As many of our readers were submitting their ballots for the Internet
Baseball Awards, 13 Baseball Prospectus staffers went into the polling
booths themselves, voicing their opinions on who should win the major
baseball awards this year. Here are the results:
National League MVP
Player Ballots (First) Points Barry Bonds 13 (13) 182 Sammy Sosa 13 116 Luis Gonzalez 13 97 Rich Aurilia 13 85 Chipper Jones 13 69 Randy Johnson 9 52 Albert Pujols 12 37 Curt Schilling 8 26 Lance Berkman 7 25 Mike Piazza 6 24 Phil Nevin 6 13 Shawn Green 6 11 Gary Sheffield 3 7 Todd Helton 3 6 Larry Walker 2 6 Scott Rolen 1 5 Brian Giles 2 3
Nobody should be stunned that Barry Bonds emerged on top unanimously;
anybody who didn’t put him there might have gotten their baseball analyst
license revoked. In fact, there wasn’t much disagreement about anyone in the
top half of the list; each of the top five candidates appeared on every
ballot. Randy Johnson, at sixth, got the most support of any pitcher
in either MVP race.
American League MVP
Player Ballots (First) Points Jason Giambi 13 (7) 152 Alex Rodriguez 13 (6) 147 Bret Boone 13 102 Roberto Alomar 13 102 Jim Thome 11 52 Bernie Williams 9 43 Derek Jeter 10 39 Edgar Martinez 10 34 Manny Ramirez 8 22 Ichiro Suzuki 7 20 Mike Cameron 5 15 Joe Mays 3 11 Carlos Beltran 3 7 Juan Gonzalez 2 6 Carlos Delgado 2 5 Mike Mussina 1 5 Troy Glaus 3 4 Eric Chavez 2 3
There was both unanimity and disagreement about the AL MVP among the
Prospectus staff. Every single ballot had the same top four candidates, but
there was an almost down-the-middle split over whether Jason Giambi
or Alex Rodriguez deserved the MVP. No doubt the Athletics’
performance as a team was the key to Giambi’s narrowest of victories. Nine
of the 11 top AL vote-getters made the postseason.
National League Cy Young Award
Player Ballots (First) Points Randy Johnson 13 (13) 130 Curt Schilling 13 91 Darryl Kile 12 47 Matt Morris 10 28 Greg Maddux 6 18 Javier Vazquez 6 10 Chan Ho Park 2 6 John Burkett 2 4 Wade Miller 1 3 Al Leiter 1 1
Every Prospectus ballot had the same top two names for the NL Cy Young. You
might have noticed their performances in the World Series.
American League Cy Young Award
Player Ballots (First) Points Mike Mussina 13 (3) 88 Joe Mays 12 (5) 83 Mark Mulder 13 (3) 78 Freddy Garcia 10 (1) 49 Mark Buehrle 10 20 Tim Hudson 5 (1) 18 Roger Clemens 1 1
Prospectus analysts ignored not only the league’s best won-loss record but
also the winner of the ERA title by selecting Yankee hurler Mike
Mussina in an extremely close vote over the Twins’ Joe Mays and
the Athletics’ Mark Mulder.
National League Rookie of the Year
Player Ballots (First) Points Albert Pujols 13 (12) 63 Roy Oswalt 12 (1) 36 Jimmy Rollins 11 13 Adam Dunn 1 3 Shawn Chacon 2 2
The BP staff may not have thought all that much of Albert Pujols‘s
MVP candidacy, but they almost unanimously gave him their support for the NL
Rookie of the Year award.
American League Rookie of the Year
Player Ballots (First) Points Ichiro Suzuki 13 (12) 63 C.C. Sabathia 13 (1) 41 David Eckstein 6 6 Alfonso Soriano 4 4 Joel Piniero 2 2 Bob File 1 1
Similarly, Ichiro‘s MVP candidacy may not have been taken
particularly seriously here, but he easily won overwhelming support as the
best of his rookie class.
National League Manager of the Year
Manager Ballots (First) Points Jim Tracy 7 (5) 31 Dusty Baker 4 (1) 14 Larry Bowa 3 (2) 11 Bruce Bochy 4 10 Tony LaRussa 3 (1) 9 Bob Brenly 2 (1) 6 Larry Dierker 3 5 John Boles 2 2 Don Baylor 1 1 Bobby Valentine 1 1
Only 10 staffers chose to submit a ballot for the Manager of the Year
awards, and there was such a difference of opinion among those ten that ten
different managers appeared on at at least one ballot. Clearly, there’s a
lot less agreement among these voters about what makes a good manager than
on what makes a good player.
American League Manager of the Year
Manager Ballots (First) Points Lou Piniella 10 (6) 40 Art Howe 7 (1) 23 Tom Kelly 4 (1) 10 Jimy Williams 5 (1) 9 Mike Scioscia 3 (1) 7 Joe Torre 1 1
Clearly, winning 116 games can impress even the most skeptical Prospectus
writer.
Thank you for reading
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