With the Indians and other American League happenings, combined with other sports, as well as the rest of my life...I just don't have time.
In any event, as I wrote in my Dundy Awards column:
"However, in 2007, things began to shift. The rebuilding efforts in Arizona and Colorado finally came full circle, giving both teams extremely promising and talented young cores. Both the Rockies and Diamondbacks fell in the bottom six in overall team payroll, averaging approximately $500,000 per win. Contrast that with division rivals the Dodgers and Giants, who spent approximately $1.3M per win, and the Yankees and Red Sox who spent $2.1 and $1.5M, respectively, per win.
But that isn't it even half of the reason that the Colorado Rockies are my pick for best team in 2007. Rather, it's their run to close out the season, which included a 6-1 record against San Diego (3-0 at Petco Park), only eight losses the entire month, an 18-4 record against the division (with only three games against the lowly Giants), and a 13-1 record to put themselves in an elimination game with San Diego for the wild card birth.
If you missed that, the Rockies had to more or less play perfect baseball for half a month. Adding a loss or two down the stretch would have taken them out of the playoffs and subsequently the World Series."
Being the manager of a team that does all of that makes you Manager of the Year in my book.
(Runner Up: C. Manuel)
Executive - Josh Byrnes
Like Mark Shapiro, much of Byrnes' work to help the Diamondbacks compete in 2007 was competed well before the year began. He was also in charge of what was a very fortunate team, one which Baseball Prospectus states actually deserved only 78 wins.
In any event, whoever Byrnes sold his soul too obviously knows how to get things done.
The extent of Byrnes' 2007 resume includes extending Eric Byrnes and giving full-time jobs to youngsters Chris Young, Stephen Drew, Justin Upton and Conor Jackson.
Despite the struggles of all four players at times, Byrnes didn't make any rash decisions.
The biggest acquisitions Byrnes made were Randy Johnson and Doug Davis. RJ was very effective when healthy, while Davis provided what he was brought in to provide: stability in the middle of the rotation.
Byrnes showed more patience in not acquiring an aging veteran arm down the stretch. I suppose Byrnes' best moves were the ones he didn't make.
(Runner Up: K. Towers)
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