> I agree with 3 of your 4 award choices.
>
> Melvin Mora is not the AL MVP. He's not the best hitter in the league, and he's a below average fielder. I'm not sure where you were looking (last year's statistics?), but Mora has played all but one inning of defense at third base this year, committing 21 errors (and errors aren't the best measure of defensive competence, anyways), playing subpar defense.

Two clarifications. One: When I referred to Mora being the best non-Ichiro batter in the AL, I was referring only to his batting average, and I stand by that. Two: Evidently I got my error stat from Bizarro World, since it was indeed completely wrong. I realise that errors isn't the most important stat, but an infielder with 0 errors is something remarkable. Obviously, however, that was Bizarro Superman's error stat by mistake. That being said, however...

> AL MVP comes down to one of three: Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, or Manny Ramirez. Ramirez is by far the best hitter in the American League this year, leading the AL in HR, SLG, OPS, 5th in OBP, 3rd in RBI (terrible measure of value, but there you go). Sheffield is 6th in OPS. Rodriguez is having a sub-par (for him, anyway... .288/.377/.515 isn't anything to sneeze at) year the plate, but is playing Gold Glove defense at third. In the end, I vote Manny Ramirez for AL MVP.

... I think the subtle irony in my pick of Mora was lost. Part of my point in picking somebody so far off the radar was that I'm frankly not impressed with *anybody* in the AL this season. I was sure A-Rod would be a lock, but, like you said, he's been fairly cool this season. Ramirez I definitely don't think is any kind of MVP - he's a hell of a slugger, sure, but that's his only trick. Defensively, the Red Sox would be stronger without him, and that obviously counts against him. Sheffield I just don't get - he's certainly a more-than-decent player, and his stats from *last* year are easily MVP quality, but I can't help but look at this season as a slide compared to that. Of the three, he's easily my pick, though.

The trouble is, I don't like to pick my MVP based on his ability to do one thing. If I liked the biggest slugger in the world for MVP, it would be Manny in a cinch. But I tend to prefer players with versatility - which is why I'd pick A-Rod if he wasn't having an off-season offensively. But there's also one other trouble for me as far as Ramirez and Rodriguez are concerned: I tend to rate a player's value in relation to the expense involved with that player. That seems to make sense to me. Both Manny and A-Rod made upwards of $20M this year. A $20M batter who can't field his way out of a little league game should post stats better than Manny's if he wants my MVP vote.

Not that Bonds is cheap, but he's worth easily twice as much as he's making. Hell, give him the team's whole payroll and fill the rest of the positions with cardboard standees - I bet there wouldn't be much of a difference. A-Rod has what it takes to have a career like Bonds' (Bonds was a gold glove fielder, too, before he got old and creaky), and appears to have a somewhat more tolerable personality. But that doesn't mean he's an automatic MVP even when he's off.

> Rookies of the Year. The Pirates' Jason Bay made it no contest in the NL after Khalil Greene broke his thumb. AL Rookie field is a little thinner, but should go to the Twins' Lew Ford.

Ahh, thanks for saving me the trouble. I ran out of time last night before I could get this far, and now I don't have to. Which is even better, since I haven't been following rookies and would just be listing names of players that impressed me and hoping they were rookies. If called on it, I'd just claim that I hand out my Rookie of the Year awards the same way the Grammy Association decides Best New Artists - hey, it's the first year *I've* heard of you. Who cares how long you've been playing?

And now for the rest of the awards. Special thanks to espn.com for reminding me of all kinds of great stuff that happened that I had totally forgotten about.

The Congratulation! Award for Very Special Acheivement: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays - After months of toil and struggle, the D-Rays have managed a stunning record of 70-91, placing them three games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays and out of last place in AL East for the first time in the history of the club. So Congratulation!, Tampa Bay Devil Rays - today, you become a man.

The Longest Game EVER Award: June 8, Angels/Brewers - Sixteen damn scoreless innings and then an RBI single? Rock out, guys. That's some exciting baseball. Special congratulations to the Brewers for being the first team in history to strike out 26 times in one game and then win anyhow.

The Worst Injury Ever Award: Sammy Sosa (CHN) - Who missed three weeks of play because he sneezed too hard? I bet you can guess. I don't think anyone's ever been injured that embarassingly before.

Steal of the Season: Orlando Hernandez (NYY) - Can you believe the Yankees only spent $500k for El Duque? He's nearly the least expensive player on the team, and he's been fantastic for them. Sure, he got the hell housed out of him by Toronto - twice - but he hasn't lost to any other team, and Toronto's not in the playoffs. So if he stays healthy, he could be a big factor in favour of the Yankees in the postseason. And all for only half a million dollars. I wish somebody would pay me half a million dollars.