Major League Baseball Awards If The Season Ended Now
If the Major League Baseball Season ended now, they would have to hand out awards depending on how players did up to this point. The awards that I am going to hand out to players are the Rookie of the Year, Relief Pitcher of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP Award for both leagues for all awards.
NL Reliever Of The Year
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For the NL Reliever of the Year, I'm going to give it to Heath Bell. Bell has 37 saves so far this season and has only blown 3. 37/40 in save opportunities, that's pretty impressive. While Bell is only second in saves in the National League to Brian Wilson with 38, Bell has an ERA of 1.78 and Wilson has an ERA of 1.94. So both players have almost similar stats, but Wilson has blown 4 saves and I would say there is a very slight edge to Heath Bell.
Award goes to Heath Bell
AL Reliever Of The Year
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Rafael Soriano ran away with the AL Reliever of the Year. Soriano has 40 saves so far and has only blown 2. Soriano has nasty stuff, he has recorded a 1.69 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP, that is absolutely ridiculous. Joakim Soria is the closest to Soriano with 36 saves, and is probably as good as Soriano, but Soria plays for the Royals and is not going to get as many save opportunities as Soriano. So, I am going to have to give the AL Reliever of the Year to Rafael Soriano.
Award goes to Rafael Soriano
NL Rookie of The Year
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The two players that should be considered for NL Rookie of the Year are Jason Heyward and Gaby Sanchez. You could throw Jaime Garcia in the mix, but I believe he has fallen off of the pace lately and he walks too many people. Heyward is hitting .282 with 16 HR, 74 R, 65 RBI, and 9 SB in only 116 games. Sanchez is hitting .287 with 16 HR, 62 R, 72 RBI, and 5 SB. While the players have fairly similar stats (I would give a small edge to Heyward), Heyward has helped his team be a serious contender going into the playoffs while Sanchez's Marlins are currently only 67-65. I would give the NL Rookie of the Year to Jason Heyward.
Award goes to Jason Heyward
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AL Rookie Of The Year
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The American League does not have the quality of rookies that the National League has in 2010, so the top contenders for the award did not have spectacular years as the NL contenders did. The most likely choices for AL Rookie of the Year are Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch. Jackson is hitting .305 with 87 runs and 21 SB while covering a lot of ground in Centerfield with his speed. Boesch is hitting .268 with 14 HR and 62 RBI. I am going to have to give the award to Jackson because he has been an important leadoff guy in the Tiger's lineup.
Award goes to Austin Jackson
NL Cy Young Award
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The National League has plenty of Cy Young contenders, I do not know why they have so many more than the American League. Whether it is the pitcher has to hit, the hitting is not as good, or if the pitchers in the NL are just better, but they have way more contenders. The main contenders are Mat Latos, Josh Johnson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Adam Wainwright, Tim Hudson, and Roy Halladay. I like Adam Wainwright a lot, he is tied for the league lead in wins at 17 with Ubaldo Jimenez, but Jimenez has a 2.69 ERA and Wainwright has a 2.30 ERA. Roy Halladay is probably second with a 2.27 ERA. Halladay does have an ERA better than Adam Wainwright's, but it is not a significant enough difference to make up for Wainwright having 1 more win than Halladay. While Mat Latos is leading the league in ERA at 2.25, he only has 13 wins and that will not be enough to win.
Award goes to Adam Wainwright
AL Cy Young Award
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The 3 contenders for American League Cy Young are Clay Buchholz, David Price, and CC Sabathia. Buchholz is leading the AL in ERA at 2.21, but he only has 15 wins, which is not as good compared to Price's 16 wins and Sabathia's 19 wins. Price has a 2.92 ERA and Sabathia has a 3.02 ERA, neither are good compared to Buchholz's ERA. Since Buchholz's ERA is more than .8 better than Sabathia's and .7 better than Price's. I think the difference of Buchholz's ERA to Sabathia's and Price's makes up for the win difference, so I would lean towards him.
Award goes to Clay Buchholz
NL MVP Award
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The National League MVP race is probably as close as the NL Cy Young race. The MVP race is really just which player you prefer because Joey Votto, Albert Pujols, and Carlos Gonzalez all have great numbers. Votto is hitting .325 with 32 HR, 97 RBI, 91 R and 12 SB. Pujols is hitting .313 with 35 HR, 95 RBI, 92 R and 12 SB. Gonzalez is hitting .332 with 31 HR, 93 RBI, 89 R, and 20 SB. The only problem with Gonzalez is his OBP is only .367 because he does not take many walks. Pujols and Votto both have an OBP greater than .400. I would have to go with Votto over Pujols because of the better average and Votto's team is in the playoffs if the season ends now.
Award goes to Joey Votto
AL MVP Award
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The American League MVP race is really between Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton. Paul Konerko could be considered because he has similar power numbers as Hamilton, but his average is about 20 points lower than Cabrera's and 40 points below Cabrera's. Hamilton is hitting .361 with 31 HR, 97 RBI, 93 R, and 8 SB. Cabrera is hitting .336 with 33 HR, 108 RBI, 95 R, and 3 SB. Hamilton has a strong edge in average and a small edge in stolen bases, but stolen bases are almost significant because neither of the players will steal more than 10 bases. Cabrera has a small edge in Homers and Runs, but he has a large edge in terms of RBIs which I believe earns him the award over Hamilton.
Award goes to Miguel Cabrera
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