Four in One

There are four main story lines I want to hit on today. Two involve players that were recently sent to new teams, while two others deal with the first awards to be handed out this season.

Rookie of the Year Results

I went on record making Buster Posey as my choice for NL Rookie of the Year and Austin Jackson as my AL choice (you can read my full arguments for both at the links to NL Rookie of the Year and AL Rookie of the Year). How accurate were my predictions?

In the NL my top-3 were Posey, Jason Heyward and Jaime Garcia – the exact same order as the official voting. The only oddity in the voting was that a voter left Posey and Heyward off their ballot meaning they didn’t put either in their top-3. That’s disgraceful. They should have their voting privilege revoked.

In the AL, I wasn’t a soothsayer. I predicted Austin Jackson, Neftali Feliz and John Jaso as the top-3. The actual vote went Feliz-Jackson-Danny Valencia (Jaso came in fifth, Wade Davis also finished ahead of him in 4th place). Again, I always favor the everyday player over the pitcher if there is any doubt, kind of like a tie on the bases goes to the runner.

Cameron Maybin a Padre

The Padres traded for ultra talented Cameron Maybin giving up two strong relievers in Edwin Mujica and Ryan Webb who will now call Florida home.

Mujica struck out more than a batter per inning this season with 72 Ks in 69.2 innings. He also didn’t walk anyone with only six walks on the year meaning his K/BB ratio was 12.00, a historic number (it was the 4th best number in the history of baseball for a guy who tossed at least 65 innings). He needs to cut down the homers though – he owns a 1.43 per nine mark. Webb allowed only one homer in 59 innings as he posted a 2.90 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP for the Padres in 2010. He is an extreme groundball hurler with an ultra impressive 3.68 GB/FB ratio in ’10, an if he keeps that up he is going to have a job for an awfully long time.

Maybin is an all-around athlete who scouts will tell you owns every physical skill needed to have success at the big league level. At the same time, the sports world is a results driven business, and to this point Maybin has been a disappointment. Through 168 major league games Maybin is hitting .246 with 13 homers, 45 RBI, 93 runs scored and 19 thefts . While that isn’t good, it’s not all far removed from the type of effort that new teammate Chase Headley offered in 2009 (.264-11-58-77-17). In addition, the 23 year old Maybin has hit .284 with 62 RBI, 65 runs and 13 steals in just 115 games at Triple-A. The question is, can he translate his talent into production at the big league level? I think that, despite going to the worst offensive park in baseball in San Diego, that Maybin has a legitimate shot to be the next Mike Cameron. He’ll post a decent average, with a good amount of pop, and enough speed to be interesting. I think he could go 20/20 in 2011, and honestly, if he plays every day and doesn’t go 15/15, I would be disappointed.

David DeJesus an Athletic

The Athletics picked up outfielder David DeJesus by sending pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks to the Royals. Mazarro will be in the Royals rotation next season after going 6-8 with a 4.27 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over 122.1 innings with the A’s in 2010. Marks is a 22 year old who was taken in the third round of the 2009 Entry Draft. He had more than a K per inning at Single-A ball last season with 136 in 129.1 innings. His future is still a few years away from hitting.

DeJesus is a solid major league player who has more value in the real world than he does in fantasy. He is a good citizen, plays defense well, runs the bases well, and does a solid job of getting on base. In terms of numbers he owns a career slash line of .289/.360/.427, and per 162 games in his career he has posted an average fantasy line of .289-11-72-93-9. That isn’t over the top production by any means, but it marks him as a solid #5 outfielder in mixed leagues, and a solid #3 option in AL-only scenarios. I really like the guy, and it stands to reason that his production won’t change too much in Oakland. Just do yourself a favor and make sure you don’t draft him expecting him to match last years .318 average – it almost certainly will not be repeated.

By Ray Flowers

Who is the AL Rookie of the Year?

Prior to the completion of the 2010 regular season, I gave a quick run down of the main candidates for the major baseball awards in Early Award Returns. Never one to rest with a cursory look into any topic, I thought it would be a worthwhile venture to explore each of the major awards in a more in-depth manner. With that, here are my thoughts on the 2010 AL MVP.

To see the previous articles in the series click on the following link:

Who is the NL MVP?

Who is the AL MVP?

Who is the NL Cy Young?

Who is the AL Cy Young?

Who is the NL Rookie of the Year?

AL Rookie of the Year Discussion

Brennan Boesch: He was the best power bat amongst AL rookies this season with 14 homers and 67 RBI, but his production was all over the map. Boesch was hitting .342 with 12 homers and 49 RBI at the All-Star break when I pleaded with everyone to trade him. Hell, as early as the second week of June I was jumping off his bandwagon because he was, simply put, hitting in an extreme amount of luck (you can read my thoughts in BABIP: Hitters). I wasn’t surprised he slumped in the second half, but the drop was precipitous to say the least (.163-2-18 over 68 games).

Wade Davis:  He was everything the Rays hoped he would be in his first full season in the big leagues. He won 12 games, against 10 loses, and despite some ups and down, in addition to some time on the DL, he still posted a solid 4.07 ERA over 168.1 innings. He didn’t strike out as many as hoped – his K/9 mark was a mere 6.05, well below his roughly one per inning pace in he minors – but he managed to keep his walks in check (3.32 BB/9).  He really wasn’t much more than ordinary, but that is still pretty darn good for a rookie in the AL East.

Neftali Feliz: The question to start the year was whether or not he would start of pitch out of the bullpen? The Rangers obviously made the right choice. When Frank Francisco struggled to hold down the 9th, the Rangers gave the ball to Feliz, and he rewarded their faith with the most saves by a rookie in baseball history (40). He also struck out more than a batter per inning (9.22 K/9) while posting a 2.73 ERA and 0.88 WHIP for the AL West champs.

Austin Jackson: I’m still shocked. Jackson led the majors in BABIP at .396, a completely ridiculous mark (see BABIP: Finally Tally- Hitters). At the same time Jackson became the 4th rookie in baseball history – since 1901 anyway – to have a season of 100 runs, 25 steals, 30 doubles, 10 triples and 180 hits. You can read who the other three are at By the Numbers. He clearly was the most productive hitting rookie in the Junior Circuit, there is no debating that.

John Jaso: When you are a catcher for a team that leads the league in victories – the Rays won 96 games – people tend to take notice. Though his 5×5 numbers were ordinary (.263-5-44-57) it should be noted that he had only 339 at-bats. Because of his ability to control the strike zone – he had an excellent 1.51 BB/K mark leading to a .372 OBP – Jaso batted leadoff 45 times for the Rays.

Brian Matusz: He tossed 175.2 innings for the Orioles racking up 10 victories against 12 loses. He also had middling ratios – a 4.30 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP – for a team that was once again a bottom feeder. However, he really stepped up his game down the stretch and completely turned his game around after the All-Star break going 7-3 with a 3.63 ERA an a 1.19 WHIP over 14 starts. All in all, it was a wonderful rookie season filled with much promise thanks to his superlative finish.

Carlos Santana: A knee injury ruined what was shaping up to be a sublime rookie season. In a mere 150 at-bats Santana had six homers, 22 RBI and 23 runs scored, a 120 game pace that would equate to 16 homers, 57 RBI and 60 runs scored. He also posted a .401 OBP leading to an impressive .868 OPS thanks in no small part to his tremendous plate discipline (1.28 BB/K).

In the end, this is a two-man race. Do you favor the everyday player (Jackson) or the pitcher (Feliz)? After much internal wrangling I’m going to award the trophy to the Tigers’ everyday center fielder but that call was by the hair on my gray chinny-chin-chin.

7- Brennan Boesch
6- Carlos Santana
5- John Jaso
4- Brian Matusz
3- Wade Davis
2- Neftali Feliz
1- Austin Jackson

By Ray Flowers