Pitcher perfect – By Joe Pugliese
AL MVP is considered a two dog race between the veteran slugger for Detroit Miguel Cabrera and the young rookie phoneme in LA Mike Trout. Mike Trout already has a ROY and possible Gold Glove and Silver Slugger all locked up in his first season.
However, I cannot give him the MVP simply because the Angels are not a playoff team. His numbers are ridiculous for a rookie hitting .321 with 29 homeruns and 79 RBIS as well as 47 stolen bases.
Cabrera, on the other hand, is having an all-time great year and currently holds the Triple Crown with a .327 avg 43 homeruns and 136 RBIS. The last Triple Crown winner was Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, and Cabrera would be only the 15th player ever to accomplish that feat.
My NL MVP is tough because there are few, besides Braun who is having a worldly year. However, Braun is not on a playoff team so I take him out of the equation.
I was caught between two catchers, actually: Yadier Molina and Buster Poesy. When you compare the numbers side-by-side, Posey has the edge in every category. With hitting .334 with 22 home runs and 100 RBIS, as well as a .407 on base from the catchers position, he’s having a tremendous year and I have to go with him. He has a slight edge over Molina, who is hitting .322 with 22 homeruns and 75 RBIs.
Th AL CY Young race is airtight and no matter what, someone will not like my choice. I want to say David Price, Justin Verlander and Jared Weaver are all having excellent years, but I have to go with Fernando Rodney on this one.
Yes, I’m picking a closer for CY Young. In case you didn’t know, in 73 innings Rodney has a ridiculous ERA of .62. He has 46 saves and having only given up five ERs all year he has a .77 whip. There might never be a season like his again from a closer. Kimbrel is having a good one, but Rodney has literally been the definition of the word closer.
Now here’s my moment to be a fan as well as a writer. The NL CY Young is R.A. Dickey. Gio Gonzalez, Clayton Kershaw and Kimbrel have all had fantastic years, but you look at the numbers and see they all have stats that are in the top 10 in their categories.
Dickey is top three in every category. He leads the NL in Innings, Strikeouts, Shutouts, Complete Games; He is second in Wins, WHIP, ERA, Win Percentage as well as WAR. How about two 1-hitters and a record setting stretch of dominance early in the year to match those numbers?
And he is a Knuckleballer. He is pitching with control and precision never before seen and he’s the only one who throws the knuckle ball in any level of professional ball. No Knuckleballer, not even hall of famer Phil Niekro, has ever won the CY Young award. At age 37 Dickey will win it because he is not only the best pitcher in the league but the best story in the league.
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Close, but not closer – Justin Franiak
With the MLB season coming to a close, the swirl of MLB awards starts. This year’s Cy Young and MVP awards will be debated for weeks, but we will not know the verdict until after the season.
The AL MVP is undoubtedly Miguel Cabrera. Winning the triple crown not only solidified him as the MVP, but also the history books. He is the first player to reach the triple crown status in over 50 years. He will definitely win the MVP award.
My AL Cy Young winner is David Price. Even though Price did not make the playoffs, he is clearly the most impressive pitcher this season. I do not see Justin Verlander getting the award for the second year in a row solely because he did not reach the statistics he had last year, even though he had a stellar season.
Price’s teammate and Ray’s closer Fernando Rodney could sneak away with the award. His 45+ saves and .61 ERA is extremely impressive.
I just cannot see a closer winning the Cy Young.
Rookie of the Year is Mike Trout, if you disagree you must live under a rock. Cy Young of the NL will go to R.A. Dickey, even though it pains me to say it. I can see Cueto from the Reds sneaking in also.
The MVP award is up in the air. I do not see Ryan Braun winning it two years in a row, even though the statistics are there. I believe Yadier Molina will win the NL MVP. A catcher winning the award is rare, but he has meant so much to his team.
Buster Posey won the batting title, but Molina was such an integral part of his team making the playoffs. My dark horse for this race is Jay Bruce of the Reds. I believe that Bryce Harper will win Rookie of the Year solely based on the hype surrounding him.