By Dalton Del Don
N.L. MVP
1) Matt Kemp – Close call between Kemp and Braun, with playing center field and in a tougher hitter’s park being the tiebreaker.
2) Ryan Braun – Great season. Awesome player.
3) Joey Votto – A big drop off after the top two. Could have went Justin Upton here, but Votto had the (slightly) superior season.
A.L. MVP
1) Jacoby Ellsbury – Just like the N.L., a really close call between two players. Again, I treated positional value (and in Ellsbury’s case, strong defense as well) as the difference.
2) Jose Bautista – I have no problem whatsoever if you have Bautista as your MVP. It’s very close, and anyone who says he shouldn’t win because the Blue Jays had a .500 record deserves a punch to the nuts.
3) Justin Verlander – I struggled with this spot. Curtis Granderson is certainly a viable alternative. Anyone who says pitchers shouldn’t win the MVP because they only play once every five games deserves a punch to the nuts.
N.L. Cy Young
1) Roy Halladay – Really, really close call here. I kind of want Clayton Kershaw to win, if only because I predicted he would before the season started, but Halladay’s superior 6.3 K:BB ratio while allowing fewer homers while pitching in the tougher hitter’s park gives him the ever so slight edge.
2) Clayton Kershaw – Kershaw pitches in the weaker division, but his opponents’ aggregate OPS was similar to Halladay’s, and there’s little reason at this point to call his BAA luck. His career BABIP is .273, as he’s the toughest pitcher to hit in baseball. He also won the triple crown, so don’t be surprised if he wins (I have a soft spot for him, since I bet the over on his win totals in Vegas before the year. It was 11.5!) Regardless, the improving Kershaw is certainly the favorite to win this award entering 2012.
3) Cliff Lee – Lee had a 101:13 K:BB ratio after the All-Star break. He’s hardly an unknown, but I’d still say there’s an argument Lee is the most underrated player in baseball.
A.L. Cy Young
1) Justin Verlander – While Verlander’s season was terrific, it’s been a bit overrated in the media, most likely thanks to the 24-5 record. His ERA+ is more or less right in line with all past Cy Young winners. Nevertheless, he had a great season and deserves the hardware.
2) CC Sabathia – Fangraphs WAR actually has Sabathia a fraction higher than Verlander (7.1 vs. 7.0), and while I admit the latter’s .236 BABIP was fortunate, I’m going to give him far more credit for it, especially considering the Yankees’ UZR (23.2) was way, way better than the Tigers’ (-3.7).
3) Jered Weaver – He’s the real deal, especially now locked into Angel Stadium long-term.
N.L. ROY
1) Craig Kimbrel – I’d prefer not to give this award to a reliever, but he just turned in one of the better ones in the history of baseball as a rookie.
2) Brandon Beachy – Freddie Freeman is likely to finish second, which means the Braves’ rookie class was quite impressive. Clearly, I believe Beachy was more valuable, however, as he meant more to the team’s success than a first baseman who posted a sub .800 OPS while playing poor defense.
3) Cory Luebke – Came down to Luebke or Josh Collmenter.
A.L. ROY
1) Jeremy Hellickson – While his 117:72 K:BB ratio over 189.0 innings suggests his ERA will rise in the future, should we give him full credit for posting a 2.95 ERA, or do we credit a strong Rays defense and punish him for being lucky? It’s debatable. But his main competitor (at least in my eyes) Michael Pineda also played in a terrific pitcher’s park and allowed 12 more runs in 18 fewer innings.
2) Michael Pineda – Looked dominant at times. If changeup gets better, he’s a future No. 1.
3) Eric Hosmer – Many options here. Brett Lawrie’s 2.7 WAR was second only to Pineda, which is impressive in just 150 at-bats, while Dustin Ackley, Desmond Jennings and Mark Trumbo (.291 OBP outweighs the 29 homers) are all legit candidates, Hosmer’s solid performance over (in most cases) much longer playing time gives him the edge. Fangraphs hated his defense, but first base is sketchy when it comes to UZR.
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