Happy Thanksgiving (Ft. Slapsgiving)

Ah, Thanksgiving. The ultimate American holiday to show off our glutenous ways. I'm not sure when Thanksgiving became a competitive eating contest between friends and family but there is no denying it is now the mortal enemy of turkeys, shirt buttons and dent free couches.

This is the space where most bloggers announce how thankful they are for their excellent writing staff but I'm not going to waste your time patting myself on the back. I've already had to go see Dr. James Andrews once after tearing my rotator cuff doing so.

Since I have no way to tie Thanksgiving into baseball, I will just share this wonderful How I Met Your Mother Slapsgiving gif with you, my dear readers. Have a safe and merry Turkey Day and don't forget to slap the ones you love.

Delmon Young's MVP Candidacy; A Timeline

While I think the BBWAA did an outstanding job in choosing the winners of this year's regular season awards, I can always find something to complain about. Today's object of my disfection is your 2010 10th place finisher in the AL MVP voting, Delmon Young. Once upon on time, Young was the first pick overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2003. Times were simpler back then. Old School made me pee a little in the movie theater, The O.C. was just getting started, Outkast's Hey Ya wasn't overplayed yet and it wasn't creepy that I was dating an 18-year-old.

But the times, they were a changin. In 2007, Young played all 162 games for the Rays and was basically a replacement level player. He hit 13 home runs and a .288/.316/.408 line while playing some pretty good right field but was terrifying in center. Meanwhile, Hollywood crapped out some triquels for us in Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third and Rush Hour 3. The future looked bleak, my friends.

In fact, the Rays would ship off their former top prospect to Minnesota for Matt Garza before the 2008 season. While things picked up for Hollywood in 2008 (Dark Night, The Wrestler), Young was regressing at an alarming pace. Young hit 10 homers and respectable-ish .290/.336/.405 while wondering the Metrodome outfield like a drunken hobo searching for the cans of beer with a sip left in them. His 2008 -19.4 UZR was slightly better than my -26.5 URR (Ultimate Relationship Rating) after I was dumped by a girl for her ex-boyfriend who was recently released from prison. It was a rough year for us both.

2009 was even worse. I moved back to New Orleans, developed a drinking problem, engaged in a highly dysfunctional relationship and lost what seemed like seven hours of my life watching Avatar. Young only managed to make it to the field for 108 games. And that was the highlight of his season. He did pop 12 homers but barely broke a .300 OBP and continued to butcher left field like he was selling deli meat.

Which brings us to Young's top ten finish in AL MVP voting in 2010. In full disclosure, I think it's absurd that Young finished tenth and even received a fourth place vote. But Young did seem to turn the corner a little bit at the plate. Young cracked 21 homers and hit .298/.333/.493 good for his career high 2.1 WAR. That 2.1 WAR was good for 45th in the league, inline with Brandon Inge and Marco Scuturo. Thanks to the new stadium, Young did improve his fielding to a near blind-man level.

Young wasn't the most valuable outfielder on the Twins (that would be the underrated Denard Span) but every once in a while, you can fall back-asswards into appreciation despite some pretty average work. So if my timeline is matching up with Young's, you should expect to see my nonsensical ramblings in some form of mainstream media in the not too distant future. True story.

Josh Hamilton Pops The Schweppes

The voters from the BBWAA capped a shockingly good award season by handing the American League MVP to Josh Hamilton today. It appears the hard work of basement dwelling math nerds is finally wearing the mainstream media down. Hamilton was the best player in the AL and perhaps all of baseball despite missing the last month of the season.

Hamilton's feel good story has been well documented from being the first overall pick in 1999 to washing out of baseball in 2001 due to drug and alcohol addiction to his Phoenix-esque rise from the ashes in 2007. Hamilton was able to shake off his demons, except for a spring training wagon fall in 2009, to become one of the game's top players. Which brings us to his amazing 2010 season.

In a mere 133 games, Hamilton managed to out fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) all of baseball including NL MVP Joey Votto and the all around awesomeness of Albert Pujols. It helps, of course, that Hamilton played good defense in center and great defense in left field instead of manning first base. Hamilton hit 32 home runs and a .359/.411/.633 line while taking the Rangers to the AL West crown.

He collected 22 of the 28 first place votes leaving Miguel Cabrera and Robinson in a distant second and third respectively. I had Hamilton first and Cabrera second in my BBA ballot so I don't have much to complain about, at least in this post.

Congratulations, Josh. The next round of ginger ale is on me. Um, so if you have, like, a Pay-Pal, let me know and I can send you the $4.

Ryan Zimmerman Gets Chase Utley'd

The BBWAA released the outcome of the voting for the National League MVP earlier today and Joey Votto ran away with the award. Votto grabbed 31 of the 32 first place votes while Albert Pujols vultured the remaining top vote to prevent the sweep. Both hard slugging first basemen were deserving of the award so it's not worth dissecting how close the two really were despite the wide margin of victory. Besides, Rob Neyer already did that.

Instead, I'll use this space to complain about Ryan Zimmerman's 16th place finish. I may have written a few words in the past about the lack of MVP support that Chase Utley has received over his career. I mean, Utley has been the second best player in the NL since, roughly, 2005 but the highest he's ever finished in MVP voting is 7th. Hell, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard have even won MVPs when Utley was a more worthy candidate. I could go on but there's some pretty ominous wording in this restraining order. (Can't resist; Utley finished with the 14th best fWAR and received zero MVP votes this season) Okay, on to Zimmerman and his Utley treatment.

I had Zimmerman third on my BBA ballot which might have been a tad high in retrospect but I wouldn't have had him lower than 5th-ish. How could I be so far off from the people who get paid to write about baseball? What do they know that I'm missing? Let's go to a little Twitter conversation with Fox Sports' own miniature baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.



First I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how polite I was. I was surprisingly calm for something I so vehemently disagree with. Contending team? That's it? Really? Strap on the nerd boots and let's go to the stats...

Ryan Zimmerman
142 G, 25 HR, .307 AVG, .388 OBP, .510 SLG, 13.9 UZR, 7.2 fWAR (Fangraph's WAR)

Scott Rolen
132 G, 20 HR, .285 AVG, .358 OBP, .497 SLG, 10.6 UZR, 5.0 fWAR

In Rosenthal's eyes, playing for a contending team negates the fact that Zimmerman was worth TWO more wins than Rolen. That is a significant gap even with the 10 extra games Zimmerman played. Rolen only finished two spots and eight points ahead of Zimmerman in the final tally but it still hurts my brain.

I might put more stock in WAR than I should but Fangraphs loved Zimmerman this season. His 7.2 WAR was only one tenth of a point behind Albert Pujols and two tenths behind Joey Votto. That would make him the third most valuable in the National League for the 2010 season. Yet, like Chase Utley before him, he was almost ignored in MVP voting. Why?

Much of Zimmerman's value is tied to his brilliant defense at third base. While there aren't any perfect metrics for defense, the nerds in basements have been making big strides in understanding defense and it's value. But, I guess it's still easier for the mainstream media to give votes to a terrible fielding first baseman who hits 31 home runs and strikes out over 150 times (Ryan Howard received a 2nd and 3rd place vote).

Still, 16th place is absurd. And so begins my crusade to get Ryan Zimmerman more MVP respect. Don't hold your breath, Ryan, it didn't help Chase any.

More fun with the NL MVP results
*Troy Tulowitzki finished 5th; five voters left him off of their ballots.
*Martin Prado finished 9th because why not.
*Brian Wilson finished well ahead of Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson.
*Jimenez received one fourth place vote and that's it.
*Carlos Ruiz (Chooch!) finished ahead of Brian McCann.
*Buster Posey finished 11th including one third place vote. Not a bad year.

Felix Wins By A Wide Margin Then Back To Normal

Felix Hernandez won his first Cy Young running away, receiving 21 of the 28 first place votes. King Felix was a horse pitching 249.2 innings while leading the American League with a 2.27 ERA. He was second in complete games (6) and strikeouts (232). And for those of us practicing nerdism, Felix was fourth in the league with a 3.04 FIP and third with a 6.2 WAR. The debate was whether he could take home the award with a 13-12 record against the likes of CC Sabathia (21 wins, 3.18 ERA), David Price (19 wins, 2.72 ERA) and Jon Lester (19 wins, 3.25 ERA).

The voters got it right and the BBWAA has done a solid job overall during this award season. Price, in a mild surprise, finished second receiving four first place votes over Sabathia and his three first place votes. Jon Lester placed fourth with Jered Weaver finishing a distant fifth. The win totals after Felix's 13 went back to the normal 19, 21, 19 and another 13. But Weaver did lead the league in strikeouts and had a 3.01 ERA. I'm surprised Justin Verlander's 18 wins didn't get him more than one fifth place vote.

In my ballot for the BBA, I had a coin flip between Felix and Cliff Lee for first and ended up settling with Felix for the top spot. Lee just managed one third place vote, one fourth and one fifth. Lee only won 12 games but he did pitch more innings than Price and Lester. I know the voting is getting better as far as looking at statistics past wins and ERA so I might be getting a little ahead of myself. However, Lee led the AL with a 2.58 FIP and 7.1 WAR. The reason I gave Lee more love than anyone else I've seen was his strikeout to walk ratio. Lee finished with a ridiculous 10.28 K/BB rate. Jered Weaver was second best with his 4.31 ratio.

Perhaps I'm a bit cynical even though the voters chose the best pitcher in the AL for the Cy. There was a big groundswell for Felix Hernandez by the stat guys and all of us writing from our moms' basements toward the end of the season. The main stream media had to take notice of our deifying of Felix this year. I suspect that's why he won by such a large margin. If the voters were really looking at advanced metrics now, wouldn't Cliff Lee have received more support? It's just a thought. Even the great Joe Sheehan admitted it was a tough year to sort out via Twitter...

@MnkysThrwngDrts I had him #5 (Lee). The AL Cy pool was a mess, seven or eight guys with cases, metrics pointing all over the place.

Fair enough. But Francisco Liriano was second in FIP (2.66) and fourth in WAR (6.0) and he received one fifth place vote. The aforementioned 18-game winner Justin Verlander finished third in FIP (2.97) and second in WAR (6.3) while being rewarded with a single fifth place vote. It just makes me wonder if Felix won due to the overwhelming hype surrounding him rather than the voters actually warming up to advanced metrics.

Adrian Beltre Would Like A Ton Of Cash Please

Adrian Beltre is coming off his second best season since, get this, his first contract year in 2004. The slick fielding third baseman erupted in '04 for 48 home runs and a .334/.388/.629 line which earned him a 5-year/$64 million deal with the Mariners. Beltre returned to human form in Seattle but still hit 103 home runs and averaged a .266/.317/.442 line over the five years. Those numbers were actually hampered by his second contract year in 2009 when he only played in 111 games. But according to FanGraphs, he was worth $68 million over that contract even with the shortened last season.

The Red Sox gave Beltre a one year deal for $9 million in 2009 which ended up being a steal just a few notches below whatever it was Bernie Madoff was doing. Beltre thrived once again in 2010 smacking 28 home runs, hitting .321/.365/.553 and finishing only behing Josh Hamilton (8.0) with a 7.1 WAR. Now he's gots to get paid.

The 31-year old is looking for that proverbial fat cash and Mega-Super-Agent Scott Boras is just the man to get it for him. For the rest of this post, I'll be referring to the inside information that I received straight from Sports Illustrated's own Jon Heyman (via his Twitter).

Tweet 1:

it appears the comp being used by adrian beltre is torii hunter ($90 mil, 5 yrs). gulp.

That $18 million due when Beltre is 36 is going to suck if some team actually gives it to him. Unless, if in 2015 we're officially New China and they've straightened out our economy.

Tweet 2:

sounds like a's are willing to pay adrian beltre $60-plus mil, but that's apparently not in ballpark of asking price.

Perhaps Boras is right and every Major League team is in on Beltre as well as six NFL teams, three NBA teams and the New York Rangers.

I don't think Beltre is going to get close to 5-years/$90M. But if he does, I'm hiring Boras to renegotiate my Yardbarker contract.

Halladay Unanimous, Johnson Undervalued

The BBWAA announced that Roy Halladay picked up all 32 first place votes on his way to winning the National League Cy Young. Exactly zero people were surprised. Halladay was the perfect storm of shiny mainstream stats and nerdy advanced metrics. His 21 wins, nine complete games, four shutouts and 250.2 innings led the league. The 2.44 ERA was second, 3.01 FIP was third, 2.92 xFIP was first just like his 6.6 WAR. I had Halladay first on my ballot for the BBA where he also finished first unanimously.

So the right guy won and won running away but, as a blogger, it's my duty to find something to bitch about. I could complain about Brian Wilson and Heath Bell getting more voting love than Tim Lincecum but instead I'll just point out that nobody, including me, realized how good Josh Johnson was in 2010. I had him fourth on my ballot and that's where he finished in the BBA standings. The BBWAA had him fifth behind Halladay, Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez and Tim effing Hudson.

Really Johnson, Wainwright and Jimenez could have finished in any order after Halladay but Johnson didn't receive a single second place vote. I suppose the BBWAA reasoning was the same as mine. Johnson only pitched 183.2 innings which was 45 fewer than Hudson, 38 from Jimenez and 47 from Wainwright. Obviously that a pretty substantial gap in usage but he was brilliant when on the mound. His 2.30 ERA and 2.41 FIP were tops in the league and his 6.3 WAR was tied with Jimenez for second. If I had it to do over, I might have had Johnson second.

I guess this rant was more about Hudson who finished fourth due to his 17 wins and 2.83 ERA. Hudson's actual ERA should have been closer to his 4.09 FIP. Hudson was incredibly lucky thanks to a 2.50 BABIP and his 2.7 WAR ranked 29th among starting pitchers. I know I'm more obsessed with WAR than I should be but Hudson wasn't anywhere close to the top five pitchers in the NL.

Felt like I should have had more to complain about but I guess that will have to wait until Thursday when the AL Cy Young gets announced. That one is going to be filled with nonsense.

Former Zephyr Cameron Maybin Dealt To Padres

Within two days, the Florida Marlins have traded away the top prospects they received in the Miguel Cabrera deal with Detroit from three years ago. Left handed pitching prospect Andrew Miller has underachieved to the point where he was flipped to Boston for reliever Dustin Richardson on Friday. The Cameron Maybin deal is a little more curious.

The Marlins soured on the 23-year-old center fielder but they also had him split time between AAA New Orleans and the Major Leagues both in 2009 and this past season. His stat splits between the two leagues were pretty severe though. As a New Orleans Zephyr, Maybin looked like the potential superstar he was billed to be while he looked like a replacement level player in the bigs.

In 2009, Maybin played 82 games for New Orleans and produced a .319/.399/.463 line that would make him a potential All Star. In his 54 games with the Marlins he only put up a .250/.318/.409 line while playing good defense in center field. The 33 games he spent in New Orleans in 2010 were even better than the previous stint. Maybin hit .388/.407/.508 which would certainly make him an All Star. But in the 82 games he spent with Florida, he hit for a paltry .234/.302/.361 line.

Maybin’s swing has some holes in it. He struck out 51 times in 176 at bats during the 2009 season with Florida and another 92 times in 291 at bats in 2010. He has the chance to be a plus defender in center and is still young at 23. Maybin was out of options which means he couldn’t be sent back to New Orleans but he had nothing left to prove there anyway.

In my opinion, the Marlins gave up on Maybin too soon especially for the pair of relievers, Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica, they received in return. Maybin may be one of the prospects who just needed a change of scenery to flourish at the Major League level and he will have plenty of room to run in Petco’s spacious outfield.

I expect to be giving a similar send-off post to Brandon Wood anytime now.