Audibly Offensive

(AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Editor’s note: AO would like to welcome our newest contributor, Chris Talley, to the mayhem. Talley is a native of Tampa, Fla,. and a student at the University of South Florida.

The MLB season is halfway over and I couldn’t think of a better topic for me to write my first AO contribution about.  Below you’ll find my first half award winners and the individual who I think will end up with the award at the end of the year, in addition I’ll also predict the Division Winners and Wild Card teams so that we can all laugh at my idiocy 3 months from now.

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton!!!  A guy that two summers ago was left unprotected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the Rule 5 Draft has set the Texas desert afire.  Hamilton leads the AL in RBI’s with 80 and is tied for the league lead in HR’s with 19, he’s also posted a .308 batting average, good for 10th in the league.   Not to be outdone, perennial contender Alex Rodriguez used a scorching June to catapult himself into the race.  A-Rod’s numbers (.316 avg, 16 HR’s, 44 RBI’s, 11 SB’s) aren’t nearly as dominating as Hamilton’s, but he’s also played in 18 less games.  Given A-Rod’s past and Hamilton’s history of injuries I’m going to go out a HUGE limb here and say A-Rod is your AL MVP, begrudgingly.

NL MVP: Remember when Lance Berkman flirted with batting .500 in May?  Ya, neither do I.  Berkman has put together quite the first half in Houston, batting .363 with 22 HR’s and 68 RBI’s.  The last remaining member of the ‘stros killer-b’s is in the top 3 in the Triple Crown categories.   Also worth mentioning are Chipper Jones (who is flirting with .400) and the Phil’s Chase Utley (tied with Dan Uggla for the ML lead in HR’s with 23).   I’m a big proponent of the MVP going to a guy whose team is actually a threat for the playoffs, unless another player puts up insane #’s (see: A-Rod ’03), so I’m going to give the nod to Utley, who is hitting a very respectably .298 and has knocked in 65 runs.

AL Cy Young: The obvious choice is Cliff Lee, Lee’s 11-1 record combined with his 2.26 ERA (2nd in the AL) say all there needs to be said about his body of work in the first half, but Lee isn’t really running away with the crown.  Scott Kazmir has, in this writer’s opinion, been the best pitcher in the big leagues since May.  Kazmir missed the entire month of April, however, since his return he’s posted a 7-3 record with a 2.28 ERA and earned AL Pitcher of the Month honors for the month of April.  I don’t think Lee will fall off too much and Kazmir pitches in the tough AL East, so I believe Cliff Lee will end up with the Cy when it’s all said and done.  Another guy to watch out for is the Angel’s John Lackey.

NL Cy Young: Edinson Volquez, the guy who the Reds acquired from the Rangers in return for Josh Hamilton has exploded onto the scene in Cincinnati.  Volquez is 10-3 with an NL best 2.24 ERA and is 1 K behind Tim Lincecum (9-1, 2.38 ERA) for the league lead in that category as well.  I’d like to think Volquez can keep it up, but I believe the hard throwing right hander in San Fran may end up with the NL Cy Young.  Also worth keeping an eye on is the ’06 winner, Brandon Webb, who leads the majors with 12 wins.

AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Almighty!  Crappy movie, GREAT ballplayer, the man I’m referring to is the Ray’s 3B Evan Longoria.  Longoria leads all rookies with 15 HR’s and 36 extra base hits, he’s also posted a respectable .268 average and can be seen regularly on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight’s Webgems.  To say Longoria has a few Gold Gloves in his future would be somewhat of an overstatement.  As good as Longoria has played he’s nowhere near running away with the award, fellow AL East Rookie, Jacoby Ellsbury leads the AL with 35 SB’s and is tied for fifth in runs with 55.  Where Longoria has gotten better over the course of the year (he hit .300 in June), Ellsbury has struggled, this coupled with Longoria’s stellar defense leads me to believe Longo will be the AL’s ROY.

NL Rookie of the Year: Remember the movie,  Rookie of the Year (Ya, I’m going with a movie theme here in the ROY portion of the awards)?  Where some kid came out of nowhere to light a fire under the Cubbies and lead ‘em to the playoffs?  I think Geovany Soto is trying to live that movie to the fullest.  Baseball America didn’t even place Soto in the Cubs Top 10 Prospects for ’08 despite him absolutely raking in AAA in ’07.  Oh well, Soto has just used the first half of the season to catapult himself into every discussion of top hitting catchers.  Like Longoria, however, Soto is not running away with the NL’s honor, Braves pitcher Jair Jurrjens is also putting up some very solid numbers in Atlanta, 8-3 with a 2.94 ERA.  Baseball writers lover big market teams and given that Soto plays a position where defense comes before offense in the eyes of the writers, Soto’s contribution leads me to believe he’ll end the year with the NL trophy.

Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon.  What a turnaround!  I live in Tampa, I didn’t like this guy when he got here, I didn’t like his glasses, I didn’t like the fact that he rarely gets animated and I really despised the fact that he is a self-described wine snob.  And that ladies and gentlemen is why I’m writing about baseball and not getting paid to make front office moves.  Maddon’s laid back attitude and his cool demeanor have been perfect for a young Rays team which sports the Major’s best record.

Predicted Division Winners:

AL  East: Boston
AL Central: Chicago
AL West: LA
AL Wild Card: Tampa Bay
NL East: Philly
NL Central: Chicago
NL West:  Arizona
NL Wild Card: Milwaukee
World Series:  White Sox over Philly in 5.

- Chris Talley