Awards....

It's awards season! Gather the children, stoke the fire, put a pot of tea on! Call your family and friends, and....

Yeah. I don't care either. If a Giant isn't up for an MVP, what's the point?

Still, it can make for some interesting discussions and debates. All of the bloggers from SB Nation got together to have an awards vote of their own. The idea was to have two votes from each team, mirroring the actual process. I created a fictitious blog, and signed up to vote twice. I bet Murray Chass never thought to start a dummy newspaper for an extra MVP vote. (Actually, it went to Lefty....)

The MVP vote:

My ballot:

1. Ryan Howard
   
2. Albert Pujols
   
3. Carlos Beltran
   
4. Lance Berkman
   
5. Brandon Webb
   
6. Brian McCann
   
7. Miguel Cabrera
   
8. Jose Reyes
   
9. Roy Oswalt
   
10. Chase Utley

Albert was the better defender -- by a whole bunch, depending on which source you want to go to -- but I just couldn't get over the extra 16 games that Howard played. When it wasn't Pujols for the Cardinals, it was Chris Duncan or Scott Spiezio playing. Both had pretty solid years, though, so maybe Pujols being out didn't hurt the Cardinals all that much. If Duncan and Spiezio had hit a combined .100/.150/.170, should that even matter? Dunno. Doesn't seem fair to the player up for the award, but it would be hard to ignore.

McCann over Cabrera because of position, but other than that there weren't any real surprises. Clay Davenport left Ryan Howard off his ballot completely in the Internet Baseball Awards. That's a whole lot of faith in proprietary stats, there....

Cy Young:

My ballot:

1. Brandon Webb
   
2. Roy Oswalt
   
3. Chris Carpenter

Brandon Webb was an easy choice for Cy Young, even after he was slapped around in his last start. This was an easy ballot for me at the time, but I overlooked just how good Bronson Arroyo was in a tough ballpark. I might have bumped him up over Carpenter in retrospect. I wonder how often that happens with the BBWAA awards?

Rookie of the Year:

My ballot:

1. Hanley Ramirez
   
2. Ryan Zimmerman
   
3. Josh Johnson

If I'm building a team, I take Zimmerman. This season, though, Ramirez did it all as a shortstop. He could just as easily go Angel Berroa next season. I couldn't pull the homer trigger for Cain. Sorry.

Manager of the Year:

My ballot:

1. Bruce Bochy
   
2. Joe Girardi
   
3. Willie Randolph

The vote was done before the playoffs, too. Nothing to see here. Keep moving. Go about your business.