Click here for the full results of the voting.
It's time to announce the winners of the 15th annual Internet Baseball Awards. More than 1,400 cyberspace baseball fans participated in this effort to honor those players and managers whose performance in 2006 were most deserving.
The point system for the balloting was as follows:
- Player of the Year ballots: 14 points for first-place votes, nine points for second-place votes, eight points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a tenth-place vote.
- Pitcher of the Year ballots: Ten points for first-place votes, seven points for second-place votes, five points for third-place votes, three points for fourth-place, and one point for fifth-place votes. This is the one award where our point system always differs from the BBWAA point system, because we use a longer ballot.
- Rookie of the Year ballots: Ten points for first-place votes, seven points for second-place votes, five points for third-place votes, three points for fourth-place, and one point for fifth-place votes. Because of the unusually large rookie crop this year, we used a longer ballot and different point system than we have in the past; we have usually used the same ballot we use for Manager of the Year balloting.
- Manager of the Year ballots: five points for first-place votes, three points for second-place votes, and one point for third-place votes.
—
2006 INTERNET NL Player of the Year: ALBERT PUJOLS
National League Player of the Year
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 B P 1. Albert Pujols 800 316 57 16 7 1 0 0 2 0 1199 14663 2. Ryan Howard 276 502 182 119 52 17 9 4 6 3 1170 11131 3. Carlos Beltran 77 200 265 231 152 62 25 21 11 1 1045 8023 4. Miguel Cabrera 19 93 304 230 134 64 33 19 8 1 905 6475 5. Lance Berkman 12 31 162 240 250 91 49 30 14 10 889 5702 6. Chase Utley 3 18 29 42 88 145 118 76 49 24 592 2805 7. Jose Reyes 10 14 54 65 87 81 80 71 44 23 529 2724 8. David Wright 4 6 27 59 85 107 99 70 55 32 544 2532 9. Alfonso Soriano 6 12 55 60 73 73 66 68 56 28 497 2463 10. Roy Oswalt 1 3 6 25 29 25 45 38 27 22 221 933 11. Chris Carpenter 0 2 11 14 20 39 24 36 41 15 202 820 12. Jason Bay 0 3 5 10 25 34 39 36 25 30 207 801 13. Brandon Webb 1 2 4 13 19 29 35 29 40 21 193 742 14. Brian McCann 2 2 6 6 19 24 27 49 27 42 204 721 15. Barry Bonds 1 2 4 6 22 23 21 15 18 27 139 545
Albert Pujols was the National League Internet Player of the Year for the second year in a row, easily beating out runner-up Ryan Howard. Pujols did it by capturing almost two-thirds of the first-place votes, his strongest showing ever, on the way to his sixth consecutive finish in the top four. He had previously finished fourth in 2001 and 2002 and second in 2003 and 2004 before winning his first Internet Player of the Year award in 2005.
Pujols (.331/.431/.671, 12.9 WARP3) and runner-up Ryan Howard (.313/.425/.659 9.4 WARP3) had very similar overall offensive statistics in 2006, but Pujols' defensive play and his team's division championship may have given him an edge in the minds of the voters. Howard's strong second-place finish came in just his second year in the major leagues, a remarkable achievement after he won the Internet NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2005.
Carlos Beltran (.275/.388/.594, 11.8 WARP3) finished third, and was the only other player to receive a significant number of first-place votes. His defense in center field no doubt helped him, and perhaps also his career-high 95 walks. Beltran had slumped badly in his first year with the New York Mets in 2005, and thus did not receive any Player of the Year votes, but he twice previously finished in the top ten in Internet Player of the Year: seventh in 2004's NL voting, and ninth in the 2003 AL balloting.
The Marlins' Miguel Cabrera (.339/.430/.568, 11.7 WARP3) finished fourth in this year's voting; he previously finished fifth and 2005 and 20th in 2004. Lance Berkman (.315/.420/.621, 9.9 WARP3) recorded a fifth-place finish, marking the third time he has made the top ten; he previously finished ninth in 2004 and sixth in 2002. Chase Utley (.309/.379/.527, 8.6 WARP3), who finished sixth, made the top ten for the first time; he previously finished 14th in the 2005 voting.
Mets third baseman David Wright (.311/.381/.531, 10.2 WARP3) followed up his eighth-place finish in 2005 by moving up a notch to seventh, while fellow Mets infielder Jose Reyes (.300/.354/.487, 7.2 WARP3) received significant voting support this year for the first time, and finished eighth. In ninth and tenth were two more newcomers to the top ten: Alfonso Soriano (.277/.351/.560, 10.2 WARP3) in ninth place (his previous high finish was 20th in the 2003 AL voting), and Astros ace Roy Oswalt, the highest-ranking pitcher (220 IP, 166 K, 8.9 WARP3) in this year's NL Player of the Year voting.
The two NL West teams that made the playoffs had no players in the top 15; the Dodgers' highest player was Nomar Garciaparra in 16th place, while the Padres' highest was Trevor Hoffman, also 2006's highest-placing relief pitcher (22nd). The Cubs, Reds, and Brewers all failed to place a player in the top 24 slots. The Mets finished with four players in the top 20; no other team except the Braves finished with even three players in the top 30. Eight-time winner Barry Bonds (.270/.454/.545, 6.9 WARP3) finished 15th.
—
2006 INTERNET NL Pitcher of the Year: BRANDON WEBB
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 B P 1. Brandon Webb 392 400 220 65 16 1093 8031 2. Roy Oswalt 401 276 232 83 28 1020 7379 3. Chris Carpenter 274 333 389 101 26 1123 7345 4. Carlos Zambrano 61 55 93 131 112 452 1965 5. Trevor Hoffman 52 42 60 92 64 310 1454 6. Bronson Arroyo 12 31 51 164 138 396 1222 7. John Smoltz 10 21 49 109 151 340 970 8. Billy Wagner 18 18 22 28 37 123 537 9. Roger Clemens 6 17 20 32 31 106 406 10. Aaron Harang 7 11 13 43 34 108 375 11. Chris Young 0 5 10 28 31 74 200 12. Jake Peavy 3 9 10 14 13 49 198 13. Derek Lowe 3 6 10 18 12 49 188 14. Tom Glavine 5 6 12 8 10 41 186 15. Josh Johnson 1 7 11 18 13 50 181
The 2006 Internet NL Pitcher of the Year race was an extremely close three-way hunt in which the Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb (235 IP, 178 K, 9.2 WARP3) outpolled Astros ace Roy Oswalt and last year's runner-up, Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter (221.2 IP, 184 K, 7.8 WARP3).
Carpenter, who finished second to Roger Clemens in the 2005 voting, appeared on more ballots than either Webb or Oswalt, but finished third as a result of receiving far fewer first-place votes than either of his two major competitors.
Webb had previously earned a fourth-place finish in 2003, the same year he won the Internet NL Rookie of the Year award, but was not a factor in 2004 or 2005. Oswalt's second-place finish, his highest ever, makes him the only pitcher in baseball to have finished among the top ten in Internet Pitcher of the Year voting in five of the last six years–he previously finished sixth in 2005, fifth in 2004, third in 2002, and seventh in 2001.
Carlos Zambrano's (214 IP, 210 K, 8.4 WARP3) fourth-place finish is also his highest finish ever; he previously finished 11th in 2005 and seventh in 2004. Trevor Hoffman (63, 50 K, 5.9 WARP3), the highest-ranking reliever, grabbed fifth place. The sixth-place finisher, John Smoltz (232 IP, 211 K, 8.8 WARP3), has never won an Internet Pitcher of the Year, but has finished in the top ten eight times and the top 20 13 times since the award's 1991 inception. Five-time winner and 2005 Internet NL Pitcher of the Year Roger Clemens (113.1 IP, 102 K, 5.5 WARP3) finished ninth after posting the lowest ERA in the majors of any pitcher with more than 100 IP. Clemens has now finished in the top 20 in every year of Internet Pitcher of the Year voting except 1993.
—
2006 INTERNET NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: HANLEY RAMIREZ
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 B P 1. Hanley Ramirez 497 252 144 49 19 961 7620 2. Dan Uggla 228 354 295 99 50 1026 6580 3. Ryan Zimmerman 308 249 162 69 44 832 5884 4. Joshua Johnson 38 64 112 151 73 438 1914 5. Prince Fielder 26 44 78 81 80 309 1281 6. Matt Cain 22 36 49 71 86 264 1016 7. Takashi Saito 15 46 52 66 44 223 974 8. Anibal Sanchez 7 21 49 53 70 200 691 9. Russell Martin 16 22 32 50 40 160 664 10. Josh Willingham 9 13 35 48 45 150 545
Many observers didn't think Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez (.292/.353/.480, 8.7 WARP3) was ready for the majors, including the Red Sox front office that traded him to Florida in the deal that netted Josh Beckett. Ramirez had long been regarded as a good prospect, but he had not lived up to his hype in the minor leagues. Florida nevertheless gave Ramirez the chance to be the team's everyday shortstop, and Ramirez responded with a spectacular debut season. Hanley not only posted an OBP of .353 and stole 51 bases, he also played strong defense at shortstop and slugged .480. Dan Uggla (.282/.339/.480, 9.3 WARP3), Ramirez' double-play partner, finished a strong second after the Rule 5 draftee slammed 27 home runs while playing a solid second base. Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (.287/.351/.471, 8.1 WARP3) finished third, and was less of a surprise, but hitting .296 with a .357 OBP and a .471 SLG while playing sparkling defense was still much more than expected for a player out of college less than a year. Yet another Marlin rookie–starting pitcher Josh Johnson (157 IP, 133 K, 5.8 WARP3)–finished fourth after posting a 3.10 ERA.
—
2006 INTERNET NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: JOE GIRARDI
Rnk Name 1 2 3 B P 1. Joe Girardi 871 173 43 1087 4917 2. Willie Randolph 235 469 165 869 2747 3. Bruce Bochy 42 172 142 356 868 4. Grady Little 23 139 147 309 679 5. Tony La Russa 19 54 60 133 317 6. Charlie Manuel 9 55 64 128 274 7. Phil Garner 7 48 54 109 233 8. Jerry Narron 3 32 40 75 151 9. Bobby Cox 5 29 21 55 133 10. Frank Robinson 5 19 42 66 124
The Marlins hired Joe Girardi to guide their young team, and he did a good enough job to win the 2006 Internet NL Manager of the Year Award. Most pundits predicted that the very low payroll Marlins would crash and burn, but Girardi helped keep in the team in the playoff hunt for much of the season. Girardi is the first rookie manager to ever win an Internet Manager of the Year Award, and he is the youngest manager to ever earn NL Internet Manager of the Year honors. He is also the first Internet Manager of the Year to be fired before winning the award.
Willie Randolph finished second in the voting after leading the Mets to the best record in the league in his sophomore season as manager. Bruce Bochy also led his team to the playoffs and finished third, his highest showing since he finished second to Larry Dierker in 1998. Last year's winner, Bobby Cox, finished ninth, his lowest finish ever.
—
2006 INTERNET AL Player of the Year: DEREK JETER
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 B P 1. Derek Jeter 533 333 193 103 60 33 16 10 5 12 1298 13365 2. Joe Mauer 259 346 221 144 105 50 34 29 9 7 1204 10644 3. Johan Santana 252 219 257 128 110 73 33 23 11 7 1113 9706 4. David Ortiz 98 118 164 191 185 131 104 78 52 28 1149 7630 5. Travis Hafner 82 103 137 180 154 108 95 67 47 27 1000 6597 6. Justin Morneau 100 121 129 119 119 87 83 64 66 48 936 6207 7. Jermaine Dye 15 40 65 138 136 134 97 84 67 49 825 4365 8. Frank Thomas 58 50 68 107 112 62 78 62 44 46 687 4169 9. Grady Sizemore 6 30 57 83 105 85 75 56 66 29 592 3075 10. Carlos Guillen 11 19 40 68 92 62 78 54 40 31 495 2568 11. Manny Ramirez 2 9 20 41 49 50 49 50 63 41 374 1613 12. Vladimir Guerrero 1 3 8 11 19 31 32 37 47 43 232 827 13. Miguel Tejada 1 2 5 11 21 28 32 39 36 30 205 762 14. Jim Thome 0 1 7 15 15 19 33 35 41 35 201 709 15. Roy Halladay 0 3 1 9 16 33 18 36 39 27 182 644
For the second year in a row, but also only the second time in Internet Player of the Year voting history, a New York Yankee has been voted the Internet American League Player of the Year. Last year it was Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez who captured the honor, while this year it's his fellow infielder, shortstop Derek Jeter (.343/.417/.483, 12.1 WARP3). Jeter was named on the most ballots, and earned 37.3% of all first-place votes, by far the highest total of any player. But he was far from a unanimous choice–seven different players received first-place ballots from a significant number of voters, making this year's balloting the most divided in Internet Award history.
Despite having the highest profile of any currently active baseball player, Jeter had not received a particularly large amount of support from Internet Player of the Year voters over the last decade. Before his first-place finish this year, Jeter had made the top ten in only three previous seasons: he finished tenth in 2001, ninth in 1998, and second in 1999, that last being the year most people think of as the best of Jeter's career.
Catcher Joe Mauer (.347/.429/.507, 10.6 WARP3) helped lead the Minnesota Twins to the AL Central title, finishing a very strong second; no receiver had ever before finished higher than fifth in AL Internet Player of the Year voting. Johan Santana, the highest finishing pitcher on the ballot for the third year in a row, finished in 3rd place, just as he did in 2004; no pitcher has won an Internet Player of the Year Award since Pedro Martinez in 1999.
David Ortiz (.287/.413/.636, 9.4 WARP3) has clearly become one of the premier hitters in the game, and finished fourth this year, putting him in the top ten for the fourth year in a row. He finished second in 2005, fifth in 2004, and seventh in 2003. Travis Hafner (.308/.439/.659, 9.2 WARP3), another DH who probably had the best offensive season of anyone in the majors before an injury ended his year in September, followed up his fourth-place finish in 2005 with a fifth-place finish this season. Justin Morneau (.321/.375/.559, 8.6 WARP3) became the first Twin to hit 30 homers in a season since the 1980s, and finished sixth, giving the Twins three of the top six slots. Outfielder Jermaine Dye (.315/.385/.622, 10.4 WARP3) finished in seventh place, and was perhaps the biggest surprise in the American League in 2006; in his ten previous major league seasons, his highest finish was 22nd place in the 2000 Internet AL Player of the Year voting. Two-time Internet Player of the Year award winner Frank Thomas (.270/.381/.545, 5.8 WARP3) returned to the top ten for the first time since 2000 by finishing eighth. Shortstop Carlos Guillen (.320/.400/.519, 8.2 WARP3), the highest ranking member of the American League champion Tigers, proved that his spectacular breakout season in 2004 was no fluke and finished tenth.
—
2006 INTERNET AL Pitcher of the Year: JOHAN SANTANA
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 B P 1. Johan Santana 1375 22 7 0 2 1406 13941 2. Roy Halladay 7 817 178 78 41 1121 6954 3. Chien-Ming Wang 8 131 270 132 115 656 2858 4. Justin Verlander 5 116 168 139 67 495 2186 5. Francisco Liriano 8 79 198 129 118 532 2128 6. Jonathan Papelbon 6 75 153 129 105 468 1842 7. Barry Zito 2 32 86 86 78 284 1010 8. Joe Nathan 0 26 73 50 37 186 734 9. Mariano Rivera 2 27 43 41 28 141 575 10. Francisco Rodriguez 1 24 36 32 27 120 481 11. John Lackey 1 7 36 28 29 101 352 12. C.C. Sabathia 0 11 31 25 37 104 344 13. Mike Mussina 0 3 26 37 14 80 276 14. B.J. Ryan 0 6 22 28 34 90 270 15. Jeremy Bonderman 0 6 17 23 21 67 217
Johan Santana (233.2 IP, 245 K, 10.7 WARP3) captured his third Internet AL Pitcher of the Year Award in a row in as one-sided a vote as the Internet Baseball Awards have ever held. Santana won 96.7% of all first-place votes, his highest total yet. Santana earned this overwhelming victory by leading the American League this year, in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched, batting average allowed, on-base percentage allowed, slugging average allowed, and too many other categories to list. With this victory, Santana becomes the first American League pitcher and third pitcher overall in Internet Pitcher of the Year history to win three IBA Pitcher of the Years in a row. Greg Maddux (1992-1994) and Randy Johnson (who won four in a row from 1999-2002) previously accomplished this feat in the National League.
In July of 2005, Roy Halladay (220 IP, 132 K, 8.6 WARP3) looked like he might be able to outduel Santana for the 2005 Pitcher of the Year Award, but a line drive resulted in an injury which ended his season prematurely, and in 2006 he has to settle for second place behind Santana. Halladay was the last pitcher to win the Internet AL Pitcher of the Year (in 2003) before Santana's reign began, and he's pretty clearly established himself as the second best pitcher in the league after finishing in the top five in four of the last five seasons.
Yankees sophomore righthander Chien-Ming Wang (218 IP, 76 K, 7.0 WARP3) finished a surprisingly strong third after a year during which his sinker consistently kept opponents off the scoreboard. It remains to be seen, however, if a pitcher with as low a strikeout rate as Wang's can succeed in the long term.
Justin Verlander's 186 innings pitched of 3.63 ERA ball helped take the Tigers from the basement to a league championship; it also helped him finish fourth in the balloting. Placing fifth was Twins lefthander Francisco Liriano (144.2 IP, 177 K, 7.2 WARP3) struck out 10.7 per nine and posted a 2.16 ERA over 121 innings pitched before his season was cut short by injury. Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon (68.1 IP, 75 K, 8.4 WARP3) posted an amazing 0.92 ERA before he was shut down for the season, and finished sixth. Whatever his feats this season, he's likely to move to the rotation next season, for good or ill.
—
2006 INTERNET AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: FRANCISCO LIRIANO
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 B P 1. Francisco Liriano 475 396 234 70 33 1208 8935 2. Justin Verlander 513 335 221 87 16 1172 8857 3. Jonathan Papelbon 255 369 327 162 49 1162 7303 4. Jered Weaver 37 108 276 300 116 837 3522 5. Joel Zumaya 10 43 92 149 190 484 1498 6. Kenji Jojima 20 27 57 105 147 356 1136 7. Nick Markakis 11 21 52 76 138 298 883 8. Melky Cabrera 7 10 27 39 69 152 461 9. Ian Kinsler 3 7 17 53 82 162 405 10. Jeremy Sowers 4 2 5 6 13 30 110
The battle for the Internet AL Rookie of the Year came down to three remarkable rookie pitchers. In the closest Internet Award race ever, Francisco Liriano just barely edged Justin Verlander. Jonathan Papelbon finished third, Angels starter Jered Weaver (123 IP, 105 K, 5.7 WARP3) finished fourth, while flamethrowing Tiger reliever Joel Zumaya (83.1 IP, 97 K, 4.7 WARP3) came in as the fifth-palce finisher. Verlander's success was evaluated by Nate Silver earlier this season.
—
2006 INTERNET AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: JIM LEYLAND
Rnk Name 1 2 3 B P 1. Jim Leyland 889 259 75 1223 5297 2. Ron Gardenhire 189 454 242 885 2549 3. Ken Macha 131 348 266 745 1965 4. Joe Torre 79 179 225 483 1157 5. Ozzie Guillen 6 14 35 55 107 6. Mike Scioscia 3 16 21 40 84 7. John Gibbons 5 12 19 36 80 8. Joe Maddon 2 10 12 24 52 9. Buck Showalter 4 5 7 16 42 10. Terry Francona 1 6 16 23 39
Jim Leyland returned to the major league managerial ranks for the first time since he quit the Rockies after the 1999 season, and he proceeded to earn Internet AL Manager of the Year honors by leading the Detroit Tigers to 95 wins–20 more than they had in 2005–and the American League pennant. Finishing second was Ron Gardenhire, who led Minnesota to the AL Central title. Ken Macha guided the Athletics to a division title, and finished third for the second time in his four years with the Athletics, but his performance wasn't enough to hold onto his job. Joe Torre finished fourth, marking the eighth time in nine years he has finished in the top five, though he hasn't won the award since 1998. Last year's winner, Ozzie Guillen, fell to fifth place.
Greg Spira is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus. You can reach Greg by clicking here.
Thank you for reading
This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.
Subscribe now