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Only One Debate Really Matters ...
AL Not Lacking For MVP Candidates
Patrick Donnelly, Staff Writer
October 5, 2000, 4:08 p.m. EDT
It's October, and you know what that means -- meaningful baseball, the guts of the football season, and enough politics to choke a donkey. Yes, we'll have debates on top of polls on top of speeches. Al Gore will kiss more babies than Jerry Lee Lewis. George W. Bush ride more trains through small towns than Boxcar Willie.
But we all know that only one debate truly matters in this country -- the debate over baseball's post-season awards.
Or at least in some circles.
I know around our virtual water cooler, my pal Edd has been filling my head full of his random, twisted ramblings about the National League awards. So I thought I'd better try to keep pace with him and post my own disjointed, dyspeptic, disturbing (but amazingly insightful!) selections for the American League.
Rookie of the Year
Because I am still filled with the Olympic spirit, we'll take all comers in the heats, then hand out medals at the end. After all, a race well run is its own reward, or something like that, right?
In the AL Rookie of the Year race, a few guys have had standout years. Minnesota's Mark Redman, a rangy left-handed pitcher, has the making of a staff ace of the future -- tall, strong, decent heat, big deuce and salty changeup. But he faltered down the stretch, and while his numbers were OK (12-9, 4.76 ERA, 45 BB, 117 K in 151.1 IP), he didn't keep pace with the rest of the pack.
Another pitcher, Seattle's stud closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, compiled some amazing stats -- 37 saves in 40 opportunities, a 3.16 ERA and 78 Ks in 62.2 IP. However, he is 32 years old and a 10-year veteran of the Japanese major leagues. It's hardly fair to compare him with apple-cheeked boys, really, so call me an Ugly American but Sasaki pulls up lame in this race.
Bronze medal -- Ben Molina, catcher, Anaheim Angels. Anytime a rookie catcher can give you 130 games, hit .281 (third among AL catchers) with 14 HR and 71 RBI, it's going to open some eyes. Plus, he caught 36% of all would-be base stealers. He's a definite keeper. 
Silver medal -- Mark Quinn, outfielder, Kansas City Royals. Quinn slugged it out this season and won his way into the Royals' everyday lineup with his bat. He hit .294 with a rookie-high 20 HR and chipped in 78 RBI and 33 doubles. But he played for a so-so team, which knocks him down a peg from a player with comparable stats who breaks the tape . . . 
Gold medal -- Terrence Long, center fielder, Oakland Athletics. Long was instrumental in the Athletics' race to the AL West title. He joined the team in late April and in his second game he three hits, a double, a homer and three RBI. His hot hitting continued to the tune of .288 with 18 HR and 80 RBI, and his flashy glove helped solidify an Oakland outfield in which he was often flanked by Ben Grieve and Matt Stairs, charter members of the Plod Squad.
Comeback Player of the Year
To rise from the depths of mediocrity and stand atop the podium to the cheers of an adoring throng . . . isn't that what the Olympic spirit is all about? There were a few runners in this race (Dave Justice, Delino Deshields) who had great seasons but weren't actually coming back from very far. And there were players like David McCarty who finally had some major league success, but to say that he's a comeback player would suggest that he actually had somewhere from which to come back, you dig? So our medalists are . . .
Bronze medal -- Charles Johnson, catcher, Baltimore Orioles/Chicago White Sox. CJ has always been one of the league's most feared defensive catchers, and this year he caught 31% of base stealers. But he added power this year -- 30 HR (compared to 16 last year) and 90 RBI (54 last year), and he raised his average 56 points to .307. Plus, he helped solidify the division-winning White Sox after his midseason trade from Baltimore.
Silver medal -- Jason Isringhausen, relief pitcher, Oakland Athletics. Izzy was once one of baseball's hottest pitching prospects. Along with Paul Wilson and Bill Pulsipher, he was supposed to transform the Mets' starting rotation into a latter-day Murderer's Row of the mound. But along the way, all three pitchers ended up with sore arms. Isringhausen is the only one to have come back. Traded to Oakland late in 1999, he made the transition to closer and nailed down nine of nine save opportunities. This year, closing from day one, he went 6-4 with a 3.78 ERA and saved 33 of 40 for the Western division champs. Comeback? He's back.
Gold medal -- Matt Lawton, outfielder, Minnesota Twins. Lawton was tabbed as a rising star for the Twins a couple of years ago, but last June he was beaned in the face by Cincinnati's Dennys Reyes. He tried to battle through the injury and the fears that accompany any beaning, but he slumped to .259 with seven HR, 54 RBI, 18 doubles, a .353 on-base percentage and a .355 slugging percentage. This year, after an offseason spent lifting weights and convincing himself that he could crush his fears, Lawton started crushing baseballs again. He was the Twins' lone All-Star representative, and a deserving one at that, with a .311 average, 13 HR, 88 RBI, 44 doubles, .409 on-base percentage and .470 slugging percentage.
Cy Young
Awarded to the game's finest pitcher, this sizeable chunk of hardware usually goes to a starting pitcher, because the top reliever gets the Rolaids Relief Fireman of the Year award. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but what would look better on the mantle -- an award named after the winningest pitcher of all time, or a giant golden fireman's hat emblazoned with the logo of a well-known treatment for acid indigestion?
But I digress. The point is, starters usually get the nod, as they will in this discussion. Sure, a few relievers -- most notably Detroit's Todd Jones, Boston's Derek Lowe, and Seattle's Sasaki -- had the goods this year, the starters shouldn't get short shrift. New York's Andy Pettitte held the staff together through the struggles of Cone, Clemens and El Duque. Aaron Sele helped pitch the Mariners into the playoffs. And some of Chuck Finley's starts for the Indians were as eye-popping as his wife (Whitesnake sex kitten Tawny Kitaen). But they all pale in comparison to the AL's Big Three.
Bronze medal -- David Wells, Toronto Blue Jays. Wells was the first to win 20 in the AL this year, led the league with nine complete games, finished second with 229.2 innings pitched, and walked only 31 hitters, or about one every seven innings, easily the best of any starter in the AL. He defines the term "workhorse" and his teammates love him to boot.
Silver medal -- Tim Hudson, Oakland Athletics. Never heard of him? Your bad. He's the AL's other 20-game winner, reaching the plateau by tossing seven scoreless innings on the season's final day to help the A's beat Texas and clinch the AL West. At six-foot-nothing and a buck-sixty soaking wet, he looks more like your accountant than a major league pitcher, but he'll cut your heart out with steely command of four killer pitches. If the A's make a long postseason run, you'll know his name by the end of the month.
Gold medal -- Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox. We could just rename this the Pedro Martinez Cy Young Award the way he's going. His 1.74 ERA was less than half the next-best mark by any starter. His four shutouts were twice what anybody else threw. His 284 Ks gave him the strikeout title with a cushion of 72. His WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) was .74 -- nobody else was below 1.00. This is, hands down, the no-brainer of the year. Most Valuable Player
Who is the stud of the season, and does he have to come from a winning team? Well, these are individual awards, right? If a guy from Qatar wins the 100 meter dash, they don't give the gold to somebody from the U.S. who has better teammates, do they? There's your answer.
We had plenty of worthy candidates this year. Manny Ramirez, had he not missed a quarter of the season with a hamstring injury, could have posted historic numbers. Darrin Erstad of the Angels threatened the major league record for hits in a season before settling for a "mere" 240 -- yeah, that's 1½ hits a game. Sick. And where would the Mariners have been without Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez? But as impressive as they were, they didn't make it to the medal stand.
Bronze medal -- Frank Thomas, designated hitter/first baseman, Chicago White Sox. The Big Hurt could have been nominated in the Comeback Player of the Year category as well, because he resurrected his career and hushed the doubters who thought he might have been done. His 43 homers were second in the league; his 143 RBI were third; his .436 OBP was fourth; his .625 slugging percentage was fifth. And yes, Big Frank led his team to the best record in the AL. But he loses some respect for not being a complete player -- as a DH, he only affected his team four times a night instead of potentially on every play.
Silver medal -- Jason Giambi, first baseman, Oakland Athletics. Another of the unknown A's, at least until this year, he is finally getting his due. This slugging surf-punk was voted by the fans to start the All-Star game, proving that long homers, big biceps, and regular appearances on ESPN Radio go a long way in today's major leagues. Giambi has also turned himself into a solid fielder, and in the box, take a gander at these numbers: .333 batting average, 43 HR, 137 RBI, 137 walks, .476 on-base percentage, .647 slugging percentage. Oh, and he's the unquestioned team leader on a division winner. Yikes.
Gold medal -- Carlos Delgado, first baseman, Toronto Blue Jays. Try as you might, you won't find a more engaging personality in the majors. Quick to flash a 1000-watt smile, even quicker to slash his bat through the hitting zone and crush another drive toward the Skydome Hard Rock Café, Delgado came into his own this year after spending the past couple of seasons sharing the spotlight (and numbers) with former teammate Shawn Green. Delgado flirted with the triple crown until mid-September, then settled for fourth in average at .344, fourth in HR with 41, and fifth in RBI with 137. He kept a mediocre Toronto squad in the thick of the postseason hunt until a late tailspin dropped the Jays out of the wild card race. But Delgado wins this race by a nose at the wire. So ... agree? Disagree? Think I'm a hopeless idealist or are you in my corner? I'd love to hear your opinions too. And maybe we can team up and let Edd know what we think of his random, twisted ramblings.
5. David Duval -- But if a tree falls in a jungle and there's no Tiger around to hear it ...
4. Deion Sanders -- And it's about flippin' time, too.
3. Randy Moss -- Shrugs off national criticism, scores three TDs in Vikings' fourth straight win. But would it kill you to smile once in awhile, Randy?
2. College football in Oregon -- Ducks topple Washington; Beavers stuff USC. NFL thrilled Portland wasn't granted 32nd franchise.
1. Dusty Baker -- Best park in the majors. Best team in the majors. Best manager in the majors. Nice little trifecta for the Giants as the postseason begins.
Other Donnelly Columns:
September 29, 2000: I Confess: I'm The Man Behind The Curtain!
September 14, 2000: Knight: Alpha Male, Phi Beta Kappa Jerk
August 31, 2000: Devil Rays Give Baseball A Black Eye
August 17, 2000: Too Much Tiger?
August 10, 2000: Ranting On Dennis Miller
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