The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed baseball season. It is a good bet that none 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: Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Chris Davis
Mike Trout was my pre-season selection to win this award, but I also picked the Angels to win the American League. They dropped out of contention early, and I think the same can be said for Trout’s candidacy. My guess is Miguel Cabrera, who was having an even better year than his triple crown winning season a year ago before nagging injuries dragged him down towards the end of the year, takes home his second straight MVP.
Cy Young Award: Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Max Scherzer
My initial guess of David Price obviously did not make the cut. While books have been written about how wins are not a reliable way to track pitching effectiveness, my guess is that if you add in a 20 win season with a trip to the post-season, Max Scherzer will take home the prize.
Manager of the Year: John Farrell, Terry Francona, Bob Melvin
I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. I imagine that Terry Francona, beloved former manager of the Red Sox, will take home the award for turning around a putrid Indians team and keeping them in contention for the majority of the year.
Rookie of the Year: Chris Archer, Jose Iglesias, Wil Myers
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. It is somewhat ironic, given the current value placed on young talent, that all 3 finalists for the award were traded to their current teams, one during this past season. My guess is that Wil Myers will win the award.
National League
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After a week that saw the White Sox drop 6 out of 7 games, all of which they had an opportunity to win if their bullpen wasn’t made out of swiss cheese, the team started to purge itself of the dead weight by designating Scott Downs for assignment. Downs, who signed a one year deal for $4 million during the offseason with an option for 2015, displayed no actual pitching talent this season beyond coming in to walk the one left handed batter he was brought in to face.