BBA NL Goose Gossage Award Ballot 2011

Ah, the good old reliever of the year ballot. The BBA has to remind me every year this is NOT for best mustache. Oh, and saves are a stupid, stupid stat. Let's roll...

1. Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta
Not much to this one. Kimbrel led all relievers with a 3.2 fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) and was my choice for the BBA Willie Mays award for rookie of the year, which he won. Over 77.0 innnings, Kimbrel tossed a 2.10/1.52/1.94 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) pitching line with a staggering 14.84 K/9. And sure, he recorded 46 saves if you're the type of person who cares about that stuff. But if you like saves, you probably don't know how to text message and aren't reading this.

2. Jonny Venters, Atlanta
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez rode Venters into the ground in 2011. That's actually true of Kimbrel and Eric O'Flaherty too and contributed to the Braves collapse down the stretch. Venters appeared in 85 games and pitched 88.0 innings. He threw a 1.84/2.78/2.88 pitching line which was hurt when he ran out of gas. In 12.1 September innings, Venters gave up seven runs on 13 hits and 10 walks. It wasn't pretty. But he was so brilliant for the rest of the season, I have a hard time penalizing him for his manager's mismanagement.

3. John Axford, Milwaukee
His 1.95/2.41/2.85 pitching line and 10.51 K/9 and 46 saves are all pretty enough. And maybe I should have voted for him higher but not because of the numbers. It's because of this...



If the BBA would let me vote for mustaches for the Goose Gossage award like I wanted to, Axford would have run away with this thing.

BBA NL Goose Gossage Award Ballot

Baseball's award season is upon us and we finally have a vote that counts for something this year. We're proud members of the Baseball Blogger Alliance and they've been kind enough to give us ballots. The only thing the BBWAA ever gave us was a virus when we opened their penis enlargement email. Not that we need it. Today we'll be unveiling our NL Goose Gossage ballot for reliever of the year. Note: I completely ignored saves.

1. Carlos Marmol
I'm just as shocked as you. I expected John Axford to finish higher on my ballot than the Cubs' closer. But Marmol had some ungodly stats. Strap on your nerd skis, it's all down hill from here. And yes, I realize I'm getting lamer by the minute, please don't send emails to inform of that. I'm actively looking for help. Marmol finished with a 2.55/2.01/2.95 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) line which was good for an NL reliever best 3.1 WAR. All of that would have been good enough for me to give him the top spot on this ballot but the ridiculous 15.99 K/9 rate sails him past the rest of the competition. Marmol did that over 77.2 innings which is more than a lot of relievers can say. Surprisingly dominant. I honestly can't wait to see the outcome of this voting because I don't think Marmol got enough credit this year.

2. Brian Wilson
Sure his playoff beard used to sell Oxy Clean on infomercials. Wilson was fantastic in the closer role for the Giants in 2010. Over 74.2 innings, he tossed 1.81/2.19/2.99 good for the second highest reliever WAR in baseball (2.7). Wilson struck out 11.21 over 9 innings and, more importantly, his facial hair was only overshadowed by whatever is growing out of Jayson Werth's face.

3. Heath Bell
Call me a sucker for WAR. Go ahead, I'll wait. Bell finished third in baseball with his 2.4 reliever WAR. He tossed 1.93/2.05/3.11 ball while striking out 11.06 over 9 innings. Bell's competition for this spot was Billy Wagner. Wagner went 1.43/2.10/2.34 for a 2.2 WAR. Unfortunately for Wagner, rock beats scissors. Science.