Sportswriter for Montgomery Media
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| amarcus@montgomerynews.com Follow me on Twitter @amarcus515 |
2011 MLB Awards
NL MVP - Matt Kemp - I'm sorry, you flirt with a Triple Crown, you get my vote. I'm done with your team needs to make the playoffs. The Dodgers were 82-79 and without the all-star center fielder they are drowning their sorrows in the basement of the West. Nobody had more value to their team than Kemp.
(2) Braun, (3) Fielder, (4) Upton, (5) Berkman, (6) Votto, (7) Reyes, (8) Pujols, (9) Axford, (10) Victorino
NL LVP - Miguel Tejada - He scored 28 runs for the defending champs.
AL MVP - Justin Verlander - While many hitters had great years, and I will usually favor this award to a hitter, the ace of the Tigers just never lost when he took the mound. Without Verlander the Tigers are watching the Indians get eliminated by the Yankees in the first round. The hitters that are up for this award are all flawed and have players around them that decrease their value if they were to be taken away from their respective teams.
(2) Jacoby Ellsbury, (3) Curtis Granderson, (4) Jose Bautista (5) Michael Young, (6) Adrian Gonzalez, (7) Miguel Cabrera (8), Dustin Pedroia, (9) Robinson Cano, (10) Paul Konerko
AL LVP - Adam Dunn - 66 hits, 177 strikeouts in 415 at-bats. Ouch.
NL Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw - If Matt Kemp was good for ten wins by himself, Clayton Kershaw was good for 15 wins that Dodgers won based on this young stud's performance. Then to win the pitching triple crown just locks it up.
(2) Roy Hallday, (3) Cliff Lee, (4) Ian Kennedy, (5) Cole Hamels
NL Cy Yuck - Derek Lowe - all fingers point to him as a big reason the Braves collapsed. 9-17, 5.05 ERA, 1.50 WHIP
AL Cy Young - Justin Verlander - You win the MVP in my book, you're a lock for the Cy. Too bad there were a lot of good starters in the AL this year.
(2) Jered Weaver, (3) CC Sabathia, (4) James Shields, (5) CJ Wilson
AL Cy Yuck - John Lackey - see a trend here? Both of my Cy Yucks played a huge role in a huge breakdown.
NL Rookie of the Year - Craig Kimbrel
(2) Vance Worley, (3) Danny Espinosa, (4) Freddie Freeman, (5) Darwin Barney
AL Rookie of the Year - Jeremy Hellickson
(2) Mark Trumbo, (3) Michael Pineda, (4) Ivan Nova, (5) Eric Hosmer
NL Manager of the Year - Kirk Gibson
AL Manager of the Year - Jim Leyland
Dem the breaks - or in the Philadelphia Phillies' case, Dem the torn Achilles tendon. As Ryan Howard rolled over the Chris Carpenter offering, rolled his ankle, the team with an 102 win regular season has to roll the calendar over a look toward 2012.
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| How Howard gets around Plymouth-Meeting Whole Foods these days |
The pitching rotation should stay intact enough to keep the Phillies in contention, but it's time for Ruben Amara to shake things up. And if that means saying good bye to Brad Lidge, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Madson and Jimmy Rollins - so be it.
STARTING PITCHERS - There is no need to pick up an aging Roy Oswalt. Vance Worley deserves a shot to make the Opening Day rotation and with a little more offense the foursome of Doc, Cliff, Cole and the Vanimal is still the league's best.
Roy Halladay
Cliff Lee
Cole Hamels
Vance Worley
Joe Blanton
BULLPEN - There is no doubt having a bonafide closer is important, but I think the Phils would rather sign a guy for one year rather than dish out multiple years for Ryan Madson (with Scott Boras as his agent). With the money available this off season it needs to go in other directions. I'd take a long look at Joe Nathan, Matt Capps, and Francisco Cordero.
Kyle Kendrick
David Herndon
Joe Savery
Mike Stutes
Antonio Bastardo
Jose Contreras
Joe Nathan
LINEUP - Without Howard until June-July, I think it's time to get creative and pursue the a run producer, no matter the position. Chase Utley can play first base (and save his legs), Polanco (who I may just cut ties with) could also play second base. I think third basemen Aramis Ramirez could be an ideal fit for the middle of the order. They can pray John Mayberry can step in to Howard's shoes and be the everyday first basemen, but that's a tall task. If Jimmy really wants a 5-year deal I think Marco Scutaro, Alex Gonzalez and even Rafael Furcal will do just find under a one-year deal.
Here's my lineup w/o Ryan Howard...
SS Rafael Furcal
2B Chase Utley
3B Aramis Ramirez
RF Hunter Pence
CF Shane Victorino
1B John Mayberry Jr,
LF Domonic Brown
C Carlos Ruiz
Here's my lineup w Ryan Howard
SS Rafael Furcal
CF Shane Victorino
3B Aramis Ramirez
1B Ryan Howard
RF Hunter Pence
2B Chase Utley
LF John Mayberry Jr./Dom Brown
C Carlos Ruiz
BEST AND WORST PREDICTIONS OF COUNTDOWN TO OPENING DAY
Spot On...
(1)Breakout: Antonio Bastardo - On the rare day that the Phillies' starting picther does not go seven innings, Bastardo will become the most reliable bridge to Madson and Lidge. He has the velocity and slider to get out the top left-handed hitters in the game. His emergence will erase all the bullpen question some had about the Phightins. At mid-season he had historic numbers and only allowed 28 hits all season in 58 innings of work.
(2)Biggest Spring Training Question: Offseason woes - The Angels were rumored to have a legit chance to sign every big time free agent this season from Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adrian Beltre, and Rafael Soriano. So after missing out on all of them and settling for Vernon Wells and his giant contract the Angels' fans are concerned. They want to know of they have enough offense and enough stability in the back end of the bullpen to return to first place in the West. Vernon Wells hit .218 and the Angles led AL in blown saves with 25.
(3)Breakout: Yovani Gallardo - The presence of Grienke and Marcum not only make the Brew Crew a bonafide contender, but I believe it will take Gallardo to the next level. He was an above average pitcher as the "the" guy at the age of 23 and 24. Now at 25, and not needing to pitch a perfect game every time out I say he has his best year yet. The ERA probably stays around 3.60, but the walks go down, the K's go up and YoGa makes a run at 20 wins. The ERA was 3.52, he had 17 wins and 207 strikeouts.
(4)Bust: Brett Myers - You would be foolish to think Myers can duplicate his strong 2010 season. He pitched well over what anyone thought he could do, earned his long-term deal and now I can some regression. It is highly unlikely he goes seven innings every time out again and finishes with an ERA below 3.50. Myers finished 7-14 with a 4.46 ERA.
(5)Breakout: Michael Pineda - There is no better place to avoid the National hype than the Pacific Northwest and Pineda, a 21 year old future ace will have a chance to break spring training as a member of the Seattle rotation at 22 years old. He may get some media attention in Starbucks and Nirvana world, but it should be a rather quiet ascent to stardom, which bodes well for success. Pineda made the all-star team and struck out 173 hitters.
Nice call dummy...
(1)Bust: Lance Berkman - If the Cardinals think they are getting the guy that gave them fits for a decade in Houston they are going to be sorely mistaken. He's no longer the offensive player he once was and to put him in the outfield just means a lot of balls that should be caught falling for singles. Balls that should be cut-off rolling to the wall for extra bases. And that's if he can stay on the field and healthy. Berkman already won Comeback player of the year and he's going to get some MVP votes.
(2)Bust: Adrian Beltre - The year after hitting 48 homers and .334 with the Dodgers the third basemen moved to Seattle hit a whopping .255 and 19 homers. The Reason? I say it's because he got paid and lost focus. I see his first year with the Rangers being a very similar situation. 32 homers and 105 RBIs is not what I saw coming when I made this prediction.
(3) Bust: Jose Bautista - Bautista may join Arencibia in the 30 homer run club, but if you think he is going to come even close to 54 homers again you are nuts. I think we will see a drop in every single major category. That was Jose's career year and he banked on it with a big long term deal. Good for him, but he's a below average baseball player. Joey Bats proved me wrong with a sexy line of .302, 43 HRs, and 103 RBIs.
(4) Bust: Joel Hanrahan - Hanrahan is one of those guys will all the stuff and none of the makeup needed to be a closer in the bigs. I'd be surprise if he holds off Evan Meek or another arm in the Bucco bullpen for the entire season. Hanrahan was not good enough to close in Washington, why is he going to better in Pittsburgh? He only ended up with 40 saves and 1.83 ERA
(5) Biggest Spring Training Question: Who goes where - The clearly is enough talented all over the diamond and in the lineup and luckily it is up to one of the best managers in baseball, Ron Gardenhire, to put them is spots to succeed. Who will be in the rotation? Is Nishioka at second base or short stop? How many at-bats will Jim Thome get and where will Delmon Young hit in the order? All questions that need to be answered in Fort Myers.Projected finish: First place in the AL Central. The Twinkies were 63-99 and only the Astros had fewer wins.
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