Midseason baseball awards

I would normally wait until after the final games before the All-Star break (which will be tomorrow) but because I have a red-eye flight to Boston and will be busy with my conference when I get there, I'll do this now even though some of today's games aren't done and there is another set tomorrow.

Note that these are the people who I think should awards based on their first-half performance. I am not necessarily saying that I think any of these people will win the respective awards at the end of the year. In some cases I do, but in others I don't. (You can read Jayson Stark's midseason awards here.)

American League:

MVP: This is a really tough one. One issue is that most of the best offensive players are designated hitters, and one needs to lose some credit for not playing a position. The person having the best offensive season is Travis Hafner of the Indians (who is still not on the All-Star team!), though the gap between him and several people just behind him is rather small. (Just take a look the OPS rankings.) If you look at the positions the offensive leaders play and how they contribute at those positions and take that into account, then my current MVP is Joe Mauer of the Twins. Again, this race is wide open. I believe most people are picking either David Ortiz or Jim Thome and those are fine choices (although it's not clear that either is the MVP of their own team!), but Mauer is ahead of them. Honorable mentions (not in any order): Hafner, Ortiz, Thome, Manny Ramirez, Jermaine Dye, Jason Giambi, Vernon Wells, and Justin Morneau.

Cy Young: This is an easy one. The best pitcher in the league has been Johan Santana, and it isn't even close. His lack of run support has obscured just how superb he has been once again. Honorable mentions (not in any order): Jonathan Papelbon, BJ Ryan, Francisco Liriano, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, John Lackey, Mike Mussina, and Scott ("Rock the") Kazmir.

Rookie of the Year: I discussed the great class of AL Rookie pitchers earlier, and you may have also noticed several of them in the Cy Young discussion. Well, I'm giving this award to a Minnesota Twin as well, as the ROY should clearly be Francisco Liriano. Honorable mention: Justin Verlander, Jonathan Papelbon, Joel Zumaya, Bobby Jenks, Kenji Johjima, and Mike Napoli.

Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland. Duh.

Comeback Player of the Year: Jim Thome. (Actually, he's just the obvious choice that's coming to mind. I didn't go and check to see who else I should be considering. Let me know who else is in this discussion.)



National League:

MVP: This is also an easy one. Despite missing 2.5 weeks, Albert Pujols wins this one hands down. Honorable mention (again, in no particular order): David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Nomar Garciaparra, Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Scott Rolen, Matt Holliday, and Brad Hawpe.

Cy Young: This one is a bit tough. My winner is Brandon Webb, although his lead in this race is hardly a commanding one. Honorable mention: Bronson Arroyo, Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, Chris Capuano, Carlos Zambrano, and Trevor Hoffman.

Rookie of the Year: My winner is Dan Uggla, although I doubt he's going to keep his performance up for the entire season. (I suspect that either Ryan Zimmerman or Prince Fielder will ultimately have the best stats at the end of the year.) Honorable mention: Zimmerman, Fielder, Josh Johnson, Takashi Saito, Mike Jacobs, Josh Willingham, Conor Jackson, Hanley Ramirez, Russell Martin, and Andre Ethier. (Notice how many Marlins I mentioned?)

Manager of the Year: I'm not sure, but as the Mets are running away with the league, let me just mention Willie Randolph as a default choice.

Comeback Player of the Year: Nomaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.