Well, the 2014 regular season is behind us. It was a pretty wild and crazy season, and I’m sure the next month of playoffs won’t let us down either. But what else is there to do at the end of the season aside from hand out some hardware? The TOC staff was ask to provide MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year ballots for both the American and National Leagues. Five candidates were named for MVP, while only three were named for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. Points were awarded in a 5-4-3-2-1 manner for the MVP awards, and a 5-3-1 manner for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards
The results aren’t all that surprising, and we have no idea if the BBWAA will follow suit when their ballots are revealed in November. And without any further ado…
AL MVP
Mike Trout (40 points, eight first place votes)
Michael Brantley (21 points)
Jose Bautista (21 points)
Jose Abreu (10 points)
Josh Donaldson (10 points)
Robinson Cano (5 points)
Alex Gordon (4 points)
Adam Jones (4 points)
Jose Altuve (3 points)
Miguel Cabrera (1 point)
Nelson Cruz (1 point)
Before the season started, a friend of mine said that Mike Trout would have the worst of his three years in the majors this season, and would win the AL MVP award because the Angels had a better record. Sure enough, the Angels had the best record in baseball, Trout has had the worst year of his career…and he’s probably still going to win the award unanimously. Trout has stolen just 16 bases, but smashed a career-high 36 homers. He’s hit .287/.377/.561, the worst triple slash of his career. He’s struck out 184 times, by far the most in his career, and walked 83 times. And despite all that, he’s still the best player in baseball and the runaway choice for AL MVP.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t other players who have had great years. Michael Brantley had a 20/20 year for the Indians, hit 45 doubles, and walked nearly as much as he struck out. Jose Bautista stayed healthy for the Blue Jays, homered 35 times, walked more than he struck out, and got on base at a .403 clip. We’ll talk about Jose Abreu more later, but his debut in America with the White Sox was a rousing success. Josh Donaldson followed up his breakout 2013 with a 29 homer, Gold Glove caliber 2014. Yeah, the state of the year is pretty damn good when it comes to young talent right now.
NL MVP
Andrew McCutchen (37 points, five first place votes)
Clayton Kershaw (28 points, three first place votes)
Giancarlo Stanton (26 points)
Jonathan Lucroy (13 points)
Buster Posey (8 points)
Anthony Rendon (7 points)
Madison Bumgarner (1 point)
This was the closest vote that our staff had. Do you go with the reigning NL MVP and a guy who’s posting better offensive numbers this year in Andrew McCutchen, or do you go with a pitcher having one of the most dominant seasons we’ve seen in years in Clayton Kershaw? Our staff sided with the hitter, but it was quite close. Kershaw actually has a better fWAR than every player in the National League (including McCutchen), but he only made 27 starts and didn’t get to the 200 inning mark.
McCutchen hit .314/.410/.542 this year with 25 homers and 18 stolen bases for the Pirates, and is one of the most dynamic and exciting players in the league. He also bit his lip and soldiered on despite a cracked rib suffered in August, and didn’t miss a beat while dragging the Pirates to the playoffs for the second straight year. Either player would be a worthy choice to win the award, but I’m thinking that the BBWAA will give the nod to Kershaw. He wasn’t our choice, but there’s nothing wrong with picking him at all.
This looked like Giancarlo Stanton’s award to lose as the second half rolled along, but when Stanton suffered facial injuries after getting hit by a pitch earlier this month, those hopes seemed to go up in smoke (despite a solid month up until that point). Jonathan Lucroy also deserves some attention, because he was fantastic for the Brewers this year despite their late season collapse. His 53 doubles were the most ever in a season by a catcher, the rest of his offensive numbers were better than nearly every catcher in baseball, and he’s one hell of a receiver behind the dish as well.
AL Cy Young
Corey Kluber (34 points, six first place votes)
Felix Hernandez (28 points, two first place votes)
Jon Lester (5 points)
Chris Sale (2 points)
Max Scherzer (2 points)
David Price (1 point)
If there were any doubts about Kluber’s Cy Young candidacy, he answered them on Friday night after he threw eight shutout innings against the Rays, striking out 11 and walking just two. Kluber finished his season with quality starts in 13 of his 14 starts after the All-Star Break, striking out 127, walking just 19, and pitching to a 1.73 ERA in 104 innings. For the season, Cleveland’s newest ace finished second in the AL in innings pitched, second in strikeouts, tied for first in wins (if that’s your thing), and third in ERA.
This was Felix Hernandez’s award to lose at the All-Star Break, and he didn’t lose it as much as Kluber just took the damn thing away from him. Hernandez still had a fantastic year, finishing third in the AL in innings pitched, fourth in strikeouts, and first in ERA, but Kluber simply had a better overall year.
NL Cy Young
Clayton Kershaw (40 points, eight first place votes)
Adam Wainwright (13 points)
Madison Bumgarner (9 points)
Johnny Cueto (8 points)
Stephen Strasburg (1 point)
Well who exactly were you expecting here? At the All-Star Break, there was actually some debate as to whether or not Kershaw or Adam Wainwright deserved the award. Kershaw pitched just as well in the second half as he did in the first half, and any hope of a breakdown disappeared. His 1.77 ERA was the lowest in baseball since Pedro Martinez’s 1.74 mark in 2000, and marked the fourth straight year that the Dodgers’ ace led baseball in that category (something that no one in baseball history aside from Kershaw can say). He finished third in the NL in strikeouts, despite starting just 27 games.
On an unrelated note, how much more love would Johnny Cueto be getting if the Reds weren’t such a bad baseball team? He set career-bests in nearly every relevant statistic this year, a season after making just 11 starts.
AL Rookie of the Year
Jose Abreu (40 points, eight first place votes)
Collin McHugh (17 points)
Dellin Betances (7 points)
Matt Shoemaker (6 points)
Masahiro Tanaka (2 points)
This was supposed to be a battle between Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tanaka. Then Tanaka’s elbow started bothering him, and he became a complete non-factor in the second half. But even if he pitched great after the All-Star Break, no one was going to stop Abreu. The Cuban slugger put together a five-win season for the White Sox at first base, smashing 36 homers and hitting a ridiculous .317/.381/.581. The crazy part is that after Abreu hit 29 homers in the first half, he hit just seven in the first half…while increasing his batting average by 50 points and his on base percentage by 85 points. Now that’s just disgusting.
Tanaka wasn’t even the highest-finishing Yankee in our balloting. Set-up man Dellin Betances threw 90 innings in relief for New York, struck out 135, walked only 24, and pitched to a 1.40 ERA. Hey, that reminds me of that other reliever in New York…what was his name, Mario something or other?
NL Rookie of the Year
Jacob deGrom (38 points, seven first place votes)
Billy Hamilton (26 points, one first place vote)
Tyler Matzek (4 points)
Joe Panik (3 points)
Ken Giles (1 point)
No one really staked a claim to the NL Rookie of the Year award until September. Billy Hamilton was just sort of coasting along all year, but completely fell apart in the second half, hitting just .200/.254/.257 with only 18 stolen bases. For the year, his 56 steals and above average defense in center field were dampened by a .250/.292/.287 line at the plate.
And then, there’s Jacob deGrom. No one expected much from the Mets’ rookie to start the year, and then he started destroying hitters at the plate. In the second half, deGrom threw 66 2/3 innings, pitched to a 2.03 ERA, struck out 72, and walked only 15 while allowing a pathetic .189/.239/.269 to opposing hitters. For the year, deGrom struck out 144 hitters in 140 1/3 innings and posted a 2.63 ERA. That’s good enough for our staff. The Mets could be very fun to watch next year with deGrom, Zack Wheeler, and a returning Matt Harvey heading up that rotation, not to mention Bartolo Colon, Dillon Gee, and Jon Niese.
