Awards Voting Issues over the past 5 Seasons-Part Three

NOTE: This is Part Three  of a 5 Part Series.

The BBWAA votes on the four main awards in each league, Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year. They don’t do a very good job on it, and this article series is going to detail the mistakes they have made over the past five seasons.

The Award winners in 2008 were: AL MVP-Dustin Pedroia, NL MVP-Albert Pujols; AL Cy Young-Cliff Lee, NL Cy Young-Tim Lincecum; AL ROTY-Evan Longoria, NL ROTY-Geovany Soto; AL MOTY-Joe Maddon, NL MOTY-Lou Piniella

Regarding Pedroia, he did have a good season, hitting .326 with 17 Homeruns, 213 hits, 20 steals, and a WAR of 5.2. I think that since the top hitters were weak in ’08 that the pitchers, like Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee should have gotten at least a fair amount of consideration, especially with his WAR of 7.3. If a hitter must win the award, then I truly believe that Grady Sizemore should win it. Sizemore hit 33 Homers, stole 38 bases, and had a WAR of 5.1. When comparing the two hitters, Sizemore has a comparable on-base percentage and slugging percentage to Pedroia, even though his batting average was 60 points lower than the MVP. Bad choice, BBWAA. Grade: D-

That Albert Pujols did not win the ’08 MVP unanimously surprises me, though it seems to be a pattern that many of the writers vote for the top Homerun hitters like Ryan Howard, even if they hit only .251. Howard did hit 48 Homeruns as well, but with a WAR of only 2.8. Pujols hit .357 with 37 Homers and a WAR of 9.6. The right player did win, but the margin was not near large enough. Grade: B

The same idea for Pujols goes for Clifton Phifer, who went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and a WAR of 7.3. Roy Halladay and Francisco Rodriguez also had good seasons, but the wins and WAR should have made Lee a unanimous choice for this award and even given him a large amount of consideration in the AL MVP race, especially when considering Jake Peavy put up similar stats in ’07 and won the Cy Young unanimously. Grade: A-

The ’08 NL Cy Young voting decided a two-horse race between Lincecum and Brandon Webb. Webb had solid stats of 22 wins, an ERA of 3.30 and a WAR of 5.1. Those stats could win a Cy Young most seasons, but Lincecum was outright “freaky.” Big Time Timmy Jim won 18 games with a 2.62 ERA, 265 strikeouts, and a WAR of 6.9. Grade: B+

The call-up of Evan Longoria for the Tampa Bay Rays helped immensely in propelling them the franchise’s first playoff berth. The BBWAA saw this and rewarded him by voting him as the American League Rookie of the Year unanimously. Longo hit 27 Homers and had a WAR of 3.8 in ’08. Grade: A

Geovany Soto was a good catcher and had a great rookie season, but I do not believe he was the right choice for Rookie of the Year. The BBWAA was way off here, as Soto was near-unanimously given this award. Starting Pitcher Edinson Volquez won 17 games and amassed over 200 strikeouts for a fifth-place Reds team with an ERA 3.21 and a WAR of 4.6. Grade: F

Joe Maddon turned around a terrible team in the Rays and won a division and a pennant with a team that most saw as a total surprise. Ron Gardenhire also had somewhat of a surprise team and had a truly unexpected second-half that put his team in a one-game playoff that they unfortunately lost, though their run led to a change in how one-game playoffs are decided. Grade: A-

Sweet Lou led his Cubbies to the best record in the Senior Circuit (no pun intended). Charlie Manuel finished second, but the margin seems a little wide between the two. My guess is that the “100 Years” Cubs story was the reason. A good choice was made by the BBWAA, but the race was should’ve been more even than it was. Grade: B