A’s Bailey, Marlins’ Coghlan voted Rookies of the Year
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/16/2009 @ 4:54 pm)
A’s closer Andrew Bailey won the American League Rookie of the Year award on Monday, while Marlins’ outfielder Chris Coghlan won the same honors for the National League.
From MLB.com:
Coghlan’s victory continues the Marlins’ streak of three: three winners in club history, with each coming in three-year spans.
It started with Dontrelle Willis winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2003, continued with Hanley Ramirez – now among the best shortstops in the Major Leagues – claiming the honor in ’06, and now the torch has been passed to Coghlan.
A Palm Harbor, Fla., native, Coghlan beat out loads of promising first-year players in a rookie slate that really had no single favorite this year. On the list of contenders were Braves right-hander Tommy Hanson (11-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 21 starts), Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (.286 batting average, 54 RBIs and 22 stolen bases), Phillies lefty J.A. Happ (12-4, 2.93 ERA in 35 games), Brewers infielder Casey McGehee (.301 batting average, 16 homers and 66 RBIs) and Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus (.251 batting average, 16 homers and 52 RBIs).
Coghlan certainly deserved the award, but I’m a little surprised that Happ or even McCutchen didn’t win the award. Happ came close (he received 94 points compared to Coghlan’s 105), but McCutchen finished behind Hanson.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
MLB All-25 and Younger Team
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/08/2009 @ 4:32 pm)
There’s a different feel to baseball again – a good feeling.
Yeah, I know – there are probably still plenty of players who are cheating. But at least the league is (finally) making somewhat of an effort to clean up its image and for that, we as fans have hope that maybe someday the game will be juice-free again.
Those who have watched their fair share of baseball this season should be reveling in how the game is getting younger again. Instead of teams waiting for dingers in order to score runs, clubs are bunting, stealing and manufacturing scoring opportunities – the way the game is supposed to be played.
After watching how the Rays won last season, more and more teams are building their rosters by developing home grown talent rather than signing big-name free agents (save for the Yankees, of course) and it’s making the game exciting again. An onus has been made on youth and speed and for the first time in quite a while, baseball is once again a young man’s game.
That said, I’ve decided to have a little fun by constructing an entire 25-man baseball roster (I’ve named the team “Team Youthful Exuberance”) by using only players who are 25 years of age and younger. Rules and guidelines for the roster are below so enjoy and as always, feel free to make an argument for any players that I might have missed.
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Posted in: MLB
Tags: Adam Jones, Andrew Bailey, Best young MLB pitchers, Best young MLB players, Best young MLB position players, Best young MLB relievers, Best young MLB starters, Brian McCann, Chad Billingsley, Cole Hamels, Daniel Bard, Dustin Pedroia, Evan Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeff Samardzija, Joakim Soria, Joe Mauer, Joel Zumaya, Jonathan Broxton, Jose Reyes, Justin Upton, Miguel Cabrera, MLB All-25 and Younger Team, Nick Markakis, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Ryan Perry, Tim Lincecum, Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke
