With the Awards Over, Time to Move On?

The BBWAA awards are now a thing of the past…for this year, anyway. And we honestly should not be shocked at how little hardware the Reds garnered. Some will say it’s due to a lack of respect. Others will say because some is largely based on hype. I imagine there will be some that will point to certain incidents and place the blame there.

(Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

NL Rookie of the Year – Numerous Reds fans were outraged (maybe a lot still are) over the fact that Bryce Harper took home this award. This year the BBWAA, being in the mood for a little more transparency among the voters, decided to list each voter and their individual ballot for each award. Many Reds fans were astounded that Cincy’s own Tom Groeschen had Todd Frazier in third place on his ballot. He had Harper in first, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Wade Miley as second.

“Got vote for your own” was said on more than one occasion in reference to Groeschen’s ballot. Usually, that holds some form. You could see such in the voting for every BBWAA award. The NL ROY was no different.

I didn’t take the time (initially) to dive into who voted for whom until I saw this…

You know something? I have no issue with Burwell’s ballot. None whatsoever. Yes, I am slightly ticked he omitted Frazier, but Burwell also has the right to vote for who he wants, not who we want. That goes for every voter including Groeschen, and this is in no way a defense for his ballot. Point is, it is his vote and he can do with it as he pleases.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance, of which BRM is a member, as a whole, voted for Harper as NL ROY as well.

NL Manager of the Year – Dusty in second for the second time in three years. Following the 2010 season, ESPN’s Keith Lawa was flogged because he did not provide a single space on his ballot for Baker. Yes, I was among those as I felt his reasoning (along with Paul Daugherty) was something we thought Dusty’s omission was aimed at Baker’s past rather than the season.

Law made a reference (on Twitter) that he did not have Baker on is 2010 NL MOY ballot because he “slagged arms”. Most would say that was a dig at Baker over Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Let bygones be bygones for cryin’ out loud…

This past season, I was astounded because those that voted for Nats manager Davey Johnson spoke of the injuries the Nats had to overcome.

So the same doesn’t apply to Dusty? Before the season even began, half of his bullpen had to be restructured due to injuries (Nick Masset, Bill Bray and Ryan Madson). And what about the time the Reds were without the 2010 NL MVP? Not to mention the numerous occasions there was no Scott Rolen? Dusty doesn’t get credit there?

Apparently it doesn’t apply in this case.

As with the BBWAA, the BBA also chose Johnson…

(Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE)

NL Cy Young – When the final three were announced, there were murmurs about the exclusion of Johnny Cueto, who would finish fourth. ESPN Sweet Spot’s Christina Kahrl offered her take on the matter and stated Cueto was “jobbed”. And if you ever read only one piece done by Kharl, this is the one you should read. She addressed how Cueto’s numbers exceed at least two of the three finalists in every way. She even makes a case that Cueto maybe should win the NL CY.

Apprently, there was an outcry from those outside of Reds’ circles about John Fay’s NL CY ballot as he had Cueto as his ballot’s first spot. He felt the need to defend his selection.

Oh, and on that deal about writers voting for who they want…both St. Louis chapter writers (Bernie Miklasz and Derrick Goold) had Cueto third on their ballots. Don’t give me this conspiracy thing…

I doubt that too many Reds fans were completely surprised that Cueto was not being among the top three. After his first two ho-hum September starts, the “masses” were already tweeting that he had ruined his chances at the CY. Maybe JC was pressing a bit. After all, he did state he was aiming at 20 wins.

Again, the BBA was in agreement with the BBWAA and selected Dickey with its equivalent, the Walter Johnson Award.

NL MVP – Jay Bruce finished 10th, the highest of any Reds player. I honestly did not expect any Reds player to do so. That was a bit unexpected. In fact, Bruce received two fourth-place votes. Aroldis Chapman, Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto also received mentions, all with a high of at least one sixth place vote.

Really, not much to see here.

Posey was the BBA’s choice, too.

Awards that managers and coaches vote for are the Gold Glove (still a sore subject) and Silver Slugger.

The main issue stemmed from the Gold Glove voting as six Reds were among the finalists…and not a single one made its way to a Reds player’s mantle. There will be the debate about BP being bypassed by Darwin Barney of the Cubs. Some felt BP didn’t get the GG because of how he plays the game. I don’t buy it. I will repeat, if that was the case, please explain to me how he had won three of the last four. Considering the “competition”, Zack Cozart was the one Reds player who was truly robbed in this.

Jay Bruce did take home a Silver Slugger award, his first. There was some debate that Mike Leake should have won for the NL pitcher.

One thing I know for sure is that is some cases, a player’s offense can come into the Gold Glove voting and vice versa. Shouldn’t be that way, but it does. Honestly, there’s nothing to be done about such. That actually goes for any vote for any ward. There will be differences as you will see.

The players like Todd Frazier. So much so that they voted the Todd Father as their choice for NL ROY. I got a feeling here, and please do not jump to the conclusion that I am trying to downgrade Frazier’s season. A players vote can be a fickle thing. With all the hype that surrounded Harper this past season, there could have been a faction within the players that had grown tiresome of all the press the 19-year-old was receiving. With any vote, there are “politics” that can become involved in the process. This could be such a case.

Sounds plausible as I think many of us outside of DC felt that way.

One last point. We took take a vote of 32 other writers and have different outcomes for all four BBWAA awards.

But there will be many more awards at stake as MLB.com once again presents the GiBBYs, Greatness in Baseball Yearly awards. Many Reds are up for these and they will be voted on by the fans. You can vote for those here. That link will take you to the first category of MVP.

Get ready for the onslaught of votes from San Francisco…