Tag Baseball

2009 MLB Mid-Season Awards

Danny Vinik 1 Comment

With the 2009 MLB All Star Game tomorrow and the Home Run Derby tonight, it’s time to look at the first half of the season and hand out some hardware. Beginning in the American League:

MVP: Justin Morneau

He is tied for 4th in home runs, 2nd in RBI, tied for 7th in batting average, 10th in OBP, 4th in OPS, and 3rd in Slugging. Morneau’s stats don’t sound like those of an MVP, but the AL is so even this year that no candidate stands out. His biggest competition may be teammate Joe Mauer, but I’m giving the Morneau the edge due to HRs and RBI.

Cy Young: Zach Greinke

He has by far the best ERA in the AL, is tied for 2ndin wins, is 3rd in strikeouts with 129 in 127 1/3 innings, has just 21 walks, is tied for 1st in Quality Starts, and is 2nd in WHIP. Greinke has had a phenomenal year in every facet of his game and is the clear Cy Young award winner for the first half of the year.

Rookie of the Year: Ricky Romero

He is 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA and has 69 strikeout in 87 innings. He has a 1.26 WHIP and has been solid for Toronto all year. The AL doesn’t have any stand out rookies so Romero’s solid stats give him the award for the first half of the year. Continue reading “2009 MLB Mid-Season Awards” →

Kenshin Kawakami: Not Worth $23 Million

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Looking through last year’s free agency, there is one player who signed a big contract who I had never heard of:

Kenshin Kawakami.

He’s a starter for the Atlanta Braves and signed a 3 year, $23 million contract with them this past offseason. Now, Kawakami is 34 years old and before this year, had never pitched in the Major Leagues. So WHY?

Why did the Braves shell out all this money for a pitchers years past his prime who has never faced big league batters?

Kawakami pitched extremely well in Japan, posting a 2.30 ERA last season while striking out 112 batters in 117 1/3 innings. But, the transition to MLB has hurt so many Japanese pitchers that shelling out all that money for a player already 34 years old just doesn’t make sense. The Red Sox put a huge amount of money into Daisuke Matsuzaka, expecting him to compete for Cy Youngs here, but instead he has struggled mightily and is 1-5 this year with an 8.23 ERA (He’s on the DL now). Remember the Yankees’ Kei Igawa? That worked out real well too. There is a history of dominant Japanese pitchers failing in the United States and those pitchers were in their prime. Kawakami isn’t. Continue reading “Kenshin Kawakami: Not Worth $23 Million” →

How Good Is Albert Pujols

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

When you think of the best hitter in baseball, most people generally think of Albert Pujols. Some think of Alex Rodriguez. Others maybe Manny Ramirez. Let there be no mistake: Albert Pujols is the best hitter in baseball.

Don’t believe me? Look at the statistics.

  1. Home Runs: Pujols does not just lead the league in homers, he demolishes the league. His 31 home runs are SEVEN more than Adrian Gonzalez, who is in second place. Half-way through the season, Pujols has 26% more home runs than second place. Absolutely incredible.
  2. Home Runs per at bat: Pujols is hitting a home run every 8.84 at bats. Adrian Gonzalez is once again in second place at 11.36 at bats. The difference between Pujols and Gonzalez is 2.52 at bats. The different between Gonzalez and number nine Jermaine Dye (13.95) is 2.59 at bats. Think about that: the difference between first and second is just about the same as the difference between second and ninth. That is how far ahead Pujols is in at bats per home run.
  3. RBI: Pujols leads the league in runs-batted-in as well with 82. He leads by 7 RBI over second-place Prince Fielder as well, but he has 12 more than third-place Jason Bay. There are only nine players with more than 60 RBI and Pujols has EIGHTY-TWO. Continue reading “How Good Is Albert Pujols” →