I have entered a voting poll at Baseball Happenings and as a new weekly feature at Baseball Digest Daily I will report on my voting as well as linking the results from the voting which consists of twenty authors from various baseball websites.
For the first week I have been involved in, I was voting for the National League MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards. The voting is to be done as if the season were ending on that day. Which makes for a difficult process at times, as those unsustainable starts, a hot weekend, or even some good fortune allow for certain players to rewarded when they would otherwise be ignored. That is, at this point in the season, there is hardly a player, in my opinion, that has truly changed what one should expect from them, with Nate McLouth being one exception.
Here is how I voted (as of May 11, 2008):
Chase
Utley
Tim
Lincecum
Lance
Berkman
I have always been a proponent of what have you done for the team, however, that is not the be all, end all in the MVP ballot. It does however help when one team is among the division leaders and the others are not.
In the case of Utley, he has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball for the Phillies and doing so from a position not traditionally heralded as one to provide a great deal of offensive fire power. At the point of voting, Utley was leading in both win shares above bench (WSAB) as well as with value over replacement player (VORP) which also helped his case.
For Tim Lincecum, he had been, far and away, the most dominant starting pitcher in the National League and at 23 he still has a lot of room to grow. That said, I cannot see another pitcher who has essentially won games entirely on his own. The Giants have surprised many with their quick start, but Lincecum is the one player on this team that I foresee continued success.
Berkman has, for all intents and purposes, been the offensive equivalent of Utley. Some may argue he has been superior. I take into account supporting staff (which Berkman currently gets the nod from) and position (which again, works against Berkman).
Both Utley and Berkman are here to stay and should be among the MVP candidates in October.
NL Cy Young
Tim Lincecum
Brandon
Webb
Jake
Peavy
The Cy Young award is more of an individual award in my opinion, although pitchers do benefit from the team around them. I try not to punish a pitcher for performing in a pitchers park, but I have to admit it does sit in the back of my head.
At the time of voting, Lincecum led all National League pitchers in WSAB and VORP. This was enough for me to ignore the wins and place him atop the voting for the Cy Young. I am additionally enamored with Lincecum’s strikeout rate.
Webb has been downright nasty. The added focus to his Change Up has helped Webb to somehow improve his groundball rate, which is an excellent improvement considering the infield Webb has behind him.
Jake Peavy will presumably always be among my leaders for the National League Cy Young as long as he pitches in PETCO. It is interesting to note the discrepancy between Peavy’s stats on the road as opposed to at home where even his strikeout rate is improved (see Graph below, courtesy FanGraphs.com).
NL
Geovany
Soto
Jair
Jurrjens
Joey
Votto
The performance of young players in baseball today, specifically in the National League, is outstanding. Similar to the Cy Young award, this is more of an individual award which is based on performance, as well as position.
Soto is currently running away with the award as he is the best catcher in all of baseball. The fact that he is a rookie makes for his quick start to be that much more outstanding. Obviously the start is not sustainable, but as of today, Soto is clearly the class of the National League rookies. Another month or so of this type of performance, and Soto may find himself knocking on the door of the MVP.
Jurrjens is making those in
I’m confident Votto is receiving this vote because he is a Canadian. To this point, his performance has been nice, however not outstanding. Although the fact that Dusty has seen enough in Votto to move him up in the lineup does say a lot and should go a long way for the kid’s future in the league.
Check
out the entire vote from Week 6
in the National League. Feel free to leave comments and questions, as well as
your own personal opinion of whom you
would have voted for.