The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed shortened baseball season, which will be announced next week. It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate. Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.
American League
Most Valuable Player: Jose Abreu, D.J. LeMahieu, Jose Ramirez
Well, my pre-season selection to win the award this year, Yoan Moncada, got taken down by the corona virus, but I’m expecting (and hoping) that it stays in the same clubhouse and that Jose Abreu wins.
Cy Young Award: Shane Bieber, Kenta Maeda, Hyun-Jin Ryu
My initial guess was that Blake Snell would take home the prize, but this has Shane Bieber written all over it.
Manager of the Year: Kevin Cash, Charlie Montoyo, Rick Renteria
Once again, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. Kevin Cash is the likely winner, though wouldn’t it be funny to see Renteria bring home this award a month after losing the job he was being recognized for?.
Rookie of the Year: Christian Javier, Kyle Lewis, Luis Robert
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. Had you held the election at the end of August, Robert would have been the odds-on favorite. However, a month long slump in September probably puts Kyle Lewis in the driver’s seat.