Post season Awards talk

[Matt]

I'm going to start the discussion. Last year, I waited too late and I think it might have cost Martin Griffin an all-leather award. This year, I'm going to start the discussion, pimp a few of my players, and lay out my ballot. Hopefully no one gets robbed like Griffin did last season.

Fittingly, I will start with Griffin. And as much as I want to pimp him for the all leather award, I can't. He had a great season with the glove, but his errorless streak came to an end and he committed two errors. He still had a fine season, but Ernesto Salazar, the KY rookie, outplayed him.

my vote for CF - Ernesto Salazar KY

Over in left field, three fine left fielder vie for the title. Mostas probably eliminated due to his errors. Which leaves Neal (Ky) and SA's Madrigal. I am giving the nod to my guy Madrigal, but these guys are very close in many categories and I would not be surprised by a very split vote.

my vote for LF - Carlos Madrigal SA

In RF, Miyata is proven fielder who already has an all-leather award at CF under his belt. But he kicked the ball a few times adapting to RF this season, and despite his great range he can't be considered for the award this season. It really looks like a two player race for the award, Bernal and Arnold, and a very split vote here would not surprise. I'm going to go with Bernal.

my vote for RF - Vicente Bernal - CST

3b again looks like a no brainer. Kelly's range and surehandedness make him the easy vote

my vote for 3b - Michael Kelly SA

at shortstop, Taketo, Kichida, and Deschamps all had very good seasons. I'll lean to Taketo who might have made a few more plays

my vote for SS - Rikiya Taketo - GLO

at second base, Artie Marsh gets to everything. Unfortunately, he probably gets penalized a little for that, as he kicked the ball more than any second basemen as well. So I have to go with Gainey as having the best defensive season.

my vote for 2b - Glen Gainey - GLO

I think you could make cases for a few guys at first base. Valdez, Morimoto, and Moore come to mind. They are have very similiar range, so I am going to lean to the consistency of Moore.

my vote for 1b - Millard Moore - LON

At C, Benitez did a lot behind the plate to help his team. Unfortunately, he also led the league in errors at the catcher spot. If Benitez had just been middle of the pack in errors, I would have given the award to him. Instead, Jeff Graham.

my vote for C - Jeffery Graham - CST

At the pitcher spot, always a hard spot to give the award to, I am going with Carlos Cervantes. He gets a lot of ground balls and fields his position very well.

my vote for P - Carlos Cervantes - CST


Over in the sub League -

In RF, Cortez played about 300 less innings than the league leaders. And still led the league in assists. He gets to everything and is very sure handed.

my vote for RF - Jose Cortez - CAN

In CF, we stay in Canton. Much like his outfield mate, he gets to everything and is surehanded.

my vote for CF - Jack Miller - CAN

The vote in left field was a little harder, but while Wood couldn't justify staying in the lineup with his woeful bat, his work with the leather was rather impressive.

my vote for LF - Glenn Wood - YUM

SS was a difficult call in the SL. Guys with great range kicked the ball too much. Sure handed guys had limited range. I split the difference in the end and went with Quinones by default. Not that I wouldn't be surprised to see a very split vote here as well.

my vote for SS - Augusto Quinones - AUR

At 3b, a very easy call. He couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, but he can field.

my vote for 3b - Ernest Mathis - OMA

At second base, another Cyclone who dry heaves his way through at bats, but can pick it in the field

my vote for 2b - Si-on Yi - OMA

At first base, we look for sure hands first and foremost.

my vote for 1b - Ramon Flores - FAR

At pitcher, always tough, but we like Jose Cruz. Lots of ground balls and he only kicked one all season.

my vote for P - Jose Cruz - CL



At Royal Raker, in the IL a good case could be made for Morimoto with his huge power numbers, but Pexego was the far tougher out.

Royal Raker IL - Ocatvio Pexego SA

In the SL, it would have been nice to have seen what Chris Weaver would have done in a full season. Instead we fall back to the #1 threat to America, a Bear.

Royal Raker SL - Pat Lilly - BAK

For the Golden Arm, in the SL it's a hands down no brainer. Hancock is just dominant and with any help from the offense or bullpen he would have easily have won 5 more games.

Golden Arm SL - Markus Hancock - TEM

Over in the IL, I am going with Anthony Cox. It's pretty easy to split the vote between two or three pitchers there, but Cox is easily one of the huge keys to getting London to the playoffs. In a down year for pitching in the IL, this GA award may slip away from McCullough.

Golden Arm IL - Anthony Cox - LON

[John]

I'm looking forward to conducting the Postseason Awards voting through StatsLab. It's going to make it a lot easier to compare players to one another. Previously you had to load up the game and dig through stats using filters... extremely inconvenient. The new system should be a huge improvement.

[Tyler]

There are some pretty clear-cut awards this year, but most of the big ones have several legitimate contenders.

In reverse order of prestige:

Sovereign League (get it? ) All-Leather

• P - Idris Gahiji, YUM
• C - Wilson Berry, AUR
• 1B - Narahiko Imada, OMA
• 2B - Si-on Yi, OMA
• 3B - Ernest Mathis, OMA
• SS - Bud Hoffmann, YUM
• LF - Glenn Wood, YUM
• CF - Jack Miller, CAN
• RF - Ki-tong Pei, BAK

Imperial League All-Leather

• P - Minoru Hashimoto, KEN
• C - Jesus Prieto, KEN
• 1B - Rob Raines, ARL
• 2B - Artie Marsh, NJ
• 3B - Ramon Arroyo, GLO
• SS - Rikiya Taketo, GLO
• LF - Oliver Neal, KEN
• CF - Ernesto Salazar, KEN
• RF - Gregory Arnold, GLO

Wunderkind
SL: Sok-man Yi, CL
IL: Rafael Tapia, LON

Golden Arm
SL: Markus Hancock, TEM
IL: Conan McCullough, NO

Royal Raker
SL: Pat Lilly, BAK
IL: Octavio Pexego, SA

[John]

Wunderkind
SL: Sok-man Yi, CL

No joke. With the pace he was on, he'd have challenged for the Royal Raker over a full season. Where the heck did he come from?!?

[Badgers]

Wunderkind
SL: Sok-man Yi, CL

No joke. With the pace he was on, he'd have challenged for the Royal Raker over a full season. Where the heck did he come from?!?

[John]

Wunderkind
SL: Sok-man Yi, CL

No joke. With the pace he was on, he'd have challenged for the Royal Raker over a full season. Where the heck did he come from?!?

Hey, don't feel bad. You offered mi Yi in a trade before he went to CL. I didn't think he looked all that special. So I'm in the same boat as you.

[Badgers]

I've got the DH spot handled pretty well so he didn't fit that well. Glad he went to a good home and is producing though.

[Sandgnats (Bill)]

At Royal Raker, in the IL a good case could be made for Morimoto with his huge power numbers, but Pexego was the far tougher out.

Royal Raker IL - Ocatvio Pexego SA

I DON'T BELIEVE MY EYES!

A hearty congratulations goes out to Matt Higgins (SA GM)!! After years and countless number of mistakes, he spelled Octavio Pexego's name correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Matt, there are 2 E's in his last name-he's from South America.

You're probably asking yourself, "It's not that big of a deal to not know how to spell a random player's name, is it?" Well, Octavio Pexego is a star and he has played 270 games for a certain team..............You guessed it-San Antonio! If you don't recall from the paragraph above, that's the same team that Matt runs. shhhhhh

So, I thank you Matt for getting rid of that annoying 'A' in Octavio's last name!

On a relevant issue.......
I agree that Pexego should land the Royal Raker Award for the Inferior League. He had a simply stunning season and should feel great pride for his 2010 efforts. An 87.9 VORP in one year is truly amazing!

[Matt]

So it took me a few seasons to lose the A.

At least I call him by his name. Our manager refers to him as Octagon Smith.

[Matt]

I don't like that the utility grouped all OF together. I think it would be much better if they were grouped by position, LF, CF, RF. I see very worthy candidates getting screwed in the voting, noticably corner outfielders. Comparing the range of CF and corner OF spots is hurting the corner OF in the voting, IMO. If the utility broke down the voting by position, there is no way Madrigal in the IL and Cortez in the SL would not win awards. But as it stands now, both are getting hosed by a less than perfect voting utility.

[John]

I think I asked Frank about this and was told it wasn't possible to break them down by position? I'll double check with him to be sure.

[John]

I got my answer back quickly. This is actually exactly how MLB does it. The Gold Glove Award voting doesn't differentiate between OF positions. It's apparently an area of some controversy, but at least I know why Frank is doing it that way; it's how it works in real life.

[Matt]

I got my answer back quickly. This is actually exactly how MLB does it. The Gold Glove Award voting doesn't differentiate between OF positions. It's apparently an area of some controversy, but at least I know why Frank is doing it that way; it's how it works in real life.

It's an injustice in both cases. I'm contacting the ACLU!!!

[Coqui]

Right off the confirmation screen.

Imperial League

Royal Raker Award
1 1B Octávio Pexego San Antonio Calzones of Laredo

Golden Arm Award
1 SP Anthony Cox London Underground

Wunderkind Award
1 1B Rob Raines Arlington Bureaucrats

All-Leather Award
1 SP Jerry Jones New Jersey Hitmen
2 C Bradley Loyd Gloucester Fishermen
3 1B António Coronado Gloucester Fishermen
4 2B Artie Marsh New Jersey Hitmen
5 2B Ramón Arroyo Gloucester Fishermen
6 SS George Riley West Virginia Coal Sox
7 CF Orlando Germán London Underground
8 CF Jun Saikawa New Jersey Hitmen
9 CF Ernesto Salazar Kentucky Thoroughbreds

Sovereign League

Royal Raker Award
1 RF Pat Lilly Bakersfield Bears

Golden Arm Award
1 SP Markus Hancock Tempe Knights

Wunderkind Award
1 DH Sok-man Yi Crystal Lake Sandgnats

All-Leather Award
1 SP Chris Grinnell Omaha Cyclones
2 C Wilson Berry Aurora Borealis
3 1B Yoichi Inoue Yuma Bulldozers
4 SS Si-on Yi Omaha Cyclones
5 SS Ernest Mathis Omaha Cyclones
6 2B Bud Hoffmann Yuma Bulldozers
7 CF Alberto Delgado Bakersfield Bears
8 CF Jack Miller Canton Longshoremen
9 CF Dan White Reno Tenpinners

[Denny]

Right off the confirmation screen.

Sovereign League
Golden Arm Award
1 SP Markus Hancock Tempe Knights

In the results I noticed that two people DIDN'T vote for Markus as first choice for the Golden Arm award! That makes no sense because to me it seems obvious that he is clearly the best pitcher in the SL.