The results of the voting for the annual Internet Baseball Awards are in. This is essentially a survey of Sabermetric nation. Yes, BPR is a voter.
Random observations:
The MVPs are so obvious - Joe Mauer got 1,153 of 1,290 possible first-place votes, Albert Pujols 1,045 of 1,105 - that the BBWAA can’t screw them up in the “real” MVP voting. I don’t think.
The Cy Youngs, Tim Lincecum and Zack Greinke, ought to be almost as obvious, but I have a feeling the writers are going to screw up one or both of those.
Rundown of the Phillies: Chase Utley finished fourth for MVP, Ryan Howard 10th, Jayson Werth 20th, Raul Ibanez 24th, Jimmy Rollins 43rd, and Shane Victorino 45th. Utley and Ibanez seem about right IMHO, Howard and Werth a spot or two too low, Rollins too high. No real opinion on Victorino. When you get down to 45th the lines are blurry. Ninety players got votes.
Cliff Lee finished ninth in the NL Cy Young, with seven first-place votes. He also finished 17th in the AL, zero first-place votes. Cole Hamels was 19th. No other Phils were among the 45 pitchers who got votes, which seems a bit harsh.
J.A. Happ finished second for NL Rookie of the Year behind Tommy Hanson. I’ve got no problem with that. Charlie Manuel was fourth for manager of the year. Jim Tracy, who was tactically awful in the Rockies-Phils series, won it.
