2013 MLB Awards

Being in Chicago, baseball season wasn't overly exciting. Yet I continued tradition and made it to Wrigley, having done so at least once every year since 1998, though the first trip involved my being kidnapped to go (but what can I say, I enjoyed being kidnapped). I also got to make it to see the Stanley Cup, which was awesome, even if Coach Q didn't do a victory lap around the warning track. A trip to Milwaukee also appeared on the docket this year and we got to introduce Kristen to Miller Park's fare. I think she enjoyed the trip just based on that.

For the first time I also actively participated in a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of people on Twitter from various different places. (I played in a couple leagues in years past that I didn't pay attention to; won the first year, and ended up in last place the following year.) By the start of May, I led the Perfect Strangers league after a couple dominant weeks, then was never knocked off that perch despite the best efforts of another owner who gave me a hell of a fight in the title matchup this week, so much so that I needed the tiebreaker of winning our regular season matchups to pull victory out of my behind. Really though, I have to tip my hat to a great group of people that made this a fun league to play in and for making it competitive to the end. (And yes, I took a potshot at Jeff Loria with my team name. I stand by my decision.)

So with playing fantasy, I had to pay attention to what was going on over the course of the whole season. As such, hopefully I have some level of qualifications to pick out award winners for the 2013 campaign that just broke a tie for a wild card spot and we still have a great, open playoff left to go. But with the regular season done, it's time to look back and hand out awards for the season.



Manager of the Year
National League

Clint Hurdle (PIT). 94-68, 2nd in NL Central, Wild Card; 15 win improvement from 2012, 13 wins above COAS prediction.
The last time the Pirates had a winning record at season's end, I wasn't even 3 yet. I expected them to hit .500 this year, but they exceeded that, and did enough to make the top wild card spot and host Cincinnati today in the Wild Card Game that will hopefully not be as shady as last year's. Anyway, he took the second half collapses of the past couple years and helped his team persevere through them. They earned their spot here.

American League

John Farrell (BOS). 97-65, 1st in AL East; 28 win improvement from 2012, 23 wins above COAS prediction.
Tough call here between him and Cleveland's Terry Francona. I had the Indians farther down in the Central division based on not really being impressed by their roster, but I and a lot of people wrote the Red Sox off before the season started based on their struggles at the end of 2011 and through all of 2012. Boston finished with the best record in the American League and tied the Cardinals for tops in all of baseball. That has to count for something.

Rookie of the Year
National League

Jose Fernandez, P (MIA). 28 starts, 12-6, 2.19 ERA, 172.2 IP, 58 BB, 187 K, 0.98 WHIP, .187 BAA.
Look at those numbers again. I mean, are you kidding me? Going 12-6 in 28 starts on an awful team is pretty good, and his numbers really back it up. He finished with more than a strikeout per inning and averaged less than one baserunner per inning. That's insane. Granted also, I wasn't impressed with the collection of rookie hitting talent this year, but these numbers themselves earned Fernandez the award.



American League

Wil Myers, RF (TB). 87 games, .295 AVG/.353 OBP/.482 SLG, 13 HR, 23 2B, 49 R, 53 RBI, 5-7 SB.
Not really impressed with a lot of the rookies on this end. Jose Iglesias of the Tigers was the closest guy that I really looked at, but Myers put up decent numbers in only about half a campaign. Really just a weak crop, kind of like the National League rookies were last year.

Cy Young
National League

Clayton Kershaw, SP (LAD). 32 starts, 16-9. 1.83 ERA, 236 IP, 52 BB, 232 K, 0.92 WHIP, .195 BAA.
And to think, Fernandez was in the running for this award too. But when Kershaw walks 6 fewer guys despite throwing for over 30 more innings, you're going to take that and run. I think at this point Kershaw has taken the "Best Pitcher in Baseball" belt from Justin Verlander. At least until the playoffs start...

American League

Max Scherzer, SP (DET). 32 starts, 21-3, 2.90 ERA, 214.1 IP, 56 BB, 240 K, 0.97 WHIP, .198 BAA.
Tight race with Texas' Yu Darvish (13-9, 2.83 with 277 K's in 209.2 innings and a .194 BAA, but more walks resulting in a 1.07 WHIP) that I'm leaning Scherzer on based on his control. The wins certainly look great too, but I want my Cy Young winner to be better all around. Darvish may have had a higher propensity to strike guys out, and a slightly lower BAA, but Scherzer had significantly fewer walks, which led to one fewer base runner every 10 innings. I'll take that over being slightly more flashy any day.

Most Valuable Player
National League

Andrew McCutchen, CF (PIT). 157 games, .317 AVG/.404 OBP/.508 SLG, 21 HR, 38 2B, 5 3B, 97 R, 84 RBI, 27-37 SB.
Wow, this was a tough call. Cardinals fans will probably jump all over me on this, but hear me out. I was leaning Cutch initially before really looking at the numbers for a guy like Yadier Molina (.319/.359/.477, 12 HR, 44 2B, 68 R, 80 RBI in 136 games). Their averages were almost identical, but Cutch has a higher OPS (.911 to .836) so offensively, I have to give him the edge. Then I looked at clutch numbers as defined by MLB.com's late/close scenario:

McCutchen: .247/.396/.411, 3 HR, 1 2B, 1 3B, 11 R, 7 RBI, 5-5 SB
Molina: .333/.404/.588, 3 HR, 4 2B. 8 R, 7 RBI, 1-2 SB

Hmm... I think clutch numbers should be factored in, so that gives Molina an edge. Molina also threw out 20 of 46 would-be base stealers, which is good, but Cutch really isn't much of a slouch in center field either. Really tough call. I think ultimately it comes down to this: Andrew McCutchen was for the most part the guy for the Pirates this season. He certainly had help from guys like Pedro Alvarez, but what about Molina? I look at Matt Carpenter (.318/.392/.481, 11 HR, 55 2B, 7 3B, 126 R, 78 RBI) and think that he's arguably just as valuable to St. Louis as Molina is, at least offensively. And what about Allen Craig? Or even Matt Holliday? So many guys were key for this Cardinals team that if you take Molina away, the Cardinals might not win the Central but I think they still make the postseason. Take Andrew McCutchen off the Pirates and they might not make the postseason. It's close, but I'm going with him. Sorry Cardinals fans, I'm not sorry.

American League

Miguel Cabrera, 3B (CET). 148 games, .348 AVG/.442 OBP/.636 SLG, 44 HR, 26 2B, 1 3B, 103 R, 137 RBI, 3-3 SB.

Okay, can we decide this MVP without the nonsense from last year's vote? If we're looking at who the better all-around player is, I'd probably give the edge to Trout based on the fact that he's probably faster and a better base runner, and I'm sure his advanced fielding numbers would beat Miggy's as well. But Cabrera is by far the superior hitter. At this point we come down to the records argument. Cabrera's Tigers finished 15 games better than Trout's Angels. If you replace Trout with, say, David DeJesus, there's a drop off, sure, but I don't know that the drop would be significantly worse than replacing Cabrera with Trevor Plouffe, for example. I trust that's all the argument we need to have on this one this year.