My picks for 2008.

AL MVP: Kevin Youkilis, 1B - Boston Red Sox

Youkilis was among the AL leaders in Batting Average (.312), OBP (.390), OPS (.958), SLG (.569), and RBI (115.)

I could have also gone with Chicago's Carlos Quentin but he only played 130 games and his rate stats are not significantly better (.965 to .958 OPS.) Milton Bradley lead the AL in OPS (.999) but he only played 126 games and he did it at DH.

Alex Rodriguez is another possibility (also .965 OPS) but considering it was actually a very average year for him (by his standards) and the Yankees missed the playoffs and he missed 24 games it just didn't make sense to me to pick A-Rod.

Overall it was a weak year for stand out offensive numbers in the AL. No one really stood out from the crowd.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B - St. Louis Cardinals

This was a much easier decision. Pujols was easily the top offensive player in the NL in 2008. Yes, Chipper Jones had an incredible year but he missed 34 games and Pujols easily bested him in the power department (SLG: .653 to .574.)

Pujols lead the NL in OPS at 1.114 & SLG (.653.) He finished second (to Jones) in Batting Average (.357) & OBP (.462.) He also finished with 37 HR (4th), 44 2B (4th), 116 RBI (4th), and 104 BB (2nd.)

AL CY YOUNG: Cliff Lee - Cleveland Indians

Lee lead the AL in both Wins (22) & ERA (2.54) which makes him a pretty easy choice for the AL Cy Young award. Toronto's Roy Halladay and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka also had great years but Lee's was better.

NL CY YOUNG: Tim Lincecum - San Francisco Giants

Lincecum certainly lived up to the hype in his second year with the Giants. He finished the year 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA. That's good for 2nd in Wins & 2nd in ERA. He also lead the NL in Strikeouts (265) and Winning Percentage (.783.) He was 3rd in innings pitched (227.)

The New York Met's Johan Santana is the runner up. He lead the league in ERA at 2.53 and innings pitched (234.) He finished second in Strikeouts (206.) Arizona's Brandon Webb did lead the NL in Wins (22-7) but his other numbers are not as impressive (10th in ERA at 3.30) and I think Wins are a very ineffective statistic for judging a pitcher's performance.

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Evan Longeria, 3B - Tampa Bay Rays

Longoria was a big part of why the Rays made it to the playoffs for the first time. He hit .272 with 27 home runs and 85 RBI. He lead all AL rookies in HR, RBI, OBP, SLG, & OPS.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Geovany Soto, C - Chicago Cubs

The Cincinatti Red's rookie 1B Joey Votto lead all NL rookies in BA (.297), OBP (.368), SLG (.506), H (156), HR (24), & OPS (.874.) He finished second in RBI with 84 to Soto's 86.

From the offensive numbers it looks like Votto should be the pick but Soto's offensive numbers are really just barely behind Votto's (OPS .874 to .868 & HR 24 to 23) and because Soto is a catcher and was a big part of the Cubs great season, I think he has to be choice. A good offensive player at the catcher position is a big deal, another good hitting first baseman? Not as much.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Cliff Lee, Evan Longeria, Geovany Soto, Kevin Youkilis, Tim Lincecum

Last year rookie pitchers Dice K of Boston and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco were heavily hyped. Both had pretty good seasons and showed signs of great promise. But both also fell somewhat short of the hype.

But in their sophomore seasons they are living up to the hype. Check it out:

Daisuke Matsuzaka went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA and 201 SO in his rookie season for the Red Sox. Somewhat underwhelming numbers for a pitcher who was as hyped as he was. But the Red Sox won the World Series so folks were pleased enough.

But this year he's killing it. He's currently 10-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 2008. Although it's not all good news. He's had some problems with his control this year and he has 57 walks in just 88.3 innings. In fact he leads the AL in walks. His WHIP is actually slightly higher this year compared to last thus far (1.38 vs. 1.32)

Tim Lincecum went 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA (and 150 SO in just 146.3 innings) last season. Pretty good numbers.

But like Dice-K, this season he's turned it up to the next level. He's 11-2 with a 2.57 ERA. He's currently 2nd in the NL in ERA and 3rd in wins. He leads the NL with 135 SO. He's been selected for the NL all-star team.

At only 24 years of age, Lincecum looks like he could be one of the top pitchers in majors for some time to come. He almost makes up for the epic failure that was the Barry Zito signing.

Labels: Dice K, Tim Lincecum

I posted a lot about the Giants rookie Tim Lincecum last season. This year he's proving I was right to do so. Check out these numbers:

9-1 (even more impressive because he's pitching for an awful Giants team.)
2.38 ERA (2nd in the NL)
114 SO (1st in the NL)

It looks like he's got a real shot at the Cy Young award if he can keep up at the pace he's on now. Although it will take a bit of a miracle to keep winning at a 90% clip while pitching for the Giants.

Also: Barry Zito who? Ah Barry "leads the NL in losses" Zito.

Barry Zito: 3-12, 5.99 ERA (ouch.)

Looks like they gave the wrong pitcher the $126 million contract.

Labels: Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants, Tim Lincecum

A look at the NL Rookies of the Year if the season ended today. Interestingly all three of these guys have never played a single game in the big leagues before this season and they all got called up with the season well under way.

Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers - 3B

Despite not being called up until May 24th, Brewers 3B Ryan Braun is the easy choice for NL Rookie of the Year if the season ended today. He leads all major league rookies with 23 home runs and would likely be challenging for the league lead if he had not started late. He is hitting .354 with a .684 slugging percentage. He would be leading the NL in both stats if he had enough plate appearances and if he stays healthy for the rest of the year, there's a good chance he will qualify by season's end.

When was the last time a rookie lead the league in batting average or slugging percentage? Much less both? That's not a rhetorical question, I'm really asking. Has that ever happened before? There's a chance for it to happen this year. Braun's only faults appear to be a lack of patience at the plate (21 walks to 64 strikeouts) and in the field where he has a .893 fielding percentage (18 errors thus far.)

Runners Up:

Hunter Pence, Houston Astros - CF

Pence was called up on April 28th. Pence was just put on the 15-Day DL but he's been having an excellent rookie season thus far: He is hitting .330 with a .564 slugging percentage. Pence has shown the ability to hit for extra bases but many more doubles than home runs so far (25 doubles, 12 home runs.) Similarly to Braun he has had trouble with his patience at the plate. He has only 11 walks to 60 strikeouts.

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants - Starting Pitcher

Lincecum was also called up late (although not quite as late as Braun.) He's had a somewhat up and down season but he has shown flashes of absolute brilliance. For example in the month of July Lincecum went 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA. But in June he was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA. His overall numbers put him at 6-3 with a 3.88 ERA. Very strong numbers for a rookie starting pitcher. But it's his strikeout power that is most impressive. Despite his late start he is 12th in the NL in strikeouts. He has the most strikeouts per 9 innings of any NL pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched at 9.78 K/9.

Labels: Hunter Pence, Ryan Braun, Tim Lincecum