Last Week of the Season Observations

With the season drawing to a close, I thought this would be a good time to look around the league and hand out some hardware. Congrats to the Indians for achieving mediocrity over 162 games. Quite a feat considering they were far from mediocre in the first half of the season.

First, some observations.

Congratulations to the Washington Nationals. Despite the Nats missing out on a loss thanks to a game that won't be made up, their prize for futility is RHP Steven Strasburg. For those of you too lazy to look at the link, let me copy and paste a snippet of it from Fangraphs.com:

"The legend of Strasburg hit new heights on April 11th in a Mountain West Conference game against the University of Utah, when Strasburg recorded 27 outs in a one hit complete game shutout - 23 of them by strikeout. After the game, Strasburg said this:
'I was trying to get the ball in play and throw strikes. I was trying to use the defense as much as possible, but I guess it didn’t work out that way.'"

Yes, he is a Scott Boras client. And yes, he will probably be the highest-paid pick ever. But, he also got Olympic experience this season, throwing 11 innings with a 1-1 record. He also struck out 16. Having watched the game against the Netherlands, the kid is the real deal. He has three plus out pitches with his fastball, slider, and a devastating curve. He also throws about 96-97 mph regularly. In a word: sick. In two words: really sick.



Whoever pays CC Sabathia a huge chunk of money may wind up regretting it. The large lefty has exceeded last year's regular season pitch total by 233 pitches. We saw how that affected him in October. That gives CC will have thrown close to 7400 pitches over the last two regular seasons. Add another 307 in the 2007 playoffs. With one guaranteed start in the 2008 playoffs, he'll be inching near 7900 pitches in two years. He has more punchouts this season, but also 22 more walks. Not to mention more strain on his arm from throwing 8% more offspeed pitches.

While I can't foresee this contract being like a Mike Hampton or a Barry Zito, it's iffy as to whether or not CC can dominate next season as he has the last two. And it's definitely unlikely that he will do it deep in to the five or six-year deal that he's rumored to be looking for.


From the ho-hum department, Albert Pujols is a beast. After his performance tonight, Pujols is at .357/.462/.653/1.115. 37 HR. 116 RBI. An ungodly 54/104 K/BB ratio. A OPS+ of 192. Oh, and he's playing with one arm. He's been playing with a "high-grade" tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow since March, the same injury that Jake Westbrook underwent Tommy John for. Pujols is leaning toward TJ in the offseason now, according to a September 9 report.

According to Baseball Reference, the most comparable player to Pujols through age 27 is Joe DiMaggio. Other names include Jimmie Foxx, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle. In other words, pencil him in for a Cooperstown plaque.

From the rare department, Asdrubal Cabrera turned an unassisted triple play during game two of the doubleheader on May 12. It was the 14th unassisted triple play of all time.

On September 2, Adrian Beltre of the Mariners and Stephen Drew of the Diamondbacks hit for the cycle on the same night. It was the second time that had happened, and first time in 88 years.


From the random, pointless stat department, the only team in the American League with a .500 or better record on turf that does not play in a dome is the Texas Rangers, at exactly .500.



Another random, pointless stat: Every team in the AL East has a better-than-.500 record against the AL Central. Even Baltimore.



Tampa Bay won more games in 2008 than they lost in 2007. This seems obvious, but not when you take in to account that the Rays lost 96 games in 2007. That's a 31-game swing. They also clinched the AL East for the first time ever, and the first time someone not named Boston or New York has won the division since 1997 when the Orioles did it.





Let's hand out some hardware.



First, the traditional awards.



American League

MVP - Francisco Rodriguez



I know, I know. How can a guy who plays in 4.7% of his team's innings win the MVP? Well, it's simple. The guy has 62 saves. He's blown away Bobby Thigpen's record and provides stability to the bullpen. Find me a team where the closer got hurt and the bullpen stayed together and had a good season. It's hard to do.



Cy Young - Clifton Lee



Tonight, I debated this award. Roy Halladay has better peripheral numbers. He has 30 more Ks, a lower WHIP, more innings pitched, and five more complete games. He also has 20 wins.


But, alas, Cliff Lee is 22-3. He's lost three times in 31 starts. His ERA is lower than Halladay's and the WHIP and K/BB are very comparable. He went wire-to-wire with the ERA title. Wire to wire. Let me reiterate, wire-to-wire.

Taking in to account that Cliff Lee spent part of the 2007 season in the minors, and was not even on the Indians postseason roster, he's a tremendous feel-good story. He gets the nod.



Rookie of the Year - Evan Longoria



Where would the Rays be without this kid? He provided stability and allowed them to fill another hole at 2B by moving Aki Iwamura to that position. He's got an .879 OPS and 26 HR in his first season in the bigs. He'll be a stud for years to come and this will be his first major accomplishment in the Show.



Manager of the Year - Joe Maddon



This is the biggest no-brainer of them all. As mentioned above, his team has made a 30-game turnaround. He's unorthodox, personable, and a great clubhouse leader. Great things are in store for his team with him at the helm.





National League


MVP - Ryan Howard


I've changed this award three times now. Initially, I had David Wright. But the Mets choked again. Then I thought, how about Brad Lidge? 41/41 in save opps, a 1.98.

Instead, I'll go with Ryan Howard. Why? Well, 48 HR and 146 RBI for one. For another, Howard raked in September. .345 11 32. And I know one month doesn't make a season, but let's be honest here. The Phils needed a big September. They got it and he was a big reason why. Without him, that team goes nowhere.



Cy Young - Tim Lincecum



This is a tough category. The two best pitchers are in the worst division in baseball and both pitch for teams that are not making it to October. Both Tim Lincecum and Webb have had tremendous seasons. Webb and his Diamondbacks started out guns' blazing. Webb won his first nine starts, posting a 2.56 ERA over 63.1 IP. He had another stretch of winning eight straight decisions from June 28 to August 21.

But, I'm one for the gaudy stats. Lincecum's got 265 K. That's a ridiculous number. He also had five or six starts that he could have won, getting no decisions in four games where he allowed zero or one earned run. His ERA is over half a run lower, and posting an 18-5 is an incredible feat with a team of furniture movers. Give him the offense of, say, the Cubs or Tigers, and he wins 25 games without a problem.



Rookie of the Year - Geovany Soto


Not only has Soto had a tremendous year for a catcher, he's also led the Chicago Cubs a team ERA of 3.87 as a rookie catcher. In his first full season as a big leaguer, he's posted an .868 OPS. Plus, he's on the best team in the National League, in a media market with lots of exposure. That will certainly help his cause.


Manager of the Year - Lou Piniella

You know what, why not. Piniella's Cubs are poised to be the NL's best hope for a World Series and to crack that 100-year drought. No doubt he has lots of talent to work with, but the Cubs are the most dangerous team in the NL and Piniella's a big part of the attitude there.



Now, for the not-so-traditional awards:

The Golden Sombrero Award


AL - Jack Cust. Cust struck out in nearly 41% of his at bats. Honorable mention goes to Kelly Shoppach, who, if given the same number of at bats as Cust, would have struck out well over 170 times. Cust racked up four golden sombreros on the season. For those unaware, that's four strikeouts in a game. He also would have set an NHL record with 17 hat tricks.

NL - Mark Reynolds. It's always nice to set a record. Unless, of course, that record is striking out over 200 times in a season. He sets the record with 204. Impressive. Reynolds racked up four golden sombreros during the 2008 campaign.


The Trojan-ENZ Boner of the Year Award

AL - Carlos Quentin. Punching a hard wooden object is not a great idea. Quentin was hurt punching his bat after a Cliff Lee strikeout on September 5, missing the final three weeks of the season with a broken wrist. It may be a contributing factor to Chicago missing the playoffs if they do not win their two pre-playoff playoff games this week.

NL - Khalil Greene also made headlines for punching something hard. He broke his hand punching a storage chest at Petco Park during a July game, after striking out for the 100th time on the season. It ended his season.


The Sammy Sosa Freak Injury Award

Paying homage to Sammy Sosa's violent sneeze from hell, here's the 2008 award winners.

AL - Joel Zumaya would be a repeat winner if this blog existed in 2007. After the Guitar Hero fiasco, Zumaya was hurt moving boxes so his parents could escape the California wildfires with all of their belongings. More bad luck than anything else, but it was a down year for strange injuries in the AL.

NL - Kazuo Matsui takes home this award. Hopefully he'll have a figurative burning desire to be healthy next spring. I hate to copy and paste part of an article, but I can't help myself. This is in regards to Kaz Matsui's "anal fissures."

from the Astros official mlb.com website on March 14:

"The Astros' original official diagnosis of Matsui's issue was hemmorhoids, but that was changed when a vocabulary mixup caused some anxiety with Matsui's family in Japan. That prompted the club to change the official diagnosis to a more specific term.

"'The word [hemmorhoids] carries a negative connotation in Japan," Wade said. "That's why we had to go back and readjust it to anal fissure. It translates into a word in Japan that has a different meaning. That's why we flipped it over to the more graphic actual problem.'"

Honorable mention to Felix Pie's ruptured testicle. When you're a hitter, you'd definitely prefer two balls instead of one.


The Rolaids Relief Man if K-Rod Didn't Play The '08 Season

AL - Joakim Soria, I'll salute the Mexicutioner for leading the American League in saves, if Francisco Rodriguez didn't play baseball.

NL - Congrats to Jose Valverde. He led the NL in saves. And was completely overshadowed by K-Rod.

The Jenna Jameson Gag Reflex Award

The Mets win this award hands down. They may be a perenial winner of this award for the near future.

The Enron Bad Investment Award

AL - Dave Dombrowski, Detroit Tigers GM. This award goes to Dombrowski for the contract extension of Dontrelle Willis. As referenced in a previous blog, Willis made $375,000/inning at the big league level this year. He walked 32 and struck out 18. That may be the biggest crime in all of Detroit. If you've been there, you know that's saying something.

NL - Ned Colletti, Los Angeles Dodgers GM. This award goes to Coletti for the free agent signing of Andruw Jones. Let's put some perspective on this. Andruw Jones had 33 hits. That's $272,272/hit. For 14 RBI, the Dodgers paid $642,187 per RBI. He struck out 76 times in just 209 ABs. Project that out to a full season and you're looking at 175-180 K's. For his efforts this season, he gets a $6M raise. Right up there with the $4M raise for Barry Zito next year.


The "I Bought Stock in Google in 2000" Award for Good Investments

AL - Mark Shapiro, Cleveland Indians GM. Mark Shapiro locked up Grady Sizemore before he became a superstar. Grady Sizemore is locked in at $4.767M for the 2009 season. Grady tied for 6th in the AL in HR this season. The other guys make: $15M (Cabrera), $11.5M (Dye), $32M (A-Rod) $13M (Thome), and then Cust and Quentin who are still making the minimum. Sizemore was 5th in steals, 10th in OBP, and 8th in ABs, despite walking 98 times.

NL - Frank Wren, Atlanta Braves GM. He can get out from under the final year of Mike Hampton's albatross contract by buying out his $20M option for $6M this offseason. Assuming that Wren will make that decision, I'll give him this award.


The "I Got a Case of Beer for My Wife" Good Trade Award"

AL - Kenny Williams, Chicago White Sox GM. Carlos Quentin for Chris Carter. While Chris Carter absolutely raked in the California League with a .930 OPS 39 HR and 104 RBI, Quentin raked in the middle of the White Sox order. He hit 36 bombs with exactly 100 RBI, and missed the final three weeks of the season. Carter may get there one day, but Quentin is there now. And the White Sox are a strong central contender.

NL - Bob Melvin, Milwaukee Brewers GM. CC Sabathia for Matt LaPorta and three minor leaguers. Regardless of who the PTBNL is that the Indians get to select, CC Sabathia pitched the Milwaukee Brewers into the playoffs for the first time since 1982. CC went 11-2 with a 1.65 for the Brewers. That's just ridiculous. This is one of the best July trades in a long time.


Well, that concludes the 2008 regular season. The winners, losers, and some observations of another chapter of baseball.

I can't wait to see what happens this offseason for the Indians. This is Mark Shapiro's time to show his intellect as a GM, and it needs to be on display.