2016 MLB Awards

No one reads what I write when I write about baseball, but Mike Trout is still playing the sport, so I feel I should write about that at least once a year.  So, let's see how short we can make this post.  As usual, I'm just "voting" on the big six player awards, none of the other stuff.  And I'll list as many runners-up as I feel like because I can.  Hooray!

AL Rookie

1. Gary Sanchez - C, New York
2. Michael Fulmer - SP, Detroit
3. Edwin Diaz - RP, Seattle
4. Alex Bregman - 3B, Houston

When it comes to the rookie award, I generally tend towards quality over quantity, so Sanchez's ridiculous start gets the nod over Fulmer's solid year.  My heart wanted to go with Edwin Diaz who was striking out an average of two batters per inning for an alarming amount of time, but I couldn't quite pull the trigger.

AL Cy Young

1. Chris Sale - Chicago
2. Rick Porcello - Boston
3. Justin Verlander - Detroit
4. Corey Kluber - Cleveland

In a year with a bunch of worthy third-place finishers, someone has to win.  Zach Britton is honestly a tempting case, but 1) Dellin Betances is actually the best reliever in the AL and 2) The above list of starters all had good enough seasons to eclipse a reliever with fewer than 70 innings pitched.  Sale gets the slight edge for me, combining his new pitch-to-contact mentality with what is still a pretty darn good strikeout rate.  That said, if any of the four win the award, I will be content.

AL MVP

1. Mike Trout - OF, Los Angeles
2. Mookie Betts - OF, Boston
3. Josh Donaldson - 3B, Toronto
4. Manny Machado - 3B/SS, Baltimore
5. Jose Altuve - 2B, Houston
6. Adrian Beltre - 3B, Texas

I left off a level of players that are great and had great years.  Francisco Lindor, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Carlos Correa, some other guys, a bunch of pitchers.  Think about how good those guys are.  Then think about how much better the group from 2 to 6 is on the above list.  The various combinations of youth, speed, power, and patience displayed by these players make for a list worthy of their own MVP causes.  And then think about the difference between those players and Mike Trout.  And then you realize just how much of an MVP he really is.

NL Rookie

1. Corey Seager - SS, Los Angeles
2. Trea Turner - 2B/OF, Washington
3. Trevor Story - SS, Colorado
4. Kenta Maeda - SP, Los Angeles
5. Jon Gray - SP, Colorado

The NL had a much stronger rookie crop than the AL this year, both at the top and further down the list.  Corey Seager's near-MVP performance easily wins this, but in a normal year you could make a case for anyone else on my list plus a few players who shined in fewer games/innings.

NL Cy Young

1. Clayton Kershaw - Los Angeles
2. Jose Fernandez - Florida
3. Noah Syndergaard - New York
4. Max Scherzer - Washington

Four completely different seasons.  Four imperfect, and yet, Cy-worthy seasons.  It's basically impossible to make a fully rational decision here, so I defaulted to quality over quantity.  Kershaw may have only pitched 149 innings, but he also only walked 11 batters in that time frame while posting some of the best rate stats in the world.  Jose (RIP) finally reached his full potential and started striking everybody out.  Thor was somewhere in the middle of the top two, pitching more innings than Kershaw but with fewer Ks than Fernandez.  And finally, Scherzer would have won the whole thing (he's the only one of the four to pitch a full season) if it wasn't for a little trouble with the homer.

NL MVP

1. Kris Bryant - 3B, Chicago
2. Corey Seager - SS, Los Angeles
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B, Atlanta
4. Daniel Murphy - 2B, Washington

Well that would be a pretty good infield, wouldn't it?