By Kelly:
I joined the IBWAA just after the 2014 season ended so I didn’t get a chance to vote for last year’s awards. I looked forward to voting all year long and took it very serious. It’s a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. Here’s how I voted……
Relief Pitchers
American League
- Wade Davis
- Zach Britton
- Andrew Miller
Best setup man in baseball doesn’t always translate to the 9th inning but Davis didn’t miss a beat.
National League
- Jeurys Familia
- Mark Melancon
- Trevor Rosenthal
Familia stepped up when the Mets lost their closer to a suspension. He didn’t disappoint and even brought his game to a new level.
Managers of the Year
American League
- Jeff Banister
- Paul Molitor
- A.J. Hinch
Up until the last 6 weeks of the season I was leaning towards Hinch but once the Rangers blew past the Astros in the AL West I went with Banister.
National League
- Terry Collins
- Joe Maddon
- Mike Matheny
I think Maddon did a great job but never imagined the Mets would be as good as they were the last two months of the season. I also picked Collins to be the 1st manager fired during the season in my preseason predictions.
Rookies of the Year
American League
- Francisco Lindor
- Carlos Correa
- Miguel Sano
Lindor, Correa or Correa, Lindor. You can’t go wrong either way.
National League
- Kris Bryant
- Jung Ho Kang
- Noah Syndergaard
Not much to decide here. Bryant all the way. What’s surprising is that Joc Pederson fell out of the top 3. He was the leader of the pack at the All-Star break.
Cy Young
American League
- David Price
- Dallas Keuchel
- Sonny Gray
- Felix Hernandez
- Chris Archer
I like David Price here because he carried the Blue Jays to a AL East title after being traded at the deadline.
National League
- Zack Greinke
- Jake Arrieta
- Clayton Kershaw
- Jeurys Familia
- Gerrit Cole
Can’t go wrong here with any of the top 3. I’m going with Greinke because he was the most consistent all year. What’s crazy is a guy with a sub 2.00 ERA won’t win a Cy Young and a guy that had 300 K’s might not win.
MVP
American League
- Josh Donaldson
- Mike Trout
- Lorenzo Cain
- Nelson Cruz
- Manny Machado
- Miguel Cabrera
- Jose Bautista
- Prince Fielder
- David Price
- Dallas Keuchel
Donaldson over Trout here. Maybe because the Blue Jays made the playoffs and the Angels didn’t. It is a 2 man race for sure.
National League
- Bryce Harper
- Zack Greinke
- Jake Arrieta
- Clayton Kershaw
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Nolan Arenado
- Joey Votto
- Andrew McCutchen
- A.J. Pollock
- Anthony Rizzo
I understand that Harper wasn’t able to take his team to the playoffs but when you put up the type of numbers he did it’s not hard not to vote for him.
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Would the IBBWA consider a relief pitcher for the Cy Young, Wade Davis?
I (Josh) have found that the IBWAA is more open to possibilities like a reliever for the Cy Young because it has more ‘fans’ of the game and not just professional writers. However, fans love the big numbers (K’s, ERA, Wins) so I think it would be hard for a reliever to win even in the IBWAA voting. Although if we see another Gagne type year with some down numbers for starters it is definitely something I would consider voting for.
I agree with Josh and as you can see I did vote for Jeurys Familia in my top 5 for NL Cy Young.