For full results to this year's IBA voting, look here. For NL Wrap up, look here.
It's that time of year when we announce the winners of the 18th annual Internet Baseball Awards. More than 1,200 baseball fans from cyberspace participated in this effort to honor those players and managers whose performances in 2009 were most deserving. Today we'll announce the winners of the American League voting, which featured both the closest IBA race ever and the most dominant Player of the Year voting performance ever.
The point system for the balloting was as follows:
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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.
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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 point system we use for this award differs from the BBWAA point system because we use a longer ballot.
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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. As with the Pitcher of the Year, we use a longer ballot than the BBWAA.
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Manager of the Year ballots: Five points for first-place votes, three points for second-place votes, and one point for third-place votes.
2009 IBA AL Player of the Year: Joe Mauer
Rnk Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ballots Points 1. Joe Mauer 1153 81 16 8 5 3 0 1 1 2 1270 17107 2. Derek Jeter 32 385 220 130 90 46 29 19 13 6 970 7558 3. Mark Teixeira 22 215 203 152 117 80 57 39 36 27 948 6477 4. Zack Greinke 33 274 195 116 81 44 30 20 13 6 812 6218 5. Ben Zobrist 7 78 126 104 105 54 47 32 37 25 615 3819 6. Miguel Cabrera 7 54 79 122 115 78 72 40 32 36 635 3658 7. Kevin Youkilis 0 28 53 66 85 58 54 38 30 24 436 2352 8. Alex Rodriguez 7 46 47 55 56 35 37 31 28 14 356 2095 9. Kendry Morales 3 29 59 56 57 42 25 35 19 13 338 1975 10. Evan Longoria 0 13 36 51 61 47 46 33 20 17 324 1703 11. Felix Hernandez 3 5 24 50 55 48 40 42 30 17 314 1562 12. Roy Halladay 0 7 26 44 45 35 40 21 17 14 249 1295 13. Bobby Abreu 3 12 33 34 43 29 20 19 12 12 217 1228 14. Jason Bay 2 7 16 25 41 33 30 20 22 14 210 1043 15. Adam Lind 0 2 14 22 29 32 28 25 21 28 201 875
After two second-place finishes in 2006 and 2008, Twins catcher Joe Mauer climbed to the top of the mountain this year, as net denizens made him their overwhelming choice as the 2009 IBA American League Player of the Year. Mauer earned a sliver under 90 percent of all first-place votes, using his bat and his glove to lead the Twins to the AL Central crown after many baseball observers had written the team off. Mauer is the first-ever American League catcher to win IBA Player of the Year honors, and he's the first MLB catcher to do so since Mike Piazza achieved the feat in 1996 and 1997.
Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Zack Greinke were the only three players to receive more than 10 first-place votes. Jeter's second-place finish in the 2009 voting comes a decade after he finished second in the 1999 AL Player of the Year voting. Jeter has had only one other top five finish during his career-he finished first in 2006-but over his career, Jeter has placed in the top 25 ten times. Teixeira's third-place finish is the best of his career; his previous high was sixth place in 2005. He has now finished in the top 20 four times.
On the other hand, fourth-place finisher Zack Greinke's only previous Player of the Year votes came in 2008, when he squeaked through in 45th place. Greinke overcame playing on the 2009 Royals, one of the worst teams in baseball, to put together a stunningly successful season and placed higher in internet Player of the Year voting than any pitcher since Johan Santana in 2006.
The most unexpected name in the top ten has to be Ben Zobrist, the name of a player that many baseball fans still wouldn't recognize. Before the 2009 season began, Zobrist was a relatively nondescript utilityman for the Rays, and little was expected of him this season. But Zobrist got his bat going in mid-April, giving the Rays a 945 OPS while playing every defensive position except pitcher and catcher over the course of 152 games. The voters recognized his efforts with fifth place.
Miguel Cabrera was something of a disappointment in his first year as a Tiger in 2008, but he rebounded in 2009 and finished sixth in the voting, marking the fourth time in five years he has finished in the top ten in internet Player of the Year voting. Red Sox corner infielder Kevin Youklis finished seventh, marking his second straight year in the top ten.
And then there's Alex Rodriguez. Despite a small controversy you may have heard whispers about during spring season, and despite an injury that prevented him from playing in April and may have weakened his performance when he did come back, he did pretty well for himself in 2009. His eighth-place finish marks the eleventh year Rodriguez has finished in the top 11, though it also marks the first two-year stretch of his career in which he did not finish in first or second place.
Kendry Morales finished ninth and was, like Ben Zobrist, a player who had never appeared on a single IBA Player of the Year ballot before 2009. Roy Halladay, the 12th-place finisher, made the top 15 for the fourth time in his career. Bobby Abreu, who finished 13th, found himself back in the top 25 for the first time since 2005, the last year of a seven-year stretch during which he placed in the top 25 perennially.
The highest-placing rookie was Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, who finished in 44th place. The highest placing reliever was, as usual, Mariano Rivera; he finished 19th.
Five of the top 10 ranking players were on teams that made the playoffs, while 16 of the top 20 played for teams that won more games than they lost in 2009. The highest placing finisher from the Chicago White Sox was Mark Buehrle, who was 69th. No other American League team had their highest-ranking player anywhere near that low.
2009 IBA AL Pitcher of the Year: Zack Greinke
Rnk Pitcher 1 2 3 4 5 Ballots Points 1. Zack Greinke 1105 69 14 7 2 1197 11626 2. Felix Hernandez 44 683 237 75 25 1064 6656 3. Roy Halladay 16 226 417 152 93 904 4376 4. Justin Verlander 14 119 210 293 139 775 3041 5. CC Sabathia 22 66 170 235 211 704 2448 6. Mariano Rivera 6 26 72 99 95 298 994 7. Jon Lester 2 10 45 79 159 295 711 8. Josh Beckett 2 3 3 4 20 32 88 9. Joe Nathan 0 1 7 11 10 29 85 10. John Lackey 1 2 5 6 8 22 75
The 2009 IBA American League Pitcher of the Year winner is one of the best baseball comeback stories in years. Zack Greinke was a promising, rather polished 20-year-old pitcher when he came up to the majors in 2004. His ability to pitch at the big-league level was immediately clear. Unfortunately, his ability to live the life of a major league ballplayer was murky. It took several years for Greinke to overcome his challenges with depression and gain a positive outlook on playing baseball. By the end of 2008, his comeback was complete, so in 2009, Greinke took to making the opposition depressed whenever he was pitching. The Royals' ace finished the season with a microscopic 2.18 ERA and a 4.75:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He took 91 percent of all first-place votes and walks away with an internet Pitcher of the Year award. Greinke's previous highest finish came in 2008, when he placed 17th.
Up until 2009, Felix Hernandez had been more potential than performance. However, it's now clear that the future for Hernandez has arrived. He pitched 238
Roy Halladay's third-place finish marks the fourth time the Blue Jays' hurler has finished in the top the top three. He is the only pitcher in the top ten to have won this award twice. Overall, he has placed in the top 25 seven times.
To no one's surprise, Mariano Rivera was the top-ranking relief pitcher, placing sixth. Rivera has never won this award-he took second place in 2006-but he has finished in the top ten nine times. In the last 14 years, he has placed in the top 30 each time.
Tigers ace Justin Verlander, recovering from an off year in 2008 to help keep his team in the AL Central race, finished fourth. CC Sabathia, another former winner, finished fifth, marking the third straight year he has finished in the top five. In addition, it's the sixth straight year Sabathia has finished in the top 30.
Fellow Red Sox hurlers occupy seventh and eighth place. Jon Lester, who placed seventh, made his top 10 debut in 2008 when he finished third. Eighth-place finisher Josh Beckett was the runner-up in both the 2007 AL voting and the 2003 NL voting. Twins closer Joe Nathan finished ninth, marking the fourth time in the last six years he has finished in the top ten. John Lackey's 10th-place finish gives him five straight years in the top 11.
2009 IBA AL Rookie of the Year: Rick Porcello
Rnk Name 1 2 3 4 5 Ballots Points 1. Rick Porcello 257 228 178 87 47 797 5364 2. Elvis Andrus 211 208 166 88 46 719 4706 3. Andrew Bailey 238 124 137 74 45 618 4200 4. Gordon Beckham 162 186 165 112 47 672 4130 5. Jeff Niemann 58 99 93 65 63 378 1996 6. Brett Anderson 73 57 61 51 33 275 1620 7. Nolan Reimold 26 47 56 68 73 270 1146 8. Matt Wieters 13 34 53 48 58 206 835 9. Ricky Romero 5 10 23 39 71 148 423 10. Neftali Feliz 4 14 17 26 26 87 327
In a close race, the voters chose Detroit Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello as the IBA 2009 AL Rookie of the Year. The right-hander went north with the major league club after only one season in the minors. Though he got roughed up in three of his first four big-league starts, the 21-year-old held his ground the rest of the season, playing a key role in stabilizing the Tigers' rotation.
Elvis Andrus, the shortstop acquired by the Rangers in the deal that sent Mark Teixeira to Atlanta in 2007, finished second in the voting. He helped improve an overhauled Rangers' defense, which helped enable the team to contend for the majority of the season.
Oakland reliever Andrew Bailey took over the closer role in June and finished strong, and takes third place. The 25-year-old righty struck out 91 batters and walked only 24 in 83
Finishing just behind Bailey was Gordon Beckham, the White Sox' 23-year-old third baseman. Beckham was one of the few things that went right for the White Sox. He will move to second base for the 2010 campaign.
2009 IBA AL Manager of the Year: Mike Scioscia
Rnk Name 1 2 3 Ballots Points 1. Mike Scioscia 394 255 131 780 2866 2. Ron Gardenhire 252 255 126 633 2151 3. Ron Washington 125 184 147 456 1324 4. Joe Girardi 102 108 127 337 961 5. Don Wakamatsu 97 109 102 308 914
Mike Scioscia has been voted the IBA American League Manager of the Year for the second time in his career after leading what was perhaps his best Angels club to a division crown. In his ten years on the ballot, Scioscia has finished among the top six nine times, taking the title in 2002 and twice finishing second.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire finished second in the balloting for the fourth time, clearly establishing himself as the internet voters' bridesmaid of choice. Gardenhire's eight years in command have also garnered two third-place finishes. Completing his second season as the Rangers' skipper, Ron Washington finished third in IBA voting, improving upon his seventh-place finish in 2008. In his second year at the helm of the Yankees, Joe Girardi, the 2007 internet NL Manager of the Year, rose from ninth place to fourth place as his team led the league in wins and won the World Series.
Rookie skipper Don Wakamatsu pointed well in his first season running the Mariners to finish a strong fifth. Rays manager Joe Maddon, last year's winner, fell to ninth after his team failed to make the playoffs.
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Personally, I don't understand people who don't vote for pitchers -- but there are lots of them, and the ones who don't trust defensive stats could reasonably vote high for A-Rod or Teixeira or both, regardless of who they root for.
And yes, I am one of the 33 people who gave a first place vote for Zack Greinke as the AL MVP.
For the record: that wasn't me! But with a voting pool as relatively large as this one was, there's a chance that a handful of people could have read the ballot incorrectly.
Would I rather have Anderson next year? Probably. Did he pitch 'better' than Porcello this year? Maybe. Did Porcello have a better rookie season? Yes.
So Anderson was 'better' than Porcello but Porcello was better than Anderson? I'm not sure I understand your use of inverted commas.
We don't tend to cut batters slack for that kind of bad luck, especially not in MVP voting. For pitchers, luck is an even bigger factor, but we still tend to look at outcomes when it comes to MVP voting. In the debate currently running about whether Cole Hamels actually pitched 'better' last year than this year, or whether the difference in outcomes was entirely crazy luck (in both directions) on balls in play. Either way, nobody would argue that he should get the same Cy Young consideration this year as last year.
So, I was saying that it's quite possible that Anderson threw better pitches in better locations at better times, but that Porcello's *results* were better -- possibly just due to dumb luck.