Pedroia? Really?

[Reggie Miller]

I swear, it's like the BWAA is becoming more senile every freakin' year. Some of the ballots this year make me wish that you had to pass a compe ive exam to vote. You had pitchers get votes for MVP, but not the Cy Young by the SAME voters. You had considerable votes for Sabathia and Ramirez for NL awards, even though they played half their seasons in the AL.

Longoria (AL ROY), Pujols (NL MVP), and Soto (NL ROY) were the correct outcomes. The rest were quite an indictment of the voters.

[FromWayDowntown]

Longoria (AL ROY), Pujols (NL MVP), and Soto (NL ROY) were the correct outcomes. The rest were quite an indictment of the voters.

I'm not sure it's quite that bad. Lince might not have been the prototypical Cy Young winner in the NL this year, but I can't really quarrel much with that result as being absurd or anything like that.

The Lee selection for AL Cy Young seems to me to be about the same thing. Lee's gross numbers were phenomenal -- all things considered -- and only Halladay really came close to those numbers. But I can see the choice of Lee as completely defenisble, given that he put up exceptional numbers on a pretty mediocre team (relatively speaking).

The Manager of the Year selections are also pretty hard to quarrel with, if you consider that to be a discussion-worthy award. Maddon absolutely deserved the AL Manager of the Year for his work with that young team in Tampa; Piniella's club was terrible in the post-season, but exceptional throughout the season.

I think it was generally a difficult year for awards because of the movement within the league and because the teams that were among the best in the game lacked players or pitchers who really and truly put up dominant numbers or made dramatic differences. Sabathia and Ramirez might truly have been the two most impactful players of 2008, but neither really warranted a post-season award given their half-seasons of true impact. In almost every category, the field was pretty watered down. For the most part, I think the choices (other than Pedroia) are solid and defensible, even if I might have voted differently.

[K-State Spur]

Longoria (AL ROY), Pujols (NL MVP), and Soto (NL ROY) were the correct outcomes. The rest were quite an indictment of the voters.

Lince & Lee were the right selections as well. Pedroia is really the only one I have a problem with. The gold gloves were crap - but does that even have meaning anymore?

[Reggie Miller]

I'm not sure it's quite that bad. Lince might not have been the prototypical Cy Young winner in the NL this year, but I can't really quarrel much with that result as being absurd or anything like that.

The Lee selection for AL Cy Young seems to me to be about the same thing. Lee's gross numbers were phenomenal -- all things considered -- and only Halladay really came close to those numbers. But I can see the choice of Lee as completely defenisble, given that he put up exceptional numbers on a pretty mediocre team (relatively speaking).

The Manager of the Year selections are also pretty hard to quarrel with, if you consider that to be a discussion-worthy award. Maddon absolutely deserved the AL Manager of the Year for his work with that young team in Tampa; Piniella's club was terrible in the post-season, but exceptional throughout the season.

I think it was generally a difficult year for awards because of the movement within the league and because the teams that were among the best in the game lacked players or pitchers who really and truly put up dominant numbers or made dramatic differences. Sabathia and Ramirez might truly have been the two most impactful players of 2008, but neither really warranted a post-season award given their half-seasons of true impact. In almost every category, the field was pretty watered down. For the most part, I think the choices (other than Pedroia) are solid and defensible, even if I might have voted differently.

Halladay had a better year than Lee by every measure except ERA and wins, and they were exceptionally close in those two categories. Halladay pitched more innings, had more Ks, and posted a lower WHIP. "Indictment of the voters" is probably a little strong here, however. I do get caught up in my own rhetoric at times.

The main problem with the AL Cy Young voting was the horrible inconsistency of it all. Some people are still clearly voting for the pitcher with the most wins, period. The voting also lacked internal consistency. Halladay should have finished a very close second, but it wasn't even in the same galaxy. You had voters giving K-Rod AL MVP votes, but no AL Cy Young votes. (Huh?)

Linceum certainly wasn't the clear-cut winner, either. You could make decent arguments for Santana (even with missing time), Webb, Haren, Hamels, Billingsley, and even Dempster. Again, it's not the outcome I mind so much as the process. Linceum ran away with it, while Brad Lidge received more votes than Dempster, Hamels, Haren, and Billingsley combined. Again, no real internal logic there.

Maddon certainly deserved AL MOY, and that was an oversight on my part. (I just forgot about the award entirely.) Piniella doesn't deserve as much credit for the Cubs' success, in my honest opinion. This has nothing to do with the postseason, but how he managed certain resources during the regular season. His handling of the bullpen and the Fukudome situation were very poor. Piniella is a good, possibly even a great manager, but he deserved the award last year, not this one. His real achievements of turning the team around and changing the ins utional culture all happened last year. This year, he had the best horses, period. I would have given Manuel the NL MOY award, even before the postseason began.

The Gold Gloves, as always, were total crap.

[FromWayDowntown]

Halladay had a better year than Lee by every measure except ERA and wins, and they were exceptionally close in those two categories. Halladay pitched more innings, had more Ks, and posted a lower WHIP. "Indictment of the voters" is probably a little strong here, however. I do get caught up in my own rhetoric at times.

The main problem with the AL Cy Young voting was the horrible inconsistency of it all. Some people are still clearly voting for the pitcher with the most wins, period. The voting also lacked internal consistency. Halladay should have finished a very close second, but it wasn't even in the same galaxy. You had voters giving K-Rod AL MVP votes, but no AL Cy Young votes. (Huh?)

Linceum certainly wasn't the clear-cut winner, either. You could make decent arguments for Santana (even with missing time), Webb, Haren, Hamels, Billingsley, and even Dempster. Again, it's not the outcome I mind so much as the process. Linceum ran away with it, while Brad Lidge received more votes than Dempster, Hamels, Haren, and Billingsley combined. Again, no real internal logic there.

Maddon certainly deserved AL MOY, and that was an oversight on my part. (I just forgot about the award entirely.) Piniella doesn't deserve as much credit for the Cubs' success, in my honest opinion. This has nothing to do with the postseason, but how he managed certain resources during the regular season. His handling of the bullpen and the Fukudome situation were very poor. Piniella is a good, possibly even a great manager, but he deserved the award last year, not this one. His real achievements of turning the team around and changing the ins utional culture all happened last year. This year, he had the best horses, period. I would have given Manuel the NL MOY award, even before the postseason began.

The Gold Gloves, as always, were total crap.

A lot to discuss there, but I think the one thing that I can comment upon immediately is the seeming inconsistency in voting for KRod for MVP and not Cy Young. Certainly, there are historical precedents for giving Cy Young votes to relievers, but more and more the conventional wisdom seems to be that closer-types are more like everyday players than starting pitchers and that closers should be more readily considered for the MVP than the Cy Young Award. I'm not saying that I agree with that, I can -- to some extent at least -- see the logic behind a decision to give a closer an MVP vote without giving him a Cy Young vote in the same year.

And I agree that the Gold Gloves are, by and large, nonsense.

[Reggie Miller]

A lot to discuss there, but I think the one thing that I can comment upon immediately is the seeming inconsistency in voting for KRod for MVP and not Cy Young. Certainly, there are historical precedents for giving Cy Young votes to relievers, but more and more the conventional wisdom seems to be that closer-types are more like everyday players than starting pitchers and that closers should be more readily considered for the MVP than the Cy Young Award. I'm not saying that I agree with that, I can -- to some extent at least -- see the logic behind a decision to give a closer an MVP vote without giving him a Cy Young vote in the same year.

And I agree that the Gold Gloves are, by and large, nonsense.

There is definitely an argument to be made along those lines. The entire idea that a reliever pitching less than 100 innings per season could EVER be the most valuable player in an entire league is the real logical gaffe there.