2010 MLB Awards

Well it's officially MLB awards week. So that means it's time for theSportStew to dive into the award naming process also. The 2010 baseball season was awesome with what seemed like nightly remarkable occurrences. It started with Mark Buehrle's incredible web gem and ended with two long shots, the Giants and Rangers, playing in the World Series. The Twins moved outside. Squeeze in six no hitters, really should be seven, which included two perfect games. Pujols clubbed his 400th home run. A-Rod joined the 600 home run club. Trevor Hoffman become the inaugural climber of the 600 save mountain and Billy Wagner notched his 400th career save. Ichiro extended his own record of consecutive 200-hit seasons to ten and collected his 10th gold glove. By the way, Ichiro has only played in the States 10 years. Jamie Moyer, present day proof there is a fountain of youth somewhere, had a record breaking year. He became the oldest player to toss a complete game at the ripe age of 47 and also allowed the 506th gopher ball of his career. We got to see the magic of Strasburg captivate the baseball world, briefly, and a plethora of rookie talent invaded the bigs. It was just a great year to be a baseball fan.

And to get to the point. Here are theSportStew MLB Award winners presented with Topps baseball cards.


AL MVP

Josh Hamilton, TEX (2)....93
Miguel Cabrera, DET (1).....69
Jose Bautista, TOR..........34
Robinson Cano, NYY.........12








NL MVP

Joey Votto, CIN (3)..............105
Albert Pujols, STL.........69
Carlos Gonzales, COL.......24
Ryan Braun, MIL.............11









AL CY YOUNG

Felix Hernandez, SEA (2)...81
CC Sabathia, NYY..................57
David Price, TB (1)...................35
Justin Verlander, DET.............23
John Lester, BOS..................11







NL CY YOUNG

Roy Halladay, PHI (3)..........105
Adam Wainwright, STL....57
Ubaldo Jimenez, COL...........45









AL ROY

Neftali Filez, TEX (3).........105
Austin Jackson, DET.............34
Brennan Boesch, DET...........34
Wade Davis, TB.....................11
Brian Matusz, BALT..............11







NL ROY

Jason Heyward, ATL (1)........53
Buster Posey, SF (1).............53
Jaime Garcia, STL (1)........35
Mike Stanton, FLA................34
Gabby Sanchez, FLA.............11
Stephen Strasburg, WAS....11


















AL MANAGER

Ron Gardenhire, MIN (2)........93
Ron Washington, TEX (1)....69
Joe Madden, TB.......................45









NL MANAGER

Dusty Baker, CIN (2)................93
Bobby Cox, ATL (1)................81
Bud Black, SD.......................23
Kirk Gibson, ARI......10

Home Run Derby Chat

MLB Front Office Manager Year 2

We just wrapped up Season 2 of MLB Front Office Manager – Kansas City Royals. Coming into the season the goal was to improve the organizations .348 winning percentage from the first season. I’m already on the hot seat so if this goal isn’t reached, I might be GM of a different team. Maybe the Pirates would be fun. Because of payroll limits, free agent Prince Fielder was lost to the Yankees. The Evil Empire signed Matt Holliday also. I implemented a new plan and signed tons of minor leaguers with high potential. The Single A and Rookie League teams almost had a complete personnel turnover. The extra prospects were then used to sweeten some trade offers and the results were good. The Royals added Geo Soto from the Cubs, the Orioles’ Adam Jones, Justin Upton from the D-Backs, Carlos Gonzales from Oakland, and Milwaukee’s promising shortstop Alcides Escobar. The Rule 5 Draft also netted some young guns to put in the Royals bullpen. I’m excited for the new season.

The season begins and the Royals are actually better. After the first two months of the season, we’re only four games out of the wildcard hunt. This might get interesting. Fast forward… KC has already won more games than last season’s squad and is sitting at 64-64 for the season. Post season play is out of reach unfortunately. Apparently the pressure from the media is too much for the young team as the Royals lose 28 of their final 36 games and finish with 70 wins and 92 defeats. Did I mention I’m on the hot seat again? That last stretch was a killer. On a good note, The Burlington Bees made the playoffs in the Class A Midwest League and advanced to the second round before bowing out. The season was a success in my eyes as most teams in the organization improved their win totals from last year.

Sorry, but I’m a stats guy, so here are some winners and losers. Alcides Escobar was named the team MVP for Season 2. He finished the season with some nice numbers. Escobar led the team with a .303 avg., 214 hits, 96 runs, 60 doubles, and 81 RBI. Centerfielder Hector Giraldo of the Burlington Bees was named the Minor League Player of the Year. Giraldo had a monster season as he racked up a .346 avg., 33 HR, 133 RBI, and an OPS of 1.064. Luke Hochevar was the letdown of the season. He went 0-9 as a starter, followed up with a short 0-2 stint as setup man, and ended the season on the bench. It’s a good thing he’s cheap. A final note, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Minnesota Twins in the World Series.

Organization records:
Kansas City Royals..........70-92
Omaha Royals.................66-78
NW Arkansas Naturals....46-94
Wilmington Blue Rocks...47-93
Burlington Bees...............93-47
Burlington Royals............32-36
Idaho Falls Chukars.........40-36

Bucs Bring up Alvarez

The Pittsburgh Pirates have promoted the 2nd overall pick in the 2008 MLB draft to the bigs. Alvarez has some lofty potential. How will the Pirates handle him?