Results tagged ‘ Joe Maddon ’

Busy Night in Boston

Last night, the Boston branch of the Baseball Writers Association of America held their annual awards dinner last night.  At the dinner, Dustin Pedroia picked up his AL MVP Award:

almvpaward.JPGAlso, at the awards dinner, Rocco Baldelli picked up the Tony Conigliaro award, along with his BRAND NEW Red Sox jersey.

rocco.JPGThe Red Sox signed Baldelli, formerly of the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays, to a 1-year contract.  He will see the majority of his work as the 4th outfielder.  He could see considerable time in either CF or RF depending on Jacoby Ellsbury’s progress and J.D. Drew’s injury status.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon (AL Manager of the Year) and Tampa Bay reliever Dan Wheeler (New England [born] Player of the Year) were also honored.  Reportedly, the Red Sox tried to sign those two at the dinner, but were rebuffed.

It was also confirmed that the Red Sox have indeed offered a 1-year contract to former Atlanta Brave Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz.  Reportedly, the base contract is for around $5 million with incentives based on time on the active roster that could double the value.  John Smoltz is coming off an injury, but hopefully there is still some juice left in the arm.

I was actually hoping that Smoltz and Tom Glavine would both retire.  No.  Not because I do not think they can not or should not pitch in the major anymore.  It is because along with Greg Maddux, who just announced his retirement last month, it would be quite a sight to see an induction ceremony of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz 5 years from now in Cooperstown.

tri-cys.jpgHow many times do 3 pitchers of this caliber actually pitch for 1 team for a LONG time?  Very rarely.  How many times have 3 pitchers of this caliber that were teammates been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame together?  NEVER!  That would be quite historic.

I’ve been a Braves fan (they’re my NL team although not as much now), ever since our family first got cable as teen.  I actually hated the Braves at first, because their games (and they were terrible), would always interrupt my 2 hours of NWA / WCW wrestling on Saturday nights.  However, after watching them play, I grew attached and then enjoyed my wrestling / baseball double feature on Saturdays.

Anyway, now that I returned from detour down memory lane, it will be very strange to see Smoltz in a Red Sox uniform after spending his entire Major League career in a Brave uniform.  Hopefully, he will ended up healthy and could be a surprising big contributor down the stretch.  Looks like he will also fill the mantle left void by Curt Schilling, as the elder pitching statesmen for this team.

Finally, it looks like Mark Kotsay may return to the team.  While normally an outfielder for most of his career, I envision that Kotsay will fill the Sean Casey role on the 2009 club.  Mostly, he’ll be the back-up for Youkilis and Lowell (at 1b only, Youk will move over to 3b when Lowell needs a rest), but could see time in the OF depending on the health of Drew and Baldelli.  I like Kotsay, he has always be a solid player, but wonder if he will be happy in this role.

Since the Sox recently signed Brad Penny and Josh Bard, it’s nice to see the Hot Stove getting a tad bit warmer.

Go Sox!!!

And the winner is….

This next week or so is one of my favorite times of the baseball off-season. Although there is no red carpet like at the Oscars or the Emmys, to me the MLB Award season is a lot more fun. Over the course of the next 9 days we will find out the winners of: AL & NL Rookie of the Year, NL Cy Young, AL & NL Manager of the Year, AL Cy Young, NL MVP, and AL MVP.

For the most part, however, this award season is probably a little too predictable. There is a clear cut choice in 6 of the 8 categories, with only the NL Manager and AL MVP still unclear. Here is how I think it is going to go in other categories:

AL Rookie: Evan Longoria
NL Rookie: Geovany Soto
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
AL Manager: Joe Maddon
AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee
NL MVP: Albert Puljos
 
The only one of the above that may not be a sure thing to win is Puljos, since the new fad in MVP voting is your team needs to make the post season. I will stand my ground there, but it will be interesting to see how many votes C.C. Sabathia and Manny Ramirez get in this category.
 
However, up for grabs are the NL Manager and AL MVP.
Now, let’s take a look at the nominees for NL Manager of the Year:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia Phillies
Led the Phillies to their 2nd consecutive NL East title. (Won the World Series, but that result has no bearing on the voters since ballots are due by the end of the regular season.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fredi Gonzalez, Florida Marlins
Took a young team with the lowest payroll in baseball and had them in the NL East / Wildcard mix for most of the summer. The team finished with a respectable 84-77 record, which would have forced at least a tie if they played in the NL West.

 
Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers
Led the Dodgers back to the post-season, pulling the team (along with the acquisitions of Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez) through a rough stretch to overtake the Diamondbacks and pull away in the NL West.

 
Lou Pinella, Chicago Cubs
Led the Cubs to the best record in the NL and 2nd consecutive NL Central title.

My Choice: Lou Pinella

Now, here are the nominees for the AL MVP award:

 
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
302-35-103 OPS: .965. Stellar number once again, but with the Yankees out of the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, he is not in the talk for this award. Additionally, since this year is an even year (2008), recent history says A-Rod will not even place better than 10th in the race. However, he will probably finishing somewhere between 4-8 in the voting.

 
Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox
.288-30-100 OPS: .965. Led the White Sox offensively, until missing the final month of the season with an injury. He may have been the leader of the pack at one time, but that injury may be what keeps him from winning, as he was limited to only 130 games.

 
Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
.326-17-83 OPS: .869. Pretty much was lifted into MVP contention with a stellar August with clutch hit after clutch hit, picking up for Manny Ramirez. He even hit in the clean-up hole for a couple games with big results. Boston fans will light up the WEEI phone lines if he doesn’t win it, but I’m not sure he is the favorite, it is that close in this race.

 
Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
.328-9-85 OPS: .864. Winning a batting title as a catcher is a TOUGH thing to do. This was his 2nd batting title in 4 seasons. He plays the most demanding position in baseball, and I’ve heard some talk that he is more valuable to the Twins than Morneau is. However, he probably is the darkest horse in this race.


 
Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
.304-32-130 OPS: .901. He got off to a monster start, and was the story of baseball by the All-Star break. However, he faded a bit during the hot Texas summer, and not too mention he plays on the Rangers. If he was on the Angels, Red Sox, Yankees, or White Sox he’d be the winner hands down.


 
Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
.300-23-129 OPS: .873. May be the front runner with Pedroia for this award, he was the offensive power for the Twins again AND played in all 163 games. However, could his and Mauer’s 0 for in the playoff game with the White Sox affect his chances in a race this close?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
.312-29-115 OPS: .959. Filled the void in the clean-up hole that was left when Manny decided he didn’t want to play in Boston anymore. This was definately a career year for Youkilis, and I think he is the Red Sox MVP over Pedroia, but Pedroia has all of the sentiment on his side, especially nationally, that he probably finishes 3rd behind Pedoria and Morneau for this award.

My Choice: Dustin Pedroia

The announcements begin today with the Rookies. I look forward to this, and the drama will build for the AL MVP which, like the Best Picture, will be announced Tuesday, 11/18 to close this show.

Congrats to the Rays

Well, it’s the top of the 7th. 2 men are on base as the Sox are down
5-0, and Papelbon is in the game. Looks like the inevitable is upon us.
You have to give them all the credit in the world. The Rays can pitch,
can hit, can run. They’ve done everything, while the stifled the Red
Sox in every possible way.

Kazmir was our only hope, but Maddon had faith in him.

I’m
sure the Fox executives are crying in their beer at this moment. Their
dream match up of the Red Sox and Dodgers have been flushed down the
toilet. No Mannywood triumphantly returning to Fenway Park.

You won’t here any excuses from me.  The
better team won, definitely won this series. The only thing in doubt, is who is the ALCS MVP. Is it
BJ Upton? Is it Evan Longoria? Can’t go wrong with either one. However,
I think Fox’s Ken Rosenthal is already preparing a column, just in case
it is not Upton. Actually, he just doubled in 2 more runs. That should
seal it…the MVP I mean.

Go Sox! Next year though. I’m going to hit the hay.

Against the Ropes

If it was a boxing match, we’d be on the verge of TKO. Luckily the bell sounded and they get to head back to their corner and regroup and try to change the game plan mid fight.
The Rays have been throwing and landing the haymakers. 31 runs in 3 games covering 29 innings is quite impressive. That is over 1 run per inning. Meanwhile, the jabs from the Red Sox have not been able to penetrate the tough defense.
The Rays really have the Sox on the ropes. This is a position that they have been in and have fought back from before. Will the Rays let them off the hook? In a curious move, Rays manager Joe Maddon is pushing up Scott Kazmir to pitch Game 5 tomorrow and pushing James Shields back to pitch game 6. With the way Kazmir has been struggling lately, it seems Maddon is conceding game 5 to the Sox, even though another get by Dice-K similar to game 1′s outing is unlikely.

Is Maddon afraid of wasting another Shields outing, and having Kazmir have another bad outing in game 6, thus allowing the Sox to get back to even with Lester ready to go in a game 7? Or is it because of some history between Kazmir and umpire Daryl Cousins, who will be behind the plate for game 6? I don’t know. The Red Sox bats have been quite stymied and frustrated the last 2 games, could Kazmir be the wake-up call they need to get back in the series?

It will be interesting to see how this move pans out for the Rays. While the Evan Longoria 1st inning HR off Beckett in game 2 seemed to revive the Rays, could Kazmir be the remedy for the Sox to get right back in this?

We’ll see! Go Sox!

On a side note, there was a nice piece in today’s USA Today about some legendary play-by-play guys. Vin Scully and Harry Kalas are broadcasting legends. I can remember NBC Saturday Baseball games manned by Scully and Joe Garagiola, not too mention the many World Series games he’s called. I was more familiar with Harry Kalas as the narrator for a lot of the NFL Films productions, with his unique voice. While dating my wife, and the many times I drove to her place, for some reason the local Boston AM station wouldn’t come in (mind boggling), but somehow I could pick up 1210 AM out of Phillie, and hear Kalas call the Phillies games for part of the ride. To me, these are the voice of baseball, along with Mel Allen who I knew mostly from This Week in Baseball. How about that? Anyway, a nice piece to take a look at.
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