Why do I need to have an account with Baseball Prospectus to vote for the Internet Baseball Awards?
— SS
Several reasons. First, it makes it easy for us to keep track of who is voting and make sure your votes cannot be overwritten unless you give someone else your login information. In the past, we did this by e-mail address; the obvious problem here is that if anyone knew your email address, they could overwrite your ballot by using it on the forms. Your having a Baseball Prospectus account enables us to automatically send you your login information to your registered email address if you forget it, and you can update your account information at any time if it changes.
Second, once you are logged in we no longer have to ask for your e-mail address and name on each form.
–Dave Pease
Why are you asking for all this contact information for a Basic account? I just want to vote in the Internet Baseball Awards!
— RM
Good point. We've changed the signup process to ask you for contact information only in the event that you are purchasing a Premium product. The only personal information we require for a Basic account is your e-mail address.
–Dave Pease
Why did you get rid of the write-ins?
–JW
Because they were a lot harder to support than they were useful. What we decided to do instead this year is make the ballot really, really long (134 names on the NL Player of the Year ballot, for example), so anyone you might want to vote for for any of the awards is already included. That said, it is certainly possible for us to add players to the ballots as appropriate, so if you don't see someone you want to vote for on one of the ballots drop Greg an e-mail with the specifics.
–Dave Pease
Why isn't Rafael Soriano listed on the AL Rookie of the Year ballot? ESPN has him listed as a rookie.
–GS
The eligibility of Rafael Soriano for the American League Rookie of the Year award has been a subject of debate all year long. Major League Baseball itself added to the confusion by naming him the American League Rookie of the Month for August. However, this was an award that Soriano was not eligible for, as he passed the service time limit in 2002. As quoted directly from the Mariners' 2003 Information Guide, not coincidentally found below Soriano's biography on page 125; "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in military service and time on the disabled list)."
The 25-player limit extends from Opening Day through August 31st, as time spent on the major league roster in September does not count towards your rookie eligibility. However, this is moot in Soriano's case, as he did not spend any time on the roster after August 2nd. He was initially called up on May 8th and made his major league debut on May 10th. He stayed with the Mariners until they placed him on the disabled list on July 10th. He was then activated from the disabled list and optioned to Double-A San Antonio on August 2nd. From May 8th to July 10th, however, he accrued 63 days of service on the active roster. While his 47 1/3 innings pitched keep him under the limit of 50, he is disqualified by spending 18 days too many on the major league roster last summer. As great as Soriano was this season, he simply was not a rookie.
–David Cameron
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