Time For Midseason Awards

As I write this, the All-Star game hasn't happened yet, so I can't write about that. Heck, the fun part, the selections, is already over anyway.

Instead, since it's midseason, we can do a lot of other fun "easy columns," so-called because they're easy columns. Like picking the award winners for the first half, aka shooting fish in a barrel. No complex labor-relations issues or cost-benefit analyses for stadium construction -- just good ol' flag-waving.

Let's wave the flags for the Rookies of the Year first -- talk about shooting fish:
(TPA stands for total plate appearances, the best measure of how much a player has played)

American League:

1. Ichiro Suzuki, Sea (.347, .474 SLG, .379 OBP, 409 TPA)
2. Chris Michalak, Tor (6-6, 4.25, 95.1 IP)
3. David Eckstein, Ana (.277, .349 SLG, .355 OBP, 354 TPA)

I'm not happy at all that Ichiro is designated a rookie -- it's essentially a slap in the face to the Japanese leagues in which he excelled for many years. But until the rules are changed, you have to follow them or risk skewing the results (a la the writers who refuse to vote for pitchers for the MVP).

Here's what's most impressive about Ichiro: he's the team's best clutch performer. It's a shame that he hits leadoff, in fact. With no one on base Ichiro is hitting .291, .372 SLG, .316 OBP. With runners on he's hitting .446, .655 SLG, .484 OBP. Granted, it's a small sample size, but it's striking enough to make me wonder if doesn't reflect a real clutch ability of Ichiro's.

The other two just fill out the ballot. Michalak has been an average starter so far, and if you don't think an average starter is a valuable commodity, you've obviously never been a Blue Jays fan. Michalak has a much better ERA than the rest of the rookie crop (including C.C. Sabathia and Willis Roberts). And Eckstein is the only rookie besides Ichiro who can manage to get on base at a reasonable rate. Shea Hillenbrand, Alfonso Soriano and Luis Rivas all have OBPs below .310.

National League:

1. Albert Pujols, Stl (.323, .594 SLG, .391 OBP, 359 TPA)
2. Ben Sheets, Mil (10-5, 3.59, 100.1 IP)
3. Jimmy Rollins, Phi (.272, .419 SLG, .309 OBP, 390 TPA)

Again, pretty easy. Before a recent slump Albert Pujols was an MVP candidate -- now he's just a stellar, stunning surprise, possibly the best-hitting rookie since Mike Piazza. All he had before this year was one year in the minors, starting at single A. Now if only he had a less "Beavis and Butthead"-ish surname ?

The other two are obvious, especially since both made the All-Star game. Sheets has surprised everyone by actually living up to high-flung expectations, and Rollins has made a good start in becoming a fine contributor. His best qualification is that he has 28 stolen bases and has only been caught stealing twice.

But still, Rollins has an awfully low OBP. I'm tempted to put give the young rookie starters, either Chris Reitsma of Cincinnati or Luke Prokopec of Los Angeles. But Rollins' defense is supposedly very good. I guess I'll stick with Rollins.

The Cy Young is a little more difficult:

American League:

1. Pedro Martinez, Bos (7-2, 2.26, 103.2 IP)
2. Roger Clemens, NYY (12-1, 3.55, 124.1 IP)
3. Joe Mays, Min (11-5, 3.02, 122.1 IP)

This one's not as automatic as it is most years. Pedro's record at the break isn't great, but it isn't bad either, and Clemens' great one, while a major criterion, doesn't mean he's better than Pedro. Clemens's 12-1 is partially due to the fact that he's second in the league in run support, getting 7.26 runs to work with per game. Martinez is getting 4.08.

Pedro beats him in the more important one, ERA. But Pedro's not doing so spectacularly that he should receive a free pass for the starts he's missed. At this point, it's only been a few, but if he makes fewer than 30 starts on the year, I might not be totally justified in recommending yet another award.

National League:

1. Greg Maddux, Atl (10-5, 2.41, 127 IP)
2. Randy Johnson, Ari (11-5, 2.71, 132.2 IP)
3. Curt Schilling, Ari (12-4, 3.20, 143.1 IP)

Man, this one is tough. Most people are picking Curt Schilling as a knee-jerk reaction to his 12 wins and the Diamondbacks' improbable dominance, but I don't see how having two more wins than Maddux makes Schilling a better pitcher. Or how Curt should get extra points for having Luis Gonzalez powering his team to the top of the standings.

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson has one fewer win than Schilling, with an ERA just a bit above Maddux' league-leading 2.41. Johnson may well be the best choice, but it's close, so I went with the ERA leader.

And that ERA leader is having a terrific season, not that anyone seems to care. He wasn't even selected for the All-Star Game, which was allegedly his choice, but it didn't arouse much controversy. I wonder if people are so used to Maddux' excellence that he is subject to unfairly high standards. People see him leading the league in ERA and it doesn't even register.

You may have already noticed that I disagree wholeheartedly with the pervasive idea that the performance of a players' team should come into play when deciding individual awards. It's a team game, and the entire team as a whole is responsible for winning or losing. Therefore, individual players should not be rewarded or punished in these individual awards on the basis of what their teammates accomplish. Unlike most sports, in baseball, no one player ever carries a team.

Unfortunately, rejecting this means that there really aren't enough factors besides stats for deciding awards. There's how much you play, there's defense, and defensive position (i.e., a great-hitting shortstop is more valuable than a great-hitting first baseman, because the great-hitting shortstop is rarer) -- there's a few others, but not as many as people would have you think.

That doesn't sit right with me, and I wish I could think of many other criteria that have validity, but most of the ones you hear (vague terms like "heart" and "clubhouse presence") are almost entirely subjective and seldom hold any real significance. Using such factors relegates it all to a popularity contest, and popularity has almost nothing to do with ability to help win ballgames. A popularity contest is worse than a stats contest, so I'll have to go with the stats contest.

You might say that Schilling deserves the Cy Young because he's a leader -- but the only leader in baseball is the manager. The manager, and sometimes the catcher, influence game play with strategies to a significant extent. Whatever "leading" Schilling does is confined to setting an example and motivating players, which are important things in Little League, but the major leagues is a sample set of nothing but motivated folks. You don't get there any other way. I'll bet for every teammate who finds Schilling's gung-ho attitude inspiring there are two that wish he'd just calm down.

Anyway, let's get to the AL MVP:

American League:

1. Jason Giambi, Oak (.322, .618 SLG, .463 OBP, 367 TPA)
2. Manny Ramirez, Bos (.335, .649 SLG, .432 OBP, 384 TPA)
3. Alex Rodriguez, Tex (.310, .596 SLG, .397 OBP, 395 TPA)

Surprised? Well, Giambi is one of the two best hitters in the league, with Ramirez, and since Manny is mainly a DH and Giambi a passable first baseman, Giambi has more value. It's not a convincing first, but it's a first nonetheless.

He won't get it because he won last year, even though Alex Rodriguez and Pedro Martinez would've been better choices. If he was blowing away the league this year, the writers would feel OK about giving him another MVP, but since he's merely the best player by a hair, he won't get it. This is yet another unfair bias that the writers indulge in -- all that should matter is who's best this season. The past isn't prologue when dealing with individual-season awards.

I kinda wish I could give it to Manny though. It's hard to imagine what the Red Sox' offense would be like without his massive bat in the middle. Well, actually, it's not hard to imagine at all -- it would stink.

Alex Rodriguez always gets insufficient MVP support. Maybe the other members of the shortstop troika (Garciaparra, Jeter, A-Rod) usually split the votes -- but people don't seem to realize that Alex is undoubtedly the best of the three. This season isn't his best, but he's had a few that were among the best a shortstop has ever had, and combined with solid defense, that's an MVP in my book.

Ditto for Roberto Alomar, who just missed the cut here. A first baseman who gets on base at a .431 clip and slugs at a .542 rate would be a very valuable player. But when a second baseman does that, as Alomar is right now -- it's hard to put a price on that. Despite the fewer RBI, Alomar has slightly better numbers than Bret Boone (including 17 SB and 4 CS to Boone's 2 and 1), or else I'd be making this argument for Boone.

Of course, Boone will probably top most polls, because he has the things that seduce baseball writers: lots of RBI, out-of-nowhere excellence and a winning team. None of those factors really matter much. The RBIs are impressive, but has more to do with spending most of the year batting behind Ichiro (.379 OBP, 28 SB), Edgar Martinez (.433 OBP), and John Olerud (.429 OBP). All of these guys hit doubles too, and haven't hit so many home runs that they're often clearing the bases in front of Boone -- in short, it's a bonanza of RBI opportunities.

In fact, Boone is hitting better with the bases empty. With runners on he's .320, .519 SLG, .350 OBP. With the bases empty he's at .327, .654 SLG, .378 OBP. Despite all those RBI opportunities, 13 of Boone's 22 homers have come with no one on -- meanwhile, his teammate Mike Cameron has hit only 4 of his 15 homers with the bases empty. Boone's league-leading RBI total isn't due to some kind of brilliant clutch hitting ability that he never had before -- he's just lucky to be where he is this year.

National League:

1. Barry Bonds (.305, .826 SLG, .487 OBP, 355 TPA)
2. Luis Gonzalez (.355, .745 SLG, .443 OBP, 388 TPA)
3. Lance Berkman (.365, .714 SLG, .466 OBP, 378 TPA)

I'm dead-set on Bonds, but I'll admit Gonzalez has a case. The higher batting average for Gonzo is insignificant -- BA is essentially just a component of SLG and OBP. If you have a higher SLG and a higher OBP, it means you're getting on base more and hitting for more power -- there really isn't anything else. Whether you do your work through hits or walks is mostly negligible.

Emphasis on "mostly" -- singles do have the advantage of often advancing a runner on first to third, or second to home. But this effect is much less crucial than people think. Most of the time, the adage holds true that a walk is as good as hit.

Meanwhile, what about Berkman? His numbers stack up to the best of them, and he's a terrific fielder. I wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of the year, he becomes the best choice.

Anyway, those are my choices. Who would you choose? Write me.

• Go To Archive Of Previous Columns