Kuzul

Roy Halladay is the National League’s Cy Young Award winner for the 2010 season. That much is certain, and why wouldn’t he be? He led the league in wins, complete games, innings pitched, shutouts, and finished in the top three in every other statistic of importance.

As for the others that could be considered, Johnson doesn’t have the wins, Jimenez’s ERA is much higher than the other three, and Wainwright falls just slightly behind Halladay in nearly everything, and looks to be the second place finisher. Besides, none of those three teams made the playoffs, which does factor into Cy voting; whether it should or not is a discussion for another time.

This is certainly not the first time that a pitcher had shown to be a clear choice for the Cy Young Award. In fact, it seems to happen fairly frequently. Over the last 25 years, there are 15 instances of very easy selections for the Cy Young Award.

Multiple winners are limited to two appearances on this slide for more variation, so Clemens or Maddux isn’t going to show up 4+ times.

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On November 9th at 2 P.M., the American League Gold Glove winners were announced. Having written up my own choices, I went and compared both. For the most part, the results were pretty spot on. Franklin Gutierrez and Carl Crawford’s first Gold Gloves were long overdue, and I was rooting for Evan Longoria to get another one over some who preferred Adrian Beltre.

There were only two that I did not pick that the MLB players and managers did. The first was Mark Teixeira at first base. I was hoping that Daric Barton would get it, but Teixeira had a good defensive season, and I can’t fault that selection. The second was shortstop, where I, as well as the other Featured Columnists at B/R, felt that Alexei Ramirez was the most deserving choice. Instead, they gave the award to Derek Jeter.

Wait, what?

Now, I would be very much willing to bet that many of those who voted did not bother to look past fielding percentage. To Jeter’s credit, he did lead the league in that statistic this season and last. Having said that, fielding percentage is only one of many factors to be taken into account when deciding the best fielder. It’s like picking the best reliever by saves and only saves.

Herein lies the rub, though: they can’t even use fielding percentage as their reasoning. After all, Jhonny Peralta had the best fielding percentage at third base, but no one in their right mind would ever give him a Gold Glove. The problem is when you look at the more advanced stats: Total Zone Fielding Runs, Defensive Runs Saved, etc.

In these rankings, Jeter isn’t among the top shortstops. He’s not in the top half, even. In fact, for some of the stats, out of the 59 AL players who spent time at shortstop this year, he ranks at the bottom. He is dead last in Rtot at -10, and in Rdrs he ranks 58th, only ahead of Yuniesky Betancourt.

If you’re still not convinced, his defensive WAR this season was -1.1. Yes, his defense cost the Yankees a win. It’s just strange that he wins yet another Gold Glove when, according to the stats, he’s a bad defender, and even many Derek Jeter fans don’t bring up his recent defense when admiring his talents.

I understand that the Gold Glove is a popularity contest. After all, it’s hard to figure out exactly who deserves a Gold Glove by looking only at stats, as it’s something where you have to watch the person play day in and day out. However, it’s not selected by the writers, but rather by the players and managers. In other words, it’s selected by the people who watch everyone play, and they still dropped the ball, badly.

Still, to pick the one who is statistically on par with Yuniesky Betancourt, of all people, to give a Gold Glove to? It ruins an otherwise fairly good selection of players.

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While 2010 has been the year of the pitcher, it has also been the year of the rookie. The National League has a crowded field of players who could all win the Rookie of the Year Award in any other year. The American League has a good group of candidates as well.

According to the MLB.com written up on the AL awards race, the finalists are Neftali Feliz, Austin Jackson, and Wade Davis, all of whom had very good years. Other people in the running, according to them, are as follows, taken right from the article: “Brennan Boesch, OF, Tigers; Reid Brignac, IF, Rays; Jason Donald, SS, Indians; Brian Matusz, Orioles; Will Rhymes, 2B, Tigers; Chris Sale, LHP, White Sox; Sergio Santos, RHP, White Sox; Carlos Santana, C, Indians; Josh Tomlin, RHP, Indians.”

Notice anyone missing in that list? How about a guy who hit .311 in 85 games and helped bring an injury-riddled team to 95 wins and the playoffs? Seriously, you put a guy who played in 45 games (Rhymes) and a guy who played in 46 games (Santana) in a finalist list, but leave off an obvious top-five selection who will certainly get a few votes?

It would be like looking at the NL finalists and leaving off Jaime Garcia completely. Not necessarily the guy that will win it, but someone who’s played enough and played well enough that he will be considered.

Let’s look at what Valencia brings to the table, or the ballot, for that matter. His stats for the most part don’t show dominance, but his .311 average is impressive, as is his .351 on base percentage and .799 OPS, both of which beat out Austin Jackson. His 2.5 WAR is also among the top of his AL contemporaries.

Beyond that, Valencia’s been a decent fielder in an unappreciated and difficult position, third base. Still, even when discounting the offense and defense, the intangibles that he brought to the team helped get them moving. When Brendan Harris and Nick Punto were ineffective, Valencia went right in to the hot corner and solidified that position for the team.

Did he help lead the team when Justin Morneau got injured? No, I won’t go that far. Those honors go to Joe Mauer and Delmon Young. Could we say that though about Josh Tomlin, Chris Sale, or Reid Brignac? Of course not, they were role players at best. Could we say that about Feliz or Davis? No, the Rangers had other great bullpen pitchers and the Rays had other great starting pitchers.

I understand that he has his weaknesses as well. He only played 85 games, unlike the other frontrunners, who played throughout the season. He doesn’t have any eye-popping numbers either, like Feliz does with his rookie saves record.

So am I saying that Valencia should absolutely be Rookie of the Year? Not necessarily. It’s a tough choice between the top four, and one could make a good argument for any of them.

But to leave him out of the discussion entirely? That’s just embarrassing.

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After 56 years of waiting, a change in location, and years of dealing with Candlestick Park, the San Francisco Giants have again reached the summit, winning the 2010 World Series, doing so with great pitching and a surge of hitting.

The 2010 World Series was not what many were expecting. Most had a Yankees-Phillies rematch, and many didn’t even have the Giants making the playoffs until a late September push. As a result, the Giants’ win is one of the more surprising ones.

Where does this Giants’ victory rank among the top 25 least likely world series champs?

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Game three of the World Series is tonight on Fox. The San Francisco Giants and Jonathan Sanchez will look to bounce up three games to none against the Texas Rangers and Colby Lewis.

The Rangers are in a must-win situation. Yes, if they lose they’re not yet eliminated, but you can count on one hand how many times a team has come back from a three games to none deficit in any playoffs (none come to mind beyond Boston‘s 2004 ALCS victory).

Colby Lewis has two wins against no losses coming into this game, so if anyone can pull it out, it should be him. Granted, the Giants have already shelled Lee. Jonathan Sanchez is 0-1, but nonetheless he has a sub-3.00 ERA, so on the surface this looks to be a pitcher’s duel.

We all know to expect the unexpected in this series though, and this proves to be no exception. I’ll make continuous updates as I watch, complete with immediate reactions, noting anything of major importance that may happen.

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We all know of the baseball greats, the players whose performances have stood the tests of time. Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Lefty Grove, not to mention the obvious ones. We know of those who are leading the charge in today’s game. Josh Hamilton, Tim Lincecum, Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, just to name a few.

The best in the game match up with the best of yesteryear, sometimes in ways that can be surprising. In the October 24 New York Times, George Vecsey compares Josh Hamilton to Mickey Mantle in ways that surprised myself. The two were troubled, yet were two of the best hitters of their respective eras.

This is just one of many comparisons between 20 of the top players in baseball and their respective historical counterparts. The comparisons are based on build, ability, stats, and just about anything else that makes a baseball player a baseball player, for better or worse.

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The American League Division Series has now concluded, and the New York Yankees are set to face the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. While the Yankees had a relatively easy time of advancing by sweeping the Minnesota Twins, the Tampa Bay Rays took the Rangers to the limit, making it a five game series.

The series, which is set to start on Friday, October 15, could go either way based on how both teams have been winning their respective games. That being said, it looks like the stage is being set for the Rangers going to their first World Series. They have the advantage going in, and for the following reasons, they are poised to win the American League Championship Series.

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As the regular season wraps up, many teams and their fans are looking to October and, they hope, a World Series win. For other teams and their fans, they are looking to the offseason, hoping to make a few trades or free agent acquisitions to bounce them back into contention.

In some situations, these trades end up paying huge dividends, and not always for the party that was looking to get the major piece. At the same time, once in a while there’s a great free agent pickup at a bargain that launches a team into the playoffs and a World Series ring.

Starting with the 1999-2000 offseason through this past one, this slideshow notes the 20 best steals of the past decade. Some may have slipped by me, as there’s nowhere to easily find these unless one has an institutional memory of these things.

The years listed in the slides is the offseason that it took place in. i.e. a trade from November 2000 to March 2001 will be listed as 2000.

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In the past couple weeks, baseball has begun to see its annual class of 20-game winners emerge. First was CC Sabathia, who will be going for win number 21 on Thursday. Second was Roy Halladay, who won his 20th game yesterday. Now, Jimenez is looking to win his 20th game.

This game is important beyond Jimenez trying to win 20 games though; the Rockies are 2.5 games back in the competitive National League West. They’re facing the Diamondbacks, who could still lose 100 games this season. It’s these games that any team has to win when they’re in a tight race.

The game starts at 9:40 Eastern Time, and I will continuously update on Jimenez and the other teams’ progress.

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As the 2010 season draws to a close, pennant races are taking shape for the final weeks, and the Wild Card picture is beginning to look more clear. In the case of the AL East, it’s quite clear that both teams will make the playoffs.

This does not mean that this race is of little importance. Quite the contrary, this Yankees-Rays showdown is shaping up to be one of the top September matchups. After the Sabathia-Price pitcher’s duel earlier this month, this four-game series is going to be hotly contested, with the winner likely winning the division and the loser being relegated to the Wild Card.

In this article I will discuss the hot and cold players on each team, possible game changers, and the pitching matchups before offering a prediction.

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