For JDC Motorsports in 2010 Minnesota-based squad ended season with two overall wins, two Expert Series wins, and four Masters Series wins. For JDC MotorSports the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear season proved to be yet another title-winning and race-winning affair. With Connor De Phillippi, Caio Lara, Chris Miller, Patrick O’Neill and Gerry [...]
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Popular soccer player David Beckham has won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award at just 35 years of age. Beckham has had an astonishing career both in and around soccer all over the world and has now become one of the youngest ever recipients of the award. During his career, the experienced midfielder has won six English Premier League titles, two FA Cup titles and one Champions League winners medal with former club Manchester United. He then [...]
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They nailed it. Felix Hernandez excelled this season in just about all pitching categories except one, the increasingly better-understood (or at least weighted) wins, which is reliant on a bit more than just what the starting pitcher does. Is this the year that will define the line in the sand between the winningest pitcher in the league and the best? Zack Greinke last year may have laid the foundation, but this year could be the vote that establishes precedent going forward. Five years ago, Sabathia may have won simply because he won 21 games. Not so this year.
Other than being a part of what is sure to be a full season of ‘not it!’ among bad Eastern Conference teams that aren’t quite bad enough to fall out of playoff contention, it’s safe to say the Pistons are unlikely to have many team successes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t root for individual accolades, right? We have to do something to occupy the time.
And with almost 20 percent of the season down, a couple of Pistons have legit shots at a postseason award. Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon are among the league’s best sixth men so far.
Is it a bit premature to speculate on postseason awards? Sure. But start the campaign early, that’s what I always say.
The main obstacle for Gordon and Villanueva is each other. If both remain bench players all season, it’s likely they’d split votes among those who pick the award. But just based on numbers alone, either would be a solid pick, and they are kind of made for this category: Sixth Man winners are picked based solely on offense typically. Here’s how they stack up.
Ben Gordon, Detroit
Charlie Villanueva, Detroit
Shannon Brown, LA Lakers
Jason Terry, Dallas
Nate Robinson, Boston
Thaddeus Young, Philadelphia
Kyle Korver, Chicago
Tyrus Thomas, Charlotte
Hakim Warrick, Phoenix
Boobie Gibson, Cleveland
Al Harrington, Denver
Leandro Barbosa, Toronto
Antawn Jamison, Cleveland
Corey Maggette, Bucks
Jamal Crawford, Atlanta
Feel free to add your picks or players to watch out for in the comments.
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Controversial as it may sound, I just could not help but share my thoughts. Some might agree and some might not, but it’s all up to your own judgements. As we all know, from this year onwards, the FIFA World Player of The Year and the highly prestigious Ballon d’Or will be combined and rechristened the new FIFA Ballon d’Or award. I for one am relieved this has come about as we have had funny situations when it came to naming the best player in the World and Europe.
For instance, year 2004 saw Ronaldinho being installed as World Player of The Year but when it came to the European Footballer Award, he was in 3rd place behind Andriy Shevchenko and Thierry Henry. Now how the best in the world is only third best in Europe is quite baffling to be honest. Another reason why I feel this award is losing credibility is just about the way it is being handed out. Why can’t it be right at the end of the season? Why it has to wait until the end of the year? The main question would be how it is being judged? We are all aware that by the time the award is given out, around a quarter of a new season is already underway. By the look of it, the ongoing season seem to have an effect on the way the nominees are listed. The perfect example would be the case of Diego Milito who was simply outstanding last season but seems to suffer a mediocre start to the new season. Has this in any way affected his glaring omission from the list of nominees for this year’s award? Even Miroslav Klose (with 3 league goals only all season) is ahead of him.
No disrespect intended but this just shows how flawed the system is when it comes to nominating and awarding the best players throughout the season. I am of the belief that the winner should deserve it to begin with, and then should be judged for his performances of that particular season, not the season before or after. Rooney had a terrible World Cup, but so did Klose in terms of the entire season bar the World Cup. So does that mean he had a better season than Rooney? Thierry Henry was head and shoulders above everyone else in 2003 but the award eventually went to Zinedine Zidane who had a good but not spectacular season compared to Henry’s. Past winners have also come exclusively from Juventus, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Barcelona until Cristiano Ronaldo won it whilst a Manchester United player. There is also a feeling that the award is based on the performances of a single tournament (Ronaldo in 2002 and Cannavaro in 2006). Both the players above had brilliant World Cups but they were not really electrifying throughout the season. So this raises a question on whether the awarding of the title of the world’s best is done in a fair manner.
Anyhow, this is just my honest opinion. What do you guys out there think? Please share your thoughts below.
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With the regular season behind us and the postseason still a day away, we wanted to take this opportunity to name our 2010 award winners. While none of us have an official vote, we took the task at hand seriously. Importantly, we’re not predicting who will win. Instead, we voted as to who we believe should win.
Rich: For me, the AL MVP came down to Josh Hamilton and Evan Longoria with Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, and Robinson Cano (not necessarily in that order) filling out the top five. Justin Morneau (.345/.437/.618) produced at a MVP rate through the first half but missed the last three months of the season. As to who deserves it more between Hamilton and Longoria, I believe it is all about playing time (which favors the latter) and how one values defense. Hamilton grades out as a plus CF by Ultimate Zone Rating and below average by Total Zone whereas Longoria is viewed positively by both measures.
In the NL, I believe a case could be made for both Albert Pujols and Joey Votto. Six of one, half dozen of the other. As it relates to Wins Above Replacement, Baseball-Reference likes Pujols and Fangraphs likes Votto. The latter has slightly better rate stats and the former has slightly better counting stats. Both play first base. I don’t think the difference in defense or baserunning is enough to separate the two. The tie, in my opinion, should go to the player whose team beat the other in the same division. Therefore, Votto is my choice here.
With respect to Cy Young, I have to go with the two pitchers — Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay — with the best combination of quality and quantity. A case could perhaps be made for Cliff Lee based on his near-record K/BB ratio (10.28), but I don’t see how voters could prefer David Price or CC Sabathia as Felix beats them both across the board in IP, K/BB, ERA, and ERA+. By the same token, Halladay bests Ubaldo Jimenez, his main competition, in all four measures.
Jason Heyward and Buster Posey are 1-2 in the NL ROY. Over in the AL, Wade Davis and Brian Matusz are more alike than not, leading me in the direction of Neftali Feliz for how he closed games for Texas while setting the rookie saves record with 40.
Manager of the Year? Who knows. I guess I would go with Cito Gaston and Bud Black as Toronto and San Diego surpassed my expectations the most. I could also understand the case for Joe Maddon and Charlie Manuel who led their teams to the best records in their respective leagues or for Buck Showalter in turning around a club with the worst record in baseball when he took it over.
Sully: Even though he missed time late in the season, I can’t overlook .359/.411/.633 from someone playing very good defense at a premium defensive position. For me, Josh Hamilton is the AL MVP.
I am a sucker for personal stories like Joey Votto’s. He’s managed his anxiety troubles to the point where he is one of the best players in baseball, and in the process has led the resurrection of one of Major League Baseball’s classic franchises. He deserves it on his performance alone, too, but those other things push him comfortably ahead on my fake ballot.
It’s a shame that the C.C. versus King Felix debate obscured the performances of guys like Jered Weaver, Jon Lester, Justin Verlander, Francisco Liriano, and even studs like Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke. But in the end, it’s Hernandez’s 249+ innings that leap off the page for me. There were a number of qualified American League Cy Young Award candidates, and the difference for me was workload. Hernandez it is.
National League Cy Young: Roy Halladay. See AL Cy Young rationale, and then remove the stiff competition.
I liked Keith Law’s logic for giving the nod to Brian Matusz, who battled his way through a brutal 2010 rookie campaign in the AL East to finish excellently. But unlike Law, I am more moved by the job Neftali Feliz did nailing down games for the Texas Rangers. He was superb (3.94 K/BB) for a division winner.
Buster Posey made an excellent late push, but the nod goes to Jason Heyward. Really, we’re all the winners since the two play in the NLDS against one another. But it’s Heyward’s approach beyond his years, solid defense and playing time advantage that tip the scales in favor of the Atlanta right fielder.
AL Manager of the Year: Call me biased but I give Terry Francona the nod. Had Francona been supplied adequate bullpen personnel, I think he would have been able to lead this team to the post-season despite devastating injuries to key players all over the roster.
NL Manager of the Year: I like Bud Black here, but wouldn’t argue with other choices. It’s pretty simple, really. Look at the Padres roster and look at their record. To the extent that it’s the Manager’s job to get the most out of his team’s talent, I think Black has to be the guy.
Jeremy: I have nothing interesting to say. I think Logoria, Pujols, Halladay, and Lee are the best players in their respective leagues, and this year nobody stood out from them. I’ve always been underwhelmed by Hamilton’s defense, and I don’t really like the guy. Pujols was Pujols and Halladay was Halladay. AL Cy was my toughest choice because there are about six great pitchers in that league. Lee had a substantial edge in StatCorner WAR. I don’t find Rookie of the Year voting interesting. And I have no idea how to evaluate managing. Like I mean none. But I heard Orioles players say they loved playing under Schowalter, and it’s entirely possible something changed that sparked their 34-23 run. The Astros were oddly clutch this year, which could mean Mills pulled the right levers. I don’t know.
Dave: AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez — based on number and quality of innings I think he is the clear choice.
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay — Here the choice is even more than above.
AL MVP: Evan Longoria — Don’t be fooled by his 22 HRs, he still had an amazing year.
NL MVP: Joey Votto — Monster year from him.
AL ROY: Austin Jackson — A full season of good offense and good defense from a CFer does it for me.
NL ROY: Jayson Heyward — In my mind Heyward’s extra 180 PAs and 20 games outweigh Posey’s positional advantage (catcher versus RF), but that it too bad because it penalizes Posey for the Giants not playing him earlier.
AL Manager: Ron Washington — I really have no clue how to evaluate managers, so I just went with the manager of the team that seemed to ‘overachieve’ the most.
NL Manager: Bud Black — see above.
How would you vote?