Staff Awards Picks

While the AL MVP discussion has probably reached the point where there’s not much left to say, there are a few other postseason awards that are up for grabs. This year, a good chunk of them are pretty clear cut, with our staff mostly selecting the same guys at each spot, with there only really being one or two races where there was much division among the ranks. We simply asked for winners, rather than a full ballot, so don’t take a player’s absence from the list as a lack of recognition, as there are a few guys who I’m sure were second on a lot of people’s ballots. Without further ado, let’s get to the picks, with the number of first place votes in parentheses.

AL MVP: Mike Trout (25)

He got all 25 votes, including mine. No big surprise here, and we probably don’t need to spend too much time on this one, given all the discussion over the last few weeks.

NL MVP: Buster Posey (14), Ryan Braun (10), Andrew McCutchen (1)

I’ve leaned towards Yadier Molina for the last couple of weeks, but Posey just continued to crush the ball down the stretch and opened up a large enough offensive lead that it felt like a stretch to give it to Molina, though the difference is quite small. In fact, the arguments for Braun and McCutchen are plenty valid, and I’d say there are a group of candidates from which you can’t really go wrong this year. There are no bad choices in this mix.

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander (22), David Price (3)

While Price’s lead in both wins and ERA will probably be enough to get him the actual Cy Young, our staff went with the guy who leads in both a WAR based on FIP and one based on runs allowed. While Price was excellent, it’s hard to ignore the defensive differences between the two teams and wonder whether this would even be a race if the two had switched teams. Price is a legitimately great starter, but Verlander is probably the best pitcher in baseball right now, and I was one of those who felt that he deserved a second straight Cy Young Award.

NL Cy Young: R.A Dickey (12), Clayton Kershaw (11), Johnny Cueto (1), Craig Kimbrel (1)

Easily the closest race, Dickey barely sneaks out the win, though I cast my lot with Kershaw. They were both so good that it’s really splitting hairs to choose between them. For all intents and purposes, this is a tie. Interestingly, no one was wooed by either Gio Gonzalez or Kris Medlen, who I thought might sneak in on a ballot or two.

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout (25)

Maybe the easiest vote in the history of postseason awards.

NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper (23), Wade Miley (2)

Harper wasn’t quite unanimous, but his strong flourish to end the season helped make this less of a race than it would have been had we polled the staff even a week or two ago. Jim Breen cast one of the two votes for Miley, and will be explaining why he went against the grain in a separate post on the site shortly.

Below are all the individual selections for the voting staff members. Cast your aspersions appropriately, and remember Detroit fans, most of us voted for Verlander!

Name	AL MVP	NL MVP	AL Cy Young	NL Cy Young	AL Rookie	NL Rookie
Alex Remington	Trout	McCutchen	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Ben Duronio	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kimbrel	Trout	Harper
Bill Petti	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Bradley Woodrum	Trout	Posey	Price	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Brandon Warne	Trout	Posey	Price	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Carson Cistulli	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Chris Cwik	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Colin Zarzycki	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Dan Wade	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Dave Cameron	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
David Wiers	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Eno Sarris	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Eric Seidman	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
J.P. Breen	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Miley
Jack Moore	Trout	Posey	Price	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Jeff Sullivan	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Jeff Zimmerman	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Cueto	Trout	Harper
Marc Hulet	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Matt Klassaan	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Michael Barr	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Mike Newman	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Mike Petriello	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Paul Swydan	Trout	Braun	Verlander	Kershaw	Trout	Harper
Wendy Thurm	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Harper
Zach Sanders	Trout	Posey	Verlander	Dickey	Trout	Miley