Rookies Of The Year

I spent most of the drive home after work and lifting thinking of witty remarks about Gordon Beckham and why I want to dislike him, yet can't. I want to hate Beckham with every part of my soul. It seems every time I look up, he is breaking my heart.

From the Miami-Georgia debacle at the 2008 College World Series, to Beckham hitting a walk off double against the Cubs this season, and to (what I falsely presumed) Beckham winning the 2009 AL Rookie of The Year over my pick, Elvis Andrus.

Despite all that, I can't hate Gordon Beckham. He just has to pretty of hair. And I cannot hate a man who has good hair. Also cannot hate a young player who has as a swing as good AND as good looking as his hair.

And then Andrew Bailey won the award.

And my witty remarks had to be shelved, for the most part anyway.

I said last time that Bailey should at least get an honorable mention for this award, partly because only "5" people noticed what kind of terrific year he had.

As it turns out, 13 people voted him as their 1st place pick just among the voters. Seems more paid attention than I originally thought. But as it stands, I'm thrilled with Bailey being voted as the 2009 AL ROY.

Not only was he one of the best relievers in baseball period, but he went ahead and led all AL rookie pitchers in VORP.

Would have liked to see Andrus get his due, but Bailey was lights out this year.

Over in the NL, things are a bit more controversial.

Andrew McCutchen seems to be the more popular choice among writers and bloggers. Given credit for playing at least average centerfield defense by UZR (and terrible according to the Fielding Bible), McCutchen seems to hold the defensive advantage in this voting. This is compounded by Coghlan playing below average defense in left field.

But what about Coghlan never really playing there before? He was out of position all year by team necessity. Would have been nice to see him play better out in left, but he merely did what's best for the team by moving there and leaving the mini-lumber jack Dan Uggla at 2nd base.

And since most metrics can't agree on whether or not McCutchen was a plus or a negative on defense, let's just take defense out of the equation.

.372/.423/.543
.322/.427./.582

Two sets of 2nd half triple slash lines there. Who can guess which one is Albert Pujols, and which one is Chris Coghlan? Most of you have already heard about Coghlan hitting .372 in the 2nd half of the season, so it should be an easy one.

Coghlan's second half hit total was 113. That's more than Mauer, Jeter, Pujols, and even Ichiro. Yes, that means Coghlan led the Majors in hits post All-Star break. 94 of them came in August and September alone.

Wowza.

As much as I like McCutchen over Coghlan for the long term, there just is no denying how incredible Coghlan was with the bat in the 2nd half of the 2009 season.

For once, I'm quite satisfied with these two awards.

But that is subject to change with Greinke vs. the World coming up tomorrow afternoon.