Well, certainly enough of the season has been played for me to make some reasonably good guesses as to who will be the award winners at the end of the year. Here they are:
Cy Young -
AL – Zack Greinke, KC. Although he’s had a few shaky outings the past few weeks he’s still a lock for the award IMHO. Toronto’s Roy Halladay provides stiff competition and Detroit’s Justin Verlander should be considered a dark horse candidate for the award.
NL – Danny Haren, Arizona. Both Tim Lincecum & Matt Cain of San Francisco are making strong cases for the award and it does help that they are playing for a contender while Haren pitches for a team that is able to stay out of the cellar only because they are in the same division as the pathetic San Diego Padres. Still, Haren looks mighty tough and I’ll be surprised if either Giants pitcher stays as strong down the stretch as they each appeared to have reached their peak performance level.
Batting Average -
AL – Ichiro, Seattle. He doesn’t have to play his 1/2 inning of work as a fielder crouched behind the plate and I think that makes a huge difference fatigue wise. If the Twins are completely out of the pennant race by September though I’d expect them to give Jose Morales more time to get comfortable behind the plate and give him more major league ABs which will allow to Mauer get considerable time as the DH. If that happens then I’d have to place all bets on Mauer.
NL – Hanley Ramirez, Florida. He’ll win it walking away.
MVP -
AL – Justin Morneau, Minnesota. He’s putting together another monster year statistically which by all appearances will go to waste. The Twins continue to unravel and lose to teams they should be dominating – that might work against Morneau’s possibility of being named MVP. I’m counting on the voters to not be fickle.
NL – Albert Pujols, St. Louis. Duh.
Rookie of the Year -
AL – I honestly don’t have a clear cut favorite here. If the Yankees continue to dominate down the stretch – and they show few signs of weakening – then centerfielder Brett Gardner stands a chance at winning the honors. He isn’t putting up any truly noteworthy numbers as a hitter by any means, but his play has helped the team fill a serious need.
NL – Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh. The kid is having a truly great season at the plate for rookie. He deserves all the press he’s been getting.
Filed under: Baseball - General
