My 2009 American League Award winners
Major League Baseball does not give the Morris Daily Herald votes for its awards, but if it did, here's who would be on my ballot ... along with my choices for a couple of non-official "honors."
MVP - Joe Mauer, C, MIN
New York 1B Mark Texiera and Seattle OF Ichiro Suzuki both gave Mauer more of a run in my book than they did for most people. Texiera especially was spectacular after getting a huge free-agent deal from the Yankees, hitting .292 with 39 home runs and 122 RBI. But Mauer added 28 home runs to his league-leading .365 batting average. His .444 on-base percentage was also tops in the AL, and his 1.031 OPS was the only one in the league above 1.000. All of this from a catcher who is also very, very good defensively and the only healthy big-time position player on a playoff team.
Cy Young - Zack Greinke, SP, KC
The MVP is supposed to go to the most valuable player, meaning good players on poor teams are sometimes punished. The Cy Young is for the best pitcher in a league. Voters are kidding themselves if they overlook Greinke in that regard because Kansas City was bad. His 2.16 ERA led the league by a large margin, and his 242 strikeouts were second in the league to Detroit's Justin Verlander. His 16 wins are very low for a Cy Young winner, but Greinke should have had more. He gave his team a better chance to win in most of his starts than Seattle's Felix Hernandez, Toronto's Roy Halladay and New York's CC Sabathia did in theirs.
Rookie of the Year - Andrew Bailey, RP, OAK
I would have considered Detroit's Rick Porcello for this award had he been dominant in Tuesday's game versus the Twins for the AL Central title. Porcello pitched well, but not enough so to vault him past Bailey, who quietly had a great season for a pitcher of any experience level closing for the A's. Bailey had a 1.84 ERA, 91 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings, 26 saves and a 6-3 record on a last-place team. Porcello did a nice job starting for the Tigers, and Gordon Beckham also deserves consideration for the job he did after being called up late in Chicago.
Manager of the Year - Ron Gardenhire, MIN
There aren't any lock candidates for this award in the AL, but there are plenty of intriguing ones. Joe Girardi finally got the Yankees to dominate again. Ron Washington and Don Wakamatsu both did wonders with teams in Texas and Seattle that weren't supposed to be factors. Mike Scioscia did another brilliant job with the Los Angeles Angels. Heck, Gardnehire isn't the only candidate from his own division, as Jim Leyland deserves some credit for getting the Tigers to contend before they collapsed. But Gardenhire is my guy for getting a Minnesota team with Joe Mauer and a whole lot of nothin' to the playoffs, an incredible feat even if it was only in the lowly AL Central.
Executive of the Year - Brian Cashman, NYY
It's hard to want to give credit to a guy who has seemingly unlimited money to throw at whatever problems his Yankees encounter. Texiera and Sabathia were both costly, but they both worked out extremely well in their first seasons in New York. Other, lesser moves worked out as well. Among then were the acquision of Nick Swisher and the move of Phil Hughes to the bullpen. Cashman might have spent a king's ransom on it, but he put together the best roster in baseball.
Least Valuable Player - Vernon Wells, OF, TOR
Compared to their AL East rivals in Boston and New York, the Jays have a very limited number of resources with which they can build a contending team. Wells, who is in the middle of a seven-year, $126-million contract he signed after the 2006 season, eats up a huge percentage of their payroll. To "justify" his pay, Wells hit .260 this year with 15 homers and 66 RBI. In other words, he gave the Jays replacement-level production for a superstar price.
Bonehead of the Year - Miguel Cabrera, 1B, DET
Your team is playing for its playoff life ... and you go out, get nine-sheets-to-the-wind drunk and get into a domestic dispute with your wife? Cabrera certainly produced for the Tigers on the field this season, but I sure don't want the superstar on my team acting the way he did when he is needed most, or at all.
