and I think the Bucs have something special with him," opined Jim at the Pirate blog North Side Notch. Larry at Wezen-Ball concurred, saying "[H]e gave the Pittsburgh crowd something to root for all season, with strong defense and a great campaign as a leadoff hitter."

The complete voting results are as follows (first-place votes in parenthesis):
American League
Andrew Bailey, Oakland (9) 48
Rick Porcello, Detroit (4) 36
Elvis Andrus, Texas (3) 28

honorable mentions:
Jeff Niemann, Tampa Bay (2) 21
Matt Wieters, Baltimore (1) 13
Gordon Beckham, Chicago (1) 9
Brett Anderson, Oakland (1) 8
Noland Reimold, Baltimore 8

National League
Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh (12) 65
Tommy Hanson, Atlanta (5) 50
J.A. Happ, Philadelphia (1) 27

honorable mentions:
Chris Coghlan, Florida (2) 20
Randy Wells, Chicago 10
Garrett Jones, Pittsburgh 6
Casey McGehee, Milwaukee 2
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Check out Rays The Stakes' take on AL R.O.Y.

TRACY, SCIOSCIA NAMED BBA MANAGERS OF THE YEAR

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance named their inaugural Managers of the Year today, selecting Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies as the best managers in their respective leagues.

Scioscia, who lead the Angels to the American League West division title and into the American League Championship Series despite the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart early in the season, garnered eight first-place votes and 58 total points from twenty ballots cast by bloggers from across baseball.
“Scioscia found a way to keep this team together at every single defining point of the season,” said Joe at Motor City Bengals. Ian at The Blue Jay Hunter agreed, stating, “Scioscia is the cream of the crop when it comes to managers in the American League. ”

Scioscia and the Angels fashioned a 97-65 record in 2009, winning the AL West by 10 games over the Texas Rangers. Ron Gardenhire, who led the Minnesota Twins to a comeback over the Detroit Tigers to take the AL Central crown, received 46 points and six first-place votes. The skipper of the Rangers, Ron Washington, placed third with 30 points and two-first place votes.
Tracy, in comparison, was not even a manager at the beginning of the season, taking over for Clint Hurdle when the Rockies struggled out of the gate. The change in leadership sparked an almost immediate turnaround in team fortunes, as they charged back to respectability and beyond, locking up the National League Wild Card and were not eliminated from the NL West divisional title until the last weekend of the season. The Rockies were bounced from the playoffs by the Philadelphia Phillies in four games.

Tracy was the overwhelming selection of the nineteen bloggers who cast National League ballots. He received fifteen first-place votes and 84 points overall. St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa was a distant second, with 27 total points and one first-place selection.
“Jim Tracy not only had his players buy into his system, but he also helped them buy into themselves as a ballclub,” said Jim at Bernie's Crew. “I have no idea how he managed to create that spark, nor was I happy about it happening, but it’s hard to argue with the facts”, added Brian at Raise the Jolly Roger.

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

American League
Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles (8) 58
Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota (6) 46
Ron Washington, Texas (2) 30
Don Wakamatsu, Seattle (4) 29
Joe Girardi, New York 8
Terry Francona, Boston 4
Jim Leyland, Detroit 4

National League
Jim Tracy, Colorado (15) 84
Tony LaRussa, St. Louis (1) 27
Bruce Bochy, San Francisco (1) 20
Freddi Gonzalez, Florida (1) 20
Joe Torre, Los Angeles 9
Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia (1) 7
Bud Black, San Diego 3
Bobby Cox, Atlanta 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 82 blogs spanning 28 of the 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. Those blogs that are not dedicated to a specific team are allowed to vote on either the American League or National League award, but not both.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first, second and third.

Here is the link to Rays The Stakes' vote post. AL MOY.

Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know.

AL Manager of the Year

One of the duties/privileges of being a member of the BBA is that you get to cast votes for the major awards at the end of the season (and people actually count them... crazy, I know).

The first award of the year is AL Manager of the Year.

Honorable Mentions:

Joe Girardi
Jim Leyland
Terry Francona

We've ranked the top 3 in the following (reverse) order:

3. Ron Washington

Washington had to deal with injuries and scandals (both related in some way to Josh Hamilton (former Devil Ray)), and had a mediocre team playing very well and competing for a playoff spot as late as mid-September.

2. Mike Scioscia

Scioscia is a wizard. I've heard the whole AL West is a breeze argument, but year in and year out Mike has his guys ready to roll into the post-season. A great manager surrounded by great talent.

and the winner is (drumroll please):

1. Ron Gardenhire

Gardenhire has put together a great line-up, and was able to win games when it mattered as his Twins chased down, and ultimately beat the Detroit Tigers to win the AL Central. A manager who can help his team win down the stretch when every pitching change/match-up matters is what qualifies him for manager of the year in my books.
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*side note in regard to our very own Joe Maddon: In my rankings he fell somewhere around the 10 to 12 range... his bullpen decisions, and occasionally ridiculous rest-days for starters really cost him and ultimately the Rays.

Baseball Bloggers Alliance

Over the past month or so Daniel Shoptaw of C70 At The Bat, has been working extremely hard at putting together a network of baseball blogs.

His hard work is paying off; by bringing at least 2 blogs representing each major league team into the fold Daniel has indeed created a vast database of MLB blogs which was designed to promote cross-communication between the bloggers as a means of enriching each member's content.

An obvious byproduct of this network is that the faithful blog readers of enlisted blogs will benefit form the expanded knowledge/contacts of the blog writers.

Several members of what is being termed the BBA (baseball bloggers alliance) have also come together to create a BBA website as an arena for all the alliance bloggers to post hot topic pieces or pieces of interest.

Rays the Stakes is a proud member of the BBA, and joins Rays All Day (which I had previously not been aware of) as the BBA representatives of our Tampa Bay Rays.

You can check out the BBA website here.
You can also use the link to the BBA which has been added to the sidebar.