Since I have a great and ugly fear that the MLB awards this season are going to be dreadfully bad, and also just because I'm sort of a dork that likes doing this sort of thing, I'm asking anyone that stops by to vote for the MLB awards here at Camden Chat.
You don't have to be a registered user, you don't have to even be an O's fan, you just have to fill it out, copy and paste it, and email it to sc@camdenchat.com.
Guidelines, well, not really. If your ballot is really ridiculous I won't count it because I don't see the point in that. I don't really see the point in any of it, but come on, don't vote silly. And do your best to avoid biases - that's for lame sportswriters to give the hometown guy a bump or try to knock the rival team's guy back down a peg. Now I'm not telling you who to vote for because that's up to you, but we all know the contenders everywhere, and I'm not going to give you any stats or anything to try to change your mind.
Personally, I define the Most Valuable Player as the best player. The official award description validates that. It's not Best Player On a Good Team. It's best player, period. That being said, the AL was lucky this year as all the real contenders were on winning teams, so the sportswriters won't have to get too much of a hard-on about "How can you have value if your team is bad?" which might be the worst argument in the history of time. Alex Rodriguez did not put together the Texas Rangers, and he also didn't force them to give him 684 jillion dollars.
But if your definition is different than mine, I'm not here to force that on you. In fact I'm not sure why I brought it up, because I get into that argument with someone every year, and every year my mind doesn't change a single solitary bit. I don't even want to have that conversation again. I won't have it again. You guys can have it with each other, but I'm staying out of it. It's not that I won't defend it, I'm just tuckered out on discussing it since Ichiro v. Giambi in 2001.
But enough chit-chat. I'll compile votes whenever I get enough that I think it's enough, but you'll have time to think about this if you're a nerdy sort that takes pretend baseball awards voting as seriously as I do.
The 'Read More' link will give you the ballot. Have fun and spread the word if you'd like, as I said voting is more than open to anyone that wants to vote, and I'm really interested to see what we'll come up with here.
HOW TO FILL OUT THE BALLOT: I don't want to make it seem like I think you're dumb, but something like "1. Cal Ripken, Baltimore" would be good. Don't just put like "1. gonzalez" - there are a lot of people named Gonzalez.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Here are some notables that are eligible for the ROY awards:
AL: Joe Blanton, OAK ... Gustavo Chacin, TOR ... Jonny Gomes, TAM ... Dan Johnson, OAK ... Nick Swisher, OAK ... Chris Young, TEX ... Robinson Cano, NYY ... Huston Street, OAK ... Tadahito Iguchi, CWS ... Jeremy Reed, SEA ... Jesse Crain, MIN ... Aaron Hill, TOR ... Russ Adams, TOR ... Felix Hernandez, SEA ... Chris Ray, BAL
NL: Zach Duke, PIT ... Ryan Howard, PHI ... Jeff Francoeur, ATL ... Willy Taveras, HOU ... Garrett Atkins, COL ... Clint Barmes, COL ... Ryan Church, WAS ... Rickie Weeks, MIL ... J.J. Hardy, MIL
======================================== AMERICAN LEAGUE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ======================================== AMERICAN LEAGUE CY YOUNG 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ======================================== AMERICAN LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 1. 2. 3. ======================================== AMERICAN LEAGUE MANAGER OF THE YEAR 1. 2. 3. ======================================== NATIONAL LEAGUE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ======================================== NATIONAL LEAGUE CY YOUNG 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ======================================== NATIONAL LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 1. 2. 3. ======================================== NATIONAL LEAGUE MANAGER OF THE YEAR 1. 2. 3. ========================================