Predicting the 2019 Season: The MVP’s

And finally, the big one. The award that every player, pitcher or positional player, dreams of winning. The Most Valuable Player Award. Who will be the most outstanding, and subsequently the most valuable, player in each league in 2019? Well, if you’re using my predictions as a gauge, I can tell you that this is your first mistake, but even a blind squirrel eventually finds a nut. At least I hope, anyway.

If I am going to be wrong anyway at least I will be able to say looking back on these predictions that I was bold. The easy pick to win the American League MVP Award is to pick Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, etc., but that’s not me. I am picking Houston Astros infielder Alex Bregman. Bregman quietly had a great season in 2018 and is still only 24-years old, he turns 25-years old later this month. Bregman is just not ENTERING his prime and is still putting up the .286/.394/.532/.926 slash with 31 home runs and 103 RBI that he put up in 2018. The sky is the limit for this guy, folks, and I think that sky peaks this season with an AL MVP Award. Plus, he hates Boston possibly as much as I do… which isn’t nothing.

If I go bold in the AL, I have to go bold in the National League as well, right? I mean, it’s only fair, so with my National League pick I am going to go with a right-handed hitting first baseman out of the Philadelphia Phillies organization. His name is Rhys Hoskins, and not only will he win the NL MVP Award, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that he wins the 2019 State Farm Home Run Derby as well. Book it, it’s happening. Hoskins turns 26-years old this month and is coming off a season where he hit .246/.354/.496/.850 with 34 home runs and 96 RBI. Now he has Andrew McCutchen and others protecting him and getting on base in front of him, so look out for him here in 2019.

Those are your MVP Award winner predictions, and I guess they could go down as bold predictions as well. Check back with me in November or so to see how well, or not-so-well, I did. Enjoy!

Hello… Predictions!

Good morning Yankees family and welcome back to the blog. This morning and all weekend long I wanted to take a look back at some of the predictions that I made before the season to see just how well I did. Spoiler alert, without looking I am sure I did terrible. I usually do, but I am okay with that, so enjoy the predictions and the fun at my expense, and definitely enjoy your weekend. Much love to you all.

And much more love to you, my Kari Ann. You are my world and everything that is good in it, and I love you more today than I did yesterday… and I will love you more tomorrow than I do today until there are no more days left on this planet. I love you!

My IBWAA 2018 MLB Awards Ballot Reveal

2018 IBWAA Season Awards Ballot

	AL MVP	AL CY YOUNG	AL ROY	AL MANAGER	AL RELIEVER
1	MOOKIE BETTS	CHRIS SALE	MIGUEL ANDUJAR	KEVIN CASH	EDWIN DIAZ
2	JOSE RAMIREZ	IAN SNELL	GLEYBER TORRES	BOB MELVIN	CRAIG KIMBREL
3	MIKE TROUT	LUIS SEVERINO	SHOHEI OTANI	ALEX CORA	AROLDIS CHAPMAN
4	JD MARTINEZ	JUSTIN VERLANDER
5	FRANCISCO LINDOR	COREY KLUBER
6	MATT CHAPMAN
7	AARON JUDGE
8	JOSE ALTUVE
9	GIANCARLO STANTON
10	CHRIS SALE

	NL MVP	NL CY YOUNG	NL ROY	NL MANAGER	NL RELIEVER
1	NOLAN ARENADO	JACOB DEGROM	RONALD ACUNA	CRAIG COUNSELL	KENLEY JANSEN
2	FREDDIE FREEMAN	MAX SCHERZER	JUAN SOTO	GABE KAPLER	FELIPE VAZQUEZ
3	LORENZO CAIN	AARON NOLA	BRIAN ANDERSON	BRIAN SNITKER	RAISEL IGLESIAS
4	JAVIER BAEZ	PATRICK CORBIN
5	MATT CARPENTER	ZACK GREINKE
6	CHRISTIAN YELICH
7	PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT
8	EUGENIO SUAREZ
9	JACOB DEGROM
10	MAX SCHERZER

IBWAA SELECTS ALTUVE, STANTON IN MVP VOTE

IBWAA SELECTS ALTUVE, STANTON IN MVP VOTE

 

Los Angeles – The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) announced the winners in its Most Valuable Player category Thursday, with the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve winning the group’s American League award, and Giancarlo Stanton, of the Miami Marlins, being selected in the National League.

 

Altuve received 107 first-place votes (72.79%) and 1838 points while being named on 146 of 147 ballots (99.32%). Others receiving first-place votes include Aaron Judge (28), Mike Trout (7) and Francisco Lindor (2).

 

Stanton received 58 first-place votes (40%) and 1492 points while being named on 144 of 145 (97.96%) ballots. Others receiving first-place votes include Paul Goldschmidt (25), Nolan Arenado (20), Joey Votto (16), Charlie Blackmon (15) and Anthony Rendon (7).

 

Election results are as follows:

 

AL MVP

 

1^st Place:                  Jose Altuve, Houston Astros – 1838 points
2^nd Place:                 Aaron Judge , New York Yankees – 1341
3^rd Place :                  Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1067

4^th Place:                 Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians – 997

5^th Place:                  Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians – 562

6^th Place:                  Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians – 389

7^th Place:                  Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox – 376 

8^th Place:                  Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox – 280

9th Place:                 George Springer, Houston Astros – 207

10^th Place:                Andrelton Simmons, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 202

 

NL MVP

 

1^st Place:                  Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins – 1492 points
2^nd Place:                 Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks – 1115 
3^rd Place:                  Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds – 1025

4^th Place:                  Charlie Blackmon , Colorado Rockies – 1003

5^th Place:                  Nolan Arenado , Colorado Rockies – 959

6^th Place:                  Anthony Rendon , Washington Nationals – 577

7^th Place:                  Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs – 512

8^th Place:                  Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers – 253

9^th Place:                  Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers – 243

10^th Place:                Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals – 185

 

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates, using the Borda Method.

 

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

 
Among others, IBWAA members include Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, Billy-Ball.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jon Heyman and Jesse Spector, Today’s Knuckleball; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Brian Kenny, MLBN; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, TheAthletic.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; David Schoenfield of ESPN.com; Jim Bowden and Bill Arnold.

 

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a $75 lifetime fee. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Contact:

 

Howard Cole
Founding Director, IBWAA
baseballsavvy@aol.com

How Underrated is Didi Gregorius?

The title is a pretty straight-forward question, just how underrated is the Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius? I’m not talking about just on the field either, I’m talking about off the field as well. How damn lucky did the New York Yankees get when they made that trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Detroit Tigers a few seasons back bringing Gregorius to the Bronx? Do they even know how lucky they are with the acquisition? If the organization doesn’t they will after they get done reading this post I assure you.

Let’s start with what is quantifiable, the on-the-field version of Sir Didi. Gregorius is having another great season here in the Bronx for the Yankees and no one can notice because of the monster home run after monster home run from Aaron Judge this season. Quietly Didi has knocked Yankees great and former captain Derek Jeter from the Yankees record books here in 2017 with his 25^th home run of the season, most ever by a Yankees shortstop in a single season. Didi has always been an absolute wizard defensively and is slowing showing more and more power with every passing season with the Yankees making him one of the most valuable assets that New York has every single game. Imagine if Didi hadn’t missed the first three weeks of the season with a shoulder injury, he may have 30 home runs, 100 RBI and still be pushing an on-base plus slugging over .800. If it weren’t for Judge the Yankees shortstop would be their MVP here in 2017, and it wouldn’t be much of a discussion.

Off the field the Yankees shortstop runs a charity and organization called DIDIsDEEDs helping those in need and generally doing good deeds around New York City as the name implies. Didi has been seen handing out free tickets to Yankees games on the subway and even in the CN Tower this season as a part of DIDIsDEEDs meaning the left-hander fits the mold of a Yankee off the field as well. Looking for your next Yankees captain, Didi may fit the mold. I know he didn’t come through the system and I know the captain-ship would be handed to Judge or Brett Gardner first but I’m just saying that Didi wouldn’t be a bad choice for the job either. Didi bleeds Yankees pinstripes and represents the team and the organization very well, on and off the field.

Didi for Captain, 2018. Flame me below in the comments section.

Quick Hit: Revealing My IBWAA Awards Ballot for 2017

Want to Save Money? Extend These Players Now!

The New York Yankees have made it no secret that they wish to get under the luxury tax threshold sooner rather than later. In today’s game of inflated salaries, specialists and 40 man rosters the only way a team is going to do that is if they have young and controllable players at their disposal, something the Yankees seem to be swimming in at this point and time. If you’re unfamiliar with the way the whole arbitration process and free agency goes the team basically gets the player for their first two years of service at the league minimum before the arbitration process begins. If the team and player cannot reach an agreement on a salary for that season it goes before an arbitrator, see the Dellin Betances mess from this past offseason, and the salary is agreed upon that way. We have seen many teams skip the arbitration process entirely by extending their young players early thus buying out their arbitration years and maybe a year or two of free agency thus giving the teams some certainty going forward while the player has some guarantee and security. If the Yankees want to save money and get under the luxury tax threshold they may want to look at extending one or all of these players now before they get too expensive to.  

The players that the Yankees should look at extending are clearly obvious but I will lay them out here regardless.  Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and even Greg Bird despite his injury history should at least be discussed when thinking about which players to extend sooner rather than later. All of these players are either at or below one full year of MLB service time yet their WAR’s suggest that the sky is the limit for each of them.  

Why extend them now? Extending players now can save the Yankees a ton of money in the long run as contracts continue to climb in terms of value. Look at recent examples like Joey Votto, Dallas Keuchel and others for an instance of teams that waited too long to extend players. The players got all the bargaining power and all the bargaining chips and signed to either huge deals or got huge amounts of money through the arbitration process. Even Dellin Betances, although I find him to be severely underpaid personally, got a $2.5 million raise this year through arbitration when he should have, again in my opinion, been extended by now. 

Sign these players to deals worth six-or-seven years to buy out their arbitration and maybe a year-or-two of free agency and roll the dice. It may be a gamble worth taking. The Yankees don’t necessarily have to do this this year either, they could try and get under the luxury tax threshold first and then sign these players but they run the risk of these players no longer being cheap and earning huge contracts. The safe bet is to sign them now in my opinion, especially before Aaron Judge attends an All-Star Game and potentially wins a Rookie of the Year and/or MVP award in 2016. 

Also, in closing, I will say that I may have over-simplified the explanation of the arbitration process and free agency. It gets more complicated than the Readers Digest version I laid out. You have Super Two status players and you can manipulate service time by keeping players down in the Minor Leagues and all that but that was more or less not the point of the post. The point of the post was extending players now before it doesn’t make sense for the players to sign these potentially team-friendly deals. Keep that in mind before spamming me with hate emails and tweets. Thanks in advance. 

This Has Truly Become a Young Man’s Sports Again

When I look around the free agent market every single season and offseason I think to myself more and more than Major League Baseball is once again becoming a young man’s sport again. What do I mean? I can remember growing up a Yankees fan in the mid-2000’s where New York always had that one or two veteran players on the roster in the twilight of their career’s that filled important roles for the club. Then I watched as the Core Four aged and the Yankees were considered the old men of baseball. Now I watch the second youth movement in the Bronx during my lifetime and I see the invigoration of youth and it makes me notice the youth movement not only inside Yankee Stadium but around baseball as well… which is not a good thing for certain veterans who still find themselves looking for work despite the fact that spring training games have already begun.

The list of 30-year olds or older still on the free agent market is staggering when you think about it. Names like Pedro Alvarez, Joe Blanton, Billy Butler, Marlon Byrd, Chris Capuano, Coco Crisp, Doug Fister, Jeff Francouer, Sam Fuld, Ryan Howard, Edwin Jackson, Tim Lincecum, Kelly Johnson, Justin Morneau, Jonathan Papelbon, Jake Peavy, AJ Pierzynski and CJ Wilson to name a few still appear on the free agency market while many players have simply walked off into the sunset and retired. Now when I look at this list I don’t see many that will turn a non-contender into an immediate World Series contender but there are still some very helpful free agents out there on the market that can be had for simply money.

Blanton, for example, sported a 2.48 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with 80 strikeouts in 80 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers last year leaving me to wonder how with 30 teams vying for bullpen supremacy how the 36-year old is still looking for work.

At one point in the not-so-distant past you were just in your prime when you hit 30-years old but now in a league where the NL MVP Kris Bryant is just 24-years old and Mike Trout just won his second AL MVP Award at age 25 you just may be considered “old” at 30.

Ladies and gentleman this is truly becoming a young man’s sport again and you can tell it by looking at the MLB Trade Rumors free agent tracker. There is still good players out there on the market to be had but they aren’t signed because of their age. None of the aforementioned players would command huge salaries with maybe the exception being Papelbon so it almost has to be the age factor. When you also look at the number of veterans who simply took minor league deals with invitations to spring training the trend just gets scarier and scarier for veteran players. Will it change? Or will it simply get worse before it gets better? Stay tuned. 

Masahiro Tanaka and Shohei Otani Working Out Together Can’t Be a Bad Thing

The New York Yankees dipped their toes back into Japanese waters a few offseasons back when the team signed Masahiro Tanaka to a monster free agent contract and the team will look to do so again if and whenever Shohei Otani is posted and/or hits free agency. So I guess you could say that the fact that Tanaka and Otani were seen working out together recently can’t really be a bad thing, can it?

Otani is just 22-years old and is currently playing both sides of the ball while in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters. Otani finished the 2016 season batting .322/.416/.588 with 22 home runs and 67 RBI in just 323 at-bats while also pitching to a 10-4 record with a 1.86 ERA and 0.957 WHIP with 174 strikeouts in 140 innings pitched. Otani won the Pacific League MVP Award while leading his Ham Fighters to the Japan Series championship while also reaching his third consecutive All-Star Game leaving many to wonder if he would cash in on his successes with a trip to Major League Baseball but Otani will remain in Japan at least through the 2017 season. That doesn’t mean Otani can’t hang out with and work out with some MLB caliber pitching though.

Under the current agreement between MLB and Japan a player under the age of 25 cannot receive anything over $6 million in the form of a signing bonus from a MLB club meaning it may be three years before we see the 22-year old posted. Otani is expected to receive at least $200 million when he hits the open market as either a pitcher with a pinch-hitting ability or as an outfielder who can pitch in a pinch.

Either way having Tanaka on the team, and this remains to be seen as Tanaka has an opt-out clause looming after the 2017 season, can’t hurt the Yankees chances in signing Otani. It’s going to be expensive either way but having a teammate like Tanaka may be what keeps Otani from going to a National League team where he can hit once every five days. It can’t hurt anyway. 

Is Jorge Posada a Hall of Famer?

All this Hall of Fame debate and discussion that has been going on and not one time have we mentioned one of the pillars of the Yankees dynasty in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Jorge Posada. Posada was a switch-hitting second baseman turned catcher for the New York Yankees that spent 17 seasons with the organization. Did he do enough in those 17 seasons to warrant getting into the Hall of Fame eventually? Let’s take a look.

Posada was a five time All-Star during his playing career while also finishing in the Top 10 in the AL MVP vote twice. Posada has a Silver Slugger Award sitting on his mantle while hitting over 20 home runs in seven separate seasons which is pretty impressive when you consider he was doing this as a catcher, a position not well known for their offensive prowess throughout the years.

When discussing Posada and his candidacy for the Hall it’s easy to simply look at his home run numbers or sabermetric stats like WAR across the board but I find that to be a bit unfair. I would prefer to compare him to players at his position with those stats instead as I make the case for or against him so using WAR I see that Posada had a higher WAR than Hall of Fame players Roy Campanella, Roger Breshnahan and Rick Ferrell. Posada is also 8^th all-time in home runs for catchers with five of the seven players in front of him in that department already in the hall. Only Lance Parrish and Pudge Rodriguez, who enters the ballot for the first time this year, have more home runs than Jorge and are not currently in the Hall of Fame. 

Posada was a four-time World Series champion in six attempts in the Fall Classic not counting the 1996 season when he was just a September call up and had himself a second career while in the postseason as a whole. Posada has played in the second most games in the postseason and ranks fourth in hits and ninth in RBI all-time in the postseason.

Will Posada make the Hall? Eventually, I think so. Yes. Especially in a “dirty” era. Will it be in 2017 though? No, probably not. Unfortunately.

Weekly AFL Check In: Gleyber “MVP” Torres

The Arizona Fall League is over for the prospects of the New York Yankees and the team has their third MVP in the history of the league, Gleyber Torres. Torres becomes the youngest player to ever win the Arizona Fall League MVP Award and joins Greg Bird and Eric Duncan as the other two Yankees prospects to win the award. Congratulations to him and the Yankees family.

Here is what an MVP stat line looks like: 

IBWAA SELECTS TROUT, BRYANT IN MVP VOTE

IBWAA SELECTS TROUT, BRYANT IN MVP VOTE

Los Angeles – The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) announced the winners in its Most Valuable Player category Thursday, with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Mike Trout winning the group’s American League award, and Kris Bryant, of the Chicago Cubs, being selected in the National League.

Trout received 109 first-place votes (61.93%) and 1981 points while being named on 171 of 176 ballots (96.61%). Others receiving first-place votes include Mookie Betts (42), Jose Altuve (11), David Ortiz (10) and Josh Donaldson (2).

Bryant received 145 first-place votes (81.92%) and 2293 points while being named on 176 of 177 (99.44%) ballots. Others receiving first-place votes include Daniel Murphy (14), Nolan Arenado (10), Anthony Rizzo (4) and Corey Seager (3).

Election results are as follows:

AL MVP

1st Place: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1981 points
2nd Place : Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox – 1686
3rd Place : Jose Altuve, Houston Astros – 1350
4th Place: Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays – 1027
5th Place: Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles – 768
6th Place: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox – 733
7th Place: Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners – 481
8th Place: Adrian Beltre , Texas Rangers – 447
9th Place: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers – 327
10th Place: Brian Dozier, Minnesota Twins – 260

NL MVP

1st Place: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs – 2293 points
2nd Place: Daniel Murphy, Washington Nationals – 1269
3rd Place: Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers – 1258
4th Place: Nolan Arenado , Colorado Rockies – 1106
5th Place: Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs – 1079
6th Place: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves – 776
7th Place: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds – 536
8th Place: Yoenis Cespedes, New York Mets – 249
9th Place: Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers – 215
10th Place: Paul Goldschmidt , Arizona Diamondbacks – 214

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates, using the Borda Method.

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

Among approximately 460 others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden, Jim Caple, Schoenfield and Mark A. Simon of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; Jesse Spector, Sporting News, and Bill Arnold.

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a lifetime fee of $75. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

Reminder: The IBWAA is distinct from the BBWAA, which will announce the official MVP winners on the MLB Network at 3:00 p.m. PT today.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Weekly AFL Check In: Gleyber Torres

The New York Yankees are well on their way to having two of the last three Arizona Fall League MVP Award winners with the impressive fall that Gleyber Torres has put together. Torres has defied expectations and has excelled against advanced pitching and talent and all signs point to him joining the 2014 Arizona Fall League MVP Greg Bird as two Yankees to win the award in recent years.

The AFL and success down there has shown to be a precursor to future and almost immediate success in the Major Leagues in some cases so this is nothing but good news for the Yankees and their organization.

TGP Awards: Yankees Rookie of the Year for 2016

Ladies and gentleman we are back with the TGP Awards and I’m your host, Daniel Burch. We have a great show lined up for you today and have already given out a big award in the MVP Award. Yeah that might be a little bit backwards to give out a big award first but we like to grab your attention early and often, sue me. We continue this award show with the TGP Award for the Yankees Rookie of the Year Award in 2016. You know the nominees, now onto the winner.

Was it ever any question? Gary Sanchez! El Gary Sanchez. The Kraken. Gary Sanchez!

Gary Sanchez was the Yankees second most valuable position player in 2016 according to Baseball Reference and their WAR stat despite only playing in a third of the team’s games. Sanchez, at 23-years old mind you, finished the season with a .299/.376/.657 triple slash with 20 home runs and 42 RBI in just 229 plate appearances. Sanchez could win the MLB Rookie of the Year Award as well, that’s how good he was for the Yankees in a short spurt this season.

The Yankees went 31-25 with Sanchez in the lineup which roughly breaks out to a 91 win season if they kept up that pace all season long instead of the 84 wins the team was able to muster with and without him this season. I gave him considerable consideration for that reason alone for the team’s MVP Award but I couldn’t give it to him after just 56 games. I feel perfectly comfortable giving him the Rookie of the Year Award though and I did just that.

Congratulations to Gary on the award. We’ll be right back.