On Wednesday evening, to the surprise of nobody, New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League Cy Young Award. It was nearly unanimous, with just one voter not picking the Mets ace for the award for the league's top pitcher (and he voted for deGrom in second place). I agree wholeheartedly with…
My NL MVP ballot
Here is how I would have voted. For the final time (oh, man, I've done a lot of these, haven't I?), this ballot is not a prediction of how I think MVP voting will shape up but rather how I would vote if I had one. 1. Jacob deGrom--New York Mets: He isn't even a finalist,…
My AL MVP ballot
I wrote quite a few of these awards ballot posts, as you may have noticed. Some of them were more fun than others to write. But MVP discussions are what really matter. Everything was a precursor to this. Cy Young Awards and Rookie of the Year awards are fun discussions, but each is necessarily a…
My Cy Young Award picks
Tonight, the awards for the best pitchers in the American and National Leagues will be conferred upon (probably) deserving candidates and perhaps one or two new men will forever be known as "former Cy Young winner", a prefix to names such as R.A. Dickey and Rick Porcello. This sounds like a joke, but you don't need…
My Manager of the Year picks
There is something nearly impossible about evaluating the best managers in Major League Baseball, and because of that, Manager of the Year is arguably the most fun of the major awards to discuss. With Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP awards, one could just rank the top relevant players by WAR and submit…
My Rookie of the Year picks
We saw a bunch of MLB breakthroughs this season, and today, we will learn which players will join such immortals as Todd Hollandsworth and Andrew Bailey as Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues. The ballots submitted by BBWAA voters goes three names deep, and that is how long my ballot goes as well.…
Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper, and the cost of stardom
Since 2012, when third baseman Josh Donaldson exhausted his rookie eligibility with the Oakland Athletics, Mike Trout has been the best player in baseball. Trout won a pair of MVP awards, deserved at least two (probably three) more, and has invited comparisons to Mickey Mantle which, if anything, underestimate Trout. With 64 Wins Above Replacement…
My NL Silver Slugger picks
This morning, I detailed my picks for the Silver Slugger awards in the American League. And now I'm going through my picks in the National League. Cool? Cool. Pitcher--Michael Lorenzen, Cincinnati Reds: There are two arguments for NL pitcher Silver Slugger, and one's side depends entirely on whether or not to classify Michael Lorenzen as a…
My AL Silver Slugger picks
Following the crowning of MLB's Gold Glove awards two days ago, it is now time for the Silver Sluggers. A slightly less popular award, largely because frankly the best hitters win MVP awards more often than the best fielders, the Silver Slugger honors the best hitter at each position. From a sabermetric perspective, I'm far…
What approach should the Cardinals take in free agency?
As it currently stands (and as is almost always the case for every team), the St. Louis Cardinals have fewer payroll commitments for 2019 than they did at the beginning of 2018. Gone are the $14 million salary of Greg Holland and $3 million salary of Bud Norris (and Greg Garcia, and whatever you want…
St. Louis Bullpen 