Approximately ten percent of the season is now in the books and with only one team with a winning record, it’s safe to say the AL West is certainly not best. There’s even a case to be made that the West is the worst division in all of baseball. However, I’m not here to make that case. I’m just here to recap last week’s doings. The order of teams (Seattle-Texas-Oakland-Los Angeles) has not changed, but the Mariners were able to pick up a game on everyone to widen their lead ever so slightly.
Award Winning Ken Griffey, Jr!
This week I’m going to look at the MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year at the 10% mark of the season. I’ll try to update this a few times throughout the season. (Or just whenever I can’t think of anything better to write about. /letting you take a peek inside the author’s head’d)
MVP, Ian Kinsler: Kinsler is off to an amazing start with the bat. He’s currently hitting .384/.438/.795 with 7 homers and 7 steals. He never has been (and likely never will be) an elite defender, but so far he’s shown improvement over last season when he played second base with a frying pan. Perhaps the rumors that he’d be better off in left field motivated him to work on his defense in the offseason? In his career, UZR pegged Kinsler as anywhere from a -7 to -12 run defender, which is abysmal. This year (granted it’s only 18 games), UZR has Kinsler as a +2.5 defender. For now at least, the advanced statistics are lining up with the scouts. That’s nice to see.
Cy Young, Erik Bedard: This is the guy Bill Bavasi thought he was trading for last year. With 26 innings under his belt, Bedard has quietly compiled a 2.08 ERA and a 2-1 record. His ERA isn’t flukey either, as it’s supported by 29 strikeouts, only 3 walks, a lone homerun, and a 2.11 FIP. Keep in mind, this early season performance in no way vindicates Bavasi for last season’s trade, in which he gave away a small army of talented players, including star-in-the-making Adam Jones. If Bedard keeps this performance up, the Mariners will have a very tough decision to make at the end of the year. Dare they give a multi-year contract to an injury prone lefty? I think it will hinge on whether or not Bedard is granted type-A status (which is admittedly a long shot).
Rookie of the Year, TBD: No rookie has really done enough to claim the top spot in the AL West. Call it the MLJ jinx if you will, but after writing about Elvis Andrus a few weeks ago, he has since proceeded to fall off a cliff. Andrus got off to a torrid start, but he’s now hitting only .271/.300/.396. A couple of A’s pitchers, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill, came into the season with a lot of hope for A’s fans but have yet to do anything of substance (FIPs of 5.87 and 6.34, respectively). I’m willing to take recommendations from the readership, but I’m not seeing anything in this division that’s ROY-worthy.
Least Valuable Player, Ken Griffey, Jr: Recipe for least valuable-ness: take a .306 wOBA, sprinkle in no defensive value whatsoever, and add in no speed on the basepaths. Then, for the icing, perform so poorly against left handed pitchers that any LOOGY renders you useless, thereby requiring a pinch hitter in late game situations. Ladies and gentlemen, Ken Griffey, Jr!!!! /snark’d
Doesn’t Kendry Morales qualify as a rookie? What are his numbers like right now?
Why wasn’t this a bigger story? It seems to me that it would be easier to catch a baseball using a traditional leather glove.
Too many ABs for Kendry in the preceeding 3 years, Hef.
Stupid logic.
East coast bias
Cuban bias?