2009 SBNation Awards: Rookie Of The Year
by Al Yellon on Nov 10, 2009 8:00 AM CST
in Chicago Cubs News
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PrintCount me as one of those surprised at the SBN Rookie of the Year balloting. Neither J.A. Happ nor Chris Coghlan, the two players named at the top of the BCB ballots, won. Tommy Hanson is a deserving recipient, no doubt, but I was sure that Happ was going to win. The third-place vote I gave Randy Wells is, admittely, a homer pick.
The AL balloting, for which BCB had no vote, was very close, with only two points separating the top two. If I did have a vote for the AL ROY, it would have gone to Gordon Beckham.
BCB ballots:
Al: 1) J.A. Happ 2) Tommy Hanson 3) Randy Wells Mike: 1) Chris Coghlan 2) J.A. Happ 3) Tommy Hanson
National League
| Rk | Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tommy Hanson | Atlanta Braves | 9 | 9 | 6 | 78 |
| 2 | J.A. Happ | Philadelphia Phillies | 6 | 9 | 7 | 64 |
| 3 | Andrew McCutchen | Pittsburgh Pirates | 8 | 3 | 5 | 54 |
| 4 | Chris Coghlan | Florida Marlins | 7 | 5 | 4 | 54 |
| 5 | Dexter Fowler | Colorado Rockies | - | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 6 | Randy Wells | Chicago Cubs | - | - | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | Garrett Jones | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1 | - | - | 5 |
| 8 | Casey McGehee | Milwaukee Brewers | - | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | Seth Smith | Colorado Rockies | - | 1 | - | 3 |
American League
| Rk | Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elvis Andrus | Texas Rangers | 6 | 9 | 6 | 63 |
| 2 | Andrew Bailey | Oakland Athletics | 11 | 1 | 3 | 61 |
| 3 | Jeff Niemann | Tampa Bay Rays | 3 | 5 | 3 | 33 |
| 4 | Rick Porcello | Detroit Tigers | 2 | 7 | 2 | 33 |
| 5 | Brett Anderson | Oakland Athletics | 5 | 1 | 3 | 31 |
| 6 | Gordon Beckham | Chicago White Sox | 1 | 2 | 8 | 19 |
| 7 | Nolan Reimold | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | - | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Matt Wieters | Baltimore Orioles | - | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Brad Bergesen | Baltimore Orioles | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| 10 | Ricky Romero | Toronto Blue Jays | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| 11 | Travis Snider | Toronto Blue Jays | - | 1 | - | 3 |
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LOL, Casey McGehee got votes. I think Wells should have been higher.
"The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money." --Ernie Banks
McGehee had a pretty good year.
In some ways, it was better than Coghlan’s.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
No Colby Rasmus votes?
Cardinal fans will be outraged! (hehe)
Ya gotta love a team with a shortstop named TheRiot ...
whoa
That is unbelievable. I figure the top candidates are Rasmus and McCutcheon
People should remember that while they have the right to their opinion, they are not entitled to be taken seriously. -- Bruce Bartlett
I'm still figuring Happ will win it...
… because of his win total, and that the Phillies won their division.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Happ
Kind of surprised myself that he didn’t win. He was the best pitcher on the Phillies staff for a majority of the year and a main reason they were in a position to go out and get Cliff Lee and Pedro.
Also, a little surprised that Wells wasn’t higher. Obviously a homer point of view, but I thought he did exceptionally well. Those early ND really hurt him I guess.
It will be interesting to see how this award plays out for real. Some good talent coming up.
by Tangled Up In Blue on Nov 10, 2009 9:26 AM CST reply actions
If Wells...
… had gotten wins in some of those no-decisions, not only would he have had 15 wins and ranked higher, but the Cubs would have had a better shot at the playoffs. Several of those games were games in which he left with the lead, only to see the bullpen blow it.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Happ is not a great pitcher
his peripherals scream career 5th starter
People should remember that while they have the right to their opinion, they are not entitled to be taken seriously. -- Bruce Bartlett
He did have a pretty incredible year though, which is what the award is about
The Phillies seemed to sense his overachievement by limiting his role down the stretch.
I’m with you guys that I would have liked to see Wells higher. But realistically, he should have passed only Fowler as the top 4 all had fantastic years (and his faded down the stretch).
Right, but...
… the award isn’t for what the career might be, it’s for the season the player had.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Good question.
Haven’t seen enough of Happ to analyze him well. I know many here think Wells is likely to decline. I don’t, although he’s not a top-of-the-rotation starter, either.
I’d take Wells, I think, but it’s a close call.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
I'd take Wells
I’ll take his command, and I think his stuff is a bit better than Happ’s. I think both are 4/5 type starters, and Happ has some added value as a lefty, but overall, all things equal, my nod goes to Wells.
happ
likely would get more votes from sports writers than sports bloggers, as bloggers are more likely to look at advanced statistics. Happ was a bit smoke and mirrors.
If I was voting, I would go
1. Hanson – Rookie year, and he looked like a staff ace.
2. Coghlan – Stablized the top of the Marlins lineup, allowing them to bounce back a bit.
3. McCutchen – Excellent year.
4. Rasmus – Very solid year.
5. Wells – A case could still be made for him at the top (I believe only McCutchen had a higher WAR). That said, ROY voting is often a combination of how successful a player was this year and what the long term expectations are.
If I had to take a guess at the writers results, I’d guess
1. Hanson
2. Happ
3. McCutchen – I could see him ahead of Happ as well.
as for the al,
My votes would’ve been
1. Elvis Andrus – Shortstop had an excellent year, dramatically upgrading the infield defense.
2. Brett Anderson – Looked like an ace at times, after a slow start. Excellent stuff. I’ve been a huge fan of him since his D-backs system days. Potential ace lefties are hard to find.
3. Rick Porcello – There is every reason to go with Bailey or someone else here. That said, Porcello was a starter for most of the year, and he generated an insane number of groundballs with his great sinker. There’s so much developmental room left. Sure, he was basically Chien-Ming Wang of 3-4 years ago this year, but he has more developmental potential than Wang did then. There’s promise with the change, slider, and curve, and he simply needs to get one or two of them going, to pair with his sinker.
Andrus is an excellent defender...
… but his hitting was only decent. Beckham had an OPS 100 points higher, and had far more doubles and HR despite having 100 fewer plate appearances.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Yes but Beckham's defense was subpar
I know he was playing out of position though. Wouldn’t be surprised if he was an allstar this year though if he’s at 2B. If he’s at SS, he probably will deserve a spot but there are too many good SS’s in the AL
"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me." ~ Leo Durocher
by Musicdude10 on Nov 10, 2009 11:12 AM CST up reply actions
andrus
was arguably one of the top 2-3 defensive players in the entire majors at shortstop last year, and you could probably make a case that he was the best. That adds huge value to any team. Beckham’s very good, but you are talking about an elite defensive shortstop.
Right, but Beckham is a FAR better hitter.
I’ll bet he finishes higher in the BBWAA voting than Andrus.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
sure i can see that happening
i think that andrus garnered a lot of respect for his play this year, as many felt that he was a key reason why the Rangers were able to improve leaps and bounds.
That was part of it.
The improved Rangers pitching staff was another.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Gotta go with Chris Coghlan here.
He batted .321 for the year, .336 in 106 games out of the leadoff spot. .354 when leading off a game, .329 when leading off an inning. 100 hits over the final 59 games of the year, more than any other player in baseball during that span.
And he was playing out of position.
by Drunk Cubs Fan on Nov 11, 2009 10:23 AM CST reply actions
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