BBA AL Stan Musial 2014

Once again, it's Baseball Bloggers Alliance award season! It's a lot like the BBWAA award season with different names because they get litigious with their free time. The fine staff here at Off Base will guide you through our ballots over the next few days. Now up, the AL Stan Musial or how Mike Trout learned to stop running and love hitting bombs.

And here we are again. I've been a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance since 2010. Back then I used to have to telefax blog posts from the computer lab at the university. I had to walk eight miles, uphill, in the snow to get there. They were simpler times. The BBA has come a long way since it was founded in 2009. It has over 200 blogs voting on these regular season awards. And I feel confident that for the third consecutive year, the BBA will do what the BBWAA has not been able to do just yet. And that's give Mike Trout another first place finish for being the most valuable baseball player on the planet.

1. Mike Trout
This comes as no surprise. When given the option of voting for Trout, much like being offered Carvel ice cream cake, a reasonable person always jumps at the opportunity. Trout led all of baseball again in Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement. But unlike previous seasons, I can't yammer on about Trout putting up the greatest season ever for his particular age, in this case his 22-year-old baseball year.

His 7.8 fWAR was the worst of his three year career and the first time he dipped below the 10 WAR mark. He made some interesting adjustments in his third full season. Adjustments that hurt him in advanced metrics but will help him win his first BBWAA AL MVP. He struck out a ton. After hanging around a 19-22% strikeout rate, he jumped to 26.1% and finished Sept/Oct with a 32% rate. That said, if you tried to pitch Mike down, like most pitchers are want to do, he destroyed baseballs. Trout set a career high with 36 homers and 111 RBI. And maybe more importantly, the Angels had the best record in baseball making Trout an almost slam dunk for AL MVP.

He did stop running. Only 16 stolen bases compared to 33 last year and 49 in 2012. His AVG fell to .287 after .323 in 2013 and .326 in 2012. The .377 OBP was a career low too after hanging around .400 the previous years. And some of that can be explained by a 27 point drop in BABIP. Also, we're just picking nits here. Nobody is really questioning that Trout is the best in baseball. But now there's a legit scouting report on him and it will be interesting to see how he adjusts next year.

The question about Trout's MVP candidacy will mainly be whether or not he's unanimous. He won't be in the BBWAA because regional writers were dying to make a case for anybody else so Josh Donaldson and Victor Martinez are bound to steal a few votes. I feel slightly more confident in my BBA brethren.

2. Michael Brantley
Brantley has been a solid Major Leaguer for the Indians since 2011. And then in his 26-year-old season, everything came together. Twenty home runs, 23 stolen bases, a .327/.385/.506 line. He was Mike Trout lite in 2014. That's certainly good enough for second. Everybody raise your hand if you had Corey Kluber and Michael Brantley finishing in the top two for AL Cy and MVP. Everybody with their hand up is a dirty, dirty liar.

3. Jose Bautista
Joey Bats continues to be super productive and flies under the radar. Is it because he doesn't hit for a high average? Is it because he's Canadian? I assume players have to convert if they play for Toronto. Maybe we'll never know but Bautista is a beast.

4. Victor Martinez
This begins the portion of the ballot where offense gets the nod over defense. My apologies to Alex Gordon and Josh Donaldson. Four players had a wRC+ (adjusted Weighted Runs Created) over 160 this season. Andrew McCutchen 168, Trout 167, Martinez 166 and Jose Abreu 165. Now, Martinez and Abreu contributed little to negative a lot on the defensive side of the game but you do have to score to win. Martinez hit .335/.409/.565 and I have a weakness for players that reach base over 40% of the time.

5. Jose Abreu
.317/.383/.581 with 36 home runs and can fake first base. I have fantasies about the Cuban defector only signing a one-year deal with the white Sox and being a free agent this winter. What would the bidding look like? I imagine it would be enough to put a nice bid on Cuba when it eventually forecloses.

6. Alex Gordon
What can I say? Elite outfield defense and a .266/.351/.432 line. He might not be the superstar prospect the Royals thought they had but this ain't bad either.

7. Corey Kluber
He was the best pitcher in the AL. By a super thin margin.

8. Felix Hernandez
He was debatably the best pitcher in the AL.

9. Adrian Beltre
Is everybody on board yet? Honestly, do you realize that Beltre is going to the Hall of Fame? He's at 70.8 fWAR. He's the most dependable superstar that few realize is a superstar. I plan on him inviting me to his induction ceremony since I've been on this bandwagon for quite some time.

10. Miguel Cabrera
Or Kyle Seager. But Seager called tails.

LVP. Matt Dominguez
The former Marlins prospect was supposed to have the glove for third base but the bat was questionable. Unfortunately, the glove didn't live up to its billing and the .215/.256.330 line more than lived up to the questionable bat part of the equation. His -1.7 fWAR tied NL LVP Dominic Brown's mark for "ugh."

Curveballs for Jobu 5/31/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Paul Spoljaric.

Blue Jays 11, Indians 1.
Our long national (international?) nightmare is over after Jo Jo Reyes snapped his 28 start non-winning streak that spanned nearly 3 years. Reyes got the win by pitching a complete game and allowing just a run. Jose Bautista went 2-3 with a walk to get his OBP back over .500 for the season. The Indians have lost 5 of 6 and I think it's safe to declare the sky is falling.

Yankees 5, A's 0.
I'm sold. Shoot me up with some stem cells. Even though it was the dismal A's offense, Bartolo Colon threw a 4-hit, complete game shutout while striking out 6 and walking none. Colon has a 3.26/3.35/2.91 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) line as a 38-year-old. *googles shady doctors in my area*

Angels 10, Royals 8.
Ervin Santana got off to a rough start but the Angels bats were able to bail him out. Santana's first 6 pitches went for a leadoff home rum, four pitch walk and a 2-run home run. But the Angels managed to battle back to overcome a 5 run deficit with home runs by Mark Trumbo and Peter Bourjos in the 8th and took the lead with a 2-run homer by Torii Hunter in the 9th. It was Hunter's second of the game and his 1,000 career RBI. Royals struggling closer Joakim Soria lost his job to Aaron Crow after blowing the save. This, kids, is why you don't change your nickname if it's something badass like the Mexicutioner.

Diamondbacks 15, Marlins 4.
Arizona mashed their way to 7 straight wins on the backs of Justin Upton (5-5, 2B, HR) and Kelly Johnson (4-7, 2B, 3B, 2 HR). Willie Bloomquist, Sean Burroughs and Xavier Nady also had plate appearances.

Reds 7, Brewers 3.
Jay Bruce just keeps crushing everything. Bruce went 3-4 with a triple and home run. He leads the National League in 2 of the 3 Triple Crown categories but I wouldn't hold my breath on him making up that 50 points of batting average he's down.

Phillies 5, Nationals 4.
Roy Halladay surrendered 10 hits including 3 home runs but he and the Phils both survived the un-Doc outing with a win. Chase Utley went 0-3 with 2 walks. I sense a hot streak right around the corner. Livan Hernandez tossed his automatic 6+ innings giving up 8 hits and 4 runs. You can pencil that in for almost every start.

Other games, but down here...
Tigers 6, Twins 5.
Mariners 4, Orioles 3.
Rangers 11, Rays 5.
White Sox 7, Red Sox 3.
Padres 3, Braves (10).
Astros 12, Cubs 7.
Giants 7, Cardinals 3.
Mets 7, Pirates 3.
Dodgers 7, Rockies 1.

Curveballs for Jobu 5/27/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Chris Clapinski.

Marlins 1, Giants 0.
So.. Anibal Sanchez is good at throwing baseballs. Sanchez tossed the complete game shutout and struck out 8. He's sporting a 2.60/2.74/3.03 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) pitching line now and if Hanley ever starts to hit, the Fish might be scary. The offensively starved Giants (170 runs scored is only better than the Twins 164) aren't off to a good start after losing their best hitter, Buster Posey, for the rest of the season. Giants pitchers must be thrilled.

Phillies 10, Reds 4.
Chase Utley hit his first (of many) home run of 2011. I celebrated with a $13 rum and coke at some new bar on Bourbon Street. In related news, Bourbon Street still sucks.

Cubs 9, Mets 3.
The Mets are getting terrible at an exciting pace. R.A. Dickey made it through 2.2 shutout innings before injuring himself trying to cover first base. Then the Mets bullpen tossed some batting practice and Carlos Zambrano had a better day at the plate than any Met hitter. July can't get here soon enough for Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.

Red Sox 14, Tigers 1.
Rain ended this one right when the Tigers were going to make a comeback with their 6 remaining outs. Casper Wells had some big plans for the bottom of the 9th. Remember how terrible Carl Crawford was? That's all over now. He hit 2 triples and raised his OPS 103 points in 2 days.

White Sox 3, Blue Jays 1.
The White Sox managed to win despite Adam Dunn's trips to the dish. Dunn wore the golden sombrero as he's really starting to ramp up his year of suck. Jose Bautista failed to homer making the Blue Jays 48% less interesting.

Other games, but down here...
Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 3.
A's 4, Angels 3.
Orioles 6, Royals 5 (12).

Curveballs for Jobu 5/24/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Stan Hoyer.

Cardinals 3, Padres 1.
Albert Pujols hit a home run ending his gajillion at bat drought without one. Okay, maybe it was just 106 at bats but it was the longest of his career and an excruciating stretch for his fantasy owners. Pujols has just 8 homers this season and an underwhelming .268/.340/.421 line in his walk year. If Pujols puts up the worst season of his career, we're going to witness some very interesting contract negotiations in the offseason.

Brewers 11, Nationals 3.
Corey Hart erupted for 3 home runs giving him 3 on the season. Tom Gorzelanny did his best impression of a batting cage pitching machine giving up 2 of Hart's homers and another one by Prince Fielder.

Phillies 10, Reds 3.
Chase Utley made his much anticipated (by me) return to the Phillies. He went 0-5 but I'm sure he'll hit like 8 home runs tonight. Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez hit home runs to celebrate Utley's return. I celebrated with Sailor Jerry rum and Camel menthols because I'm the paragon of health.

Rangers 4, White Sox 0.
The Rangers welcomed back 2/3 of their opening day outfield and Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz wasted no time getting back into the groove, each hitting a home run. Alexi Ogando continued his improbable hot start throwing a complete game shutout lowering his ERA to 1.81. By all accounts (metrics), he's actually much closer to his 3.68 FIP or 3.75 xFIP. Still pretty good though. The White Sox started Dallas McPhearson at third base and that always makes me laugh. He went 0-3 and has a .182/.182/.182 line. Adorable.

Blue Jays 7, Yankees 3.
It was just another regular day at the office for Jose Bautista. Joey Bats went 1-3 with his 19th homer and 2 more walks. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada combined to go 0-9 but Posada at least played near perfect defense at DH.

Indians 3, Red Sox 2.
Okay, I give up. The Indians are the best team in baseball and Asdrubal Cabrera is an MVP candidate. This is all happening with Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner on the disabled list and Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana not hitting. It's just weird and I'm pretty sure Charlie Sheen has something to do with it.

Other games, but down here...
Angels 4, A's 1.
Tigers 6, Rays 3.
Mariners 8, Twins 7 (10).
Astros 4, Dodgers 3.

Curveballs for Jobu 5/22/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Joe Slusarski.

Blue Jays 7, Astros 5.
Jose Bautista finally stopped dicking around and went 3-4 with 2 more home runs. Joey Bats was homerless in his 4 previous games (5 if you count a rain out, which I do for some reason). He now has 18 home runs, a .364/.509/.841 line and, if the folklore is accurate, a giant blue ox. Bautista's agent is Bean Stringfellow. Can't make that kind of stuff up. I laughed for 12 minutes.

Giants 3, A's 0.
Tim Lincecum is really good at throwing baseballs. The A's lineup is really bad at hitting them. That matchup resulted in 9 shut-out innings from Lincecum. He allowed just 3 hits with zero walks and 6 strikeouts. At one point, he retired 21 straight Athletics (if you can call them that). Lincecum is sitting at 2.06/2.63/2.75 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) with a 9.64 K/9 this year and is back in the discussion for best pitcher in baseball.

Yankees 7, Mets 3.
Curtis Granderson hit his 15th home run of the season off of Chris Capuano. Granderson now has more home runs against southpaws (8) than northpaws (7). He's still just hitting .255/.314/.809 against lefties but the power surge seems legit which is good news for the Yankees. Russell Martin (8), A-Rod (9) and Mark Teixeira (12) also went yard against Capuano who failed to make my Wiffle Ball team last year.

Phillies 2, Rangers 0.
Cliff Lee got an umpire with a reasonable strike zone and went 8 shut-out innings allowing 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10 former teammates. By the way, Lee has been fantastic this year metric wise (2.31 FIP, 2.45 xFIP, 10.53 K/9) but probably doesn't look like a Cy Young contender to the SportsCenter crowd (3-4, 3.38 ERA).

Mariners 4, Padres 0.
What an amazing rivalry. Thank you interleague play. Michael Pineda gave up 2 hits in 7 innings for the M's and is now 6-1 with a 2.16/2.26/2.99 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) pitching line. It's possible the 22-year-old is even better than advertised. He has to be the front runner for the AL ROY and is one of two reasons to turn on a Mariners game (King Felix being the other).

Braves 4, Angels 3 (12).
Fernando Rodney pitched a perfect third of the 7th inning. No hits, no runs and no walks. Color me impressed.

Other games, but down here...
Brewers 3, Rockies 2.
White Sox 9, Dodgers 2.
Cardinals 3, Royals 0.
Orioles 8, Nationals 3.
Indians 2, Reds 1.
Cubs 9, Red Sox 3.
Marlins 5, Rays 3.
Pirates 6, Tigers 2.
Diamondbacks 9, Twins 6.

Curveballs for Jobu 5/19/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Danny Clyburn.

Yankees 4, Orioles 1 (15).
Mariano Rivera blew his third save of the season leading to the longest game of the year for both teams. Thanks to his stem cell time machine, Bartolo Colon returned to 2002 and pitched 8 scoreless innings striking out 7. Of course, it was Robinson Cano who came through with a double in the 15th to put the Yanks up for good. After giving up the hit, Mike Gonzalez drilled the next batter, Chris Dickerson, in the head cracking his helmet. Dickerson was taken to the hospital and Gonzalez was immediately ejected.

Rays 6, Blue Jays 5.
Jose Bautista: 1-2, 2 walks. Including the rainout on 5/17, this is the third straight game that Bautista has not hit a home run. I think it's safe for us to label him a fluke again.

White Sox 1, Indians 0.
Jake Peavy outdueled Justin Masterson as both pitchers went the distance. It was Peavy who threw the shutout and got the win though as it was turn back the clock night for formerly great pitchers. Peavy gave up just three hits, striking out 8 without a single base on balls. Former Angels prospect Dallas McPhearson somehow had a personalized White Sox jersey made and snuck into their lineup and manned third base for them. Whether the White Sox were aware of this or not is still being questioned. He went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts.

Pirates 5, Reds 0.
Leave it to the Pirates, led by staff ace Charlie Morton, to derail the five game win streak the red hot, um, Reds had been on. Morton tossed the complete game shutout and is now pitching 2.62/3.75/3.91 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) for the season.

Mets 3, Nationals 0.
The Mets pulled even with the Nationals at 20-22. This should be an intense battle to see which team finishes the least furthest away from third place in the NL East.

Other games, but down here...
Mariners 3, Angels 0.
Red Sox 1, Tigers 0.
Rangers 5, Royals 4.
Twins 4, A's 3 (10).
Phillies 2, Rockies 1.
Cubs 7, Marlins 5.
Cardinals 5, Astros 1.
Diamondbacks 5, Braves 4 (11).
Brewers 5, Padres 2.
Giants 8, Dodgers 5.