Awards Time...

A little late in coming, but since the Awards Season is here, I thought I'd post my IBA ballot, with a few honorable mentions and a few comments:

NL Cy Young

Clemens

Johnson

Pavano

Schmidt

Sheets

HM Lidle, Zambrano

Yeah, I know, Clemens over Johnson is so not a stathead thing to do. Johnson had the better year, Clemens pitched in a tougher division. Roger's team was the wildcard, Randy's was in last place. VORP places Randy and Roger 8 runs apart, not quite a win's worth of difference. That's close enough for me.

[UPDATE: The BWAA has spoken, and Roger is the 2004 NL Cy Young. Congrats to the Rocket -- Are you sure you wanna retire?]

NL MVP

Bonds

Beltre

Pujols

Abreu

Berkman

Drew

Edmonds

Rolen

Beltran

Loretta

HM Helton Clemens Thome

There's one guy at the top, and about a dozen guys behind him who could go in any variety of orders. Discuss.

NL Rookie

Greene

Bay

Wright

HM Otsuka

We've already heard back from the BWAA on this one. Greene got jobbed -- I don't think the voters appreciated the Petco effect on Greene's stats -- but I have to feel good for the Pirates organization, which got its first Rookie of the Year. 'Bout time.

NL Manager

Cox

Gardner

Larussa

Forget Manager of the Year. After the Braves won the division (again) we needed Bobby in the White House. Damn primary rules...

AL MVP

Guerrero

Santana

Ramirez

Sheffield

Suzuki

Tejada

Mora

Guillen

Schilling

A. Rodriguez

HM Pudge Rodriguez, Ortiz, Hafner, Jeter

The Impaler put up big numbers, and held together an Angels team that couldn't stay off the DL (Anderson, Glaus, Salmon, Erstad, Donnelly, Percival) or out of the doghouse (Jose Guillen). Not sure what else you need to do to be the MVP. Sheff gets jobbed on this ballot because I fear my own biases (yep, I'm a wuss).

AL Cy Young

Santana

Schilling

Radke

Rivera

Hudson

HM K-Rod

Near-Bondsian dominance. In a year without a supernatural performance, Stigmata Ankle Guy would've taken home the trophy.

AL Rookie

Greinke

Takatsu

Crosby

Again, the writers have already spoken. I can see why they didn't vote for my guy -- bad won/loss, good-but-not-great ERA, not flashy. And the other hand, Crosby did smack 22 homers and flash some good leather. Crosby also hit .239 with a .316 OBP. It sucks that the Twins frittered away Lew Ford's and Justin Morneau's eligibility, since they would've finished 1-2 on my ballot.

AL Manager

Showalter

Francona

Torre

Buck's an old favorite, who turned an ugly team around this summer. It was an amazing job, but he should enjoy this award while it lasts. If Buck doesn't know what I'm talking about, he can just ask Tony Pena.