For my 100th entry I originally planned on doing a comprehensive list of the 100 Greatest Oakland A's players of all-time and wouldn't just be simply be a career list of Win Shares as that wouldn't really work. I never got Bored enough to start working on it though so maybe sometime in the offseason I'll get around to it. But I guess doing my awards for the 2006 season works as an 100th entry since I've been tracking the MVP award most of the year and I'm sure the three of you are on the edge of your seat as to what my final ballot looks like.

 

Before I get to the awards this week I'll start working on the Bored's 2006 MLB Player Rankings this week that will be BLOG EXCLUSIVE~ this year. You know the last two years how I posted them on the board to tell. No? Oh well, I'm still doing them.

 

Starting with the N.L. and no I won't be doing Manager of the Year which I've explained before why I don't care about the award. Instead of my normal, pointless talking before I post my "ballot" this time I'll post my picks for each award and then briefly explain my picks.

 

N.L. Cy Young

 

3. Chris Carpenter, Cardinals

144 ERA+, 4.28 K/BB, 1.07 WHIP, 67.2 VORP, 19 Win Shares

 

2. Roy Oswalt, Astros

150 ERA+, 4.37 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 71.8 VORP, 21 Win Shares

 

1.

153 ERA+, 3.56 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP, 68.6 VORP, 22 Win Shares

 

This was a really tight race but I felt Webb was just a cut above the rest over the course of the season. There isn't a bad choice here but it does appear Webb will end up winning the writer award. I gave Bronson Arroyo and Carlos Zambrano consideration for the 3rd spot as well. And no Trevor Hoffman should not win it as some lifetime achievement award just because no won in the N.L. won more than 16 games.

 

N.L. Rookie of the Year

 

3. Dan Uggla, Marlins

.282/.339/.480, 104 RC, .281 EQA, 40.0 VORP, 22 Win Shares

 

2. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals

.287/.351/.471, 107 RC, .283 EQA, 27.9 VORP, 25 Win Shares

 

1.

.292/.353/.480, 108 RC, .290 EQA, 55.9 VORP, 25 Win Shares

 

About a month ago this was probably Uggla's award to lose and well, he lost it. Uggla completely faded at the end of the season while Ramirez only seemed to get stronger. I really hope the media took notice as it seemed like the award was being conceded to Uggla. You can look at Ramirez's basic numbers and know that he clearly had the better year.

 

N.L. Most Valuable Player

 

10. Garrett Atkins, Rockies

.329/.409/.556, 119 RC, .310 EQA, 61.5 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

9. Alfonso Soriano, Nationals

.277/.351/.560, 121 RC, .300 EQA, 49.2 VORP, 30 Win Shares

 

8. Chase Utley, Phillies

.309/.379/.527, 122 RC, .298 EQA, 65.0 VORP, 28 Win Shares

 

7. Jose Reyes, Mets

.300/.354/.487, 124 RC, .289 EQA, 57.7 VORP, 29 Win Shares

 

6. David Wright, Mets

.311/.381/.531, 123 RC, .307 EQA, 53.3 VORP, 32 Win Shares

 

5. Lance Berkman, Astros

.315/.420/.621, 141 RC, .331 EQA, 71.2 VORP, 34 Win Shares

 

4. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins

.339/.431/.568, 141 RC, .333 EQA, 79.1 VORP, 34 Win Shares

 

3. Ryan Howard, Phillies

.313/.425/.659, 137 RC, .337 EQA, 81.3 VORP, 31 Win Shares

 

2. Carlos Beltran, Mets

.275/.388/.594, 125 RC, .320 EQA, 67.6 VORP, 38 Win Shares

 

1.

.331/.431/.671, 150 RC, .346 EQA, 86.6 VORP, 39 Win Shares

 

About a month ago I had Pujols and Beltran neck and neck but Pujols pulls away in September. After knocking the hype surrounding his chase for the "non-steroid" homerun record I give Howard the #3 slot and he wouldn't be as bad a pick as the potential A.L. winner could end up being. But it does seem the last week Pujols had regained favor in the media as the choice.

 

A.L. Cy Young

 

3. C.C. Sabathia, Indians

138 ERA+, 3.91 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 46.0 VORP, 14 Win Shares

 

2. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays

147 ERA+, 3.88 K/BB, 1.10 WHIP, 68.2 VORP, 21 Win Shares

 

1.

164 ERA+, 5.21 K/BB, 1.00 WHIP, 79.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares

 

The toughest ballot decision out there is by far 3rd place in the A.L. Cy Young race. Santana will win the award unanimously and Halladay should be the unanimous #2. I went with Sabathia due to his strong peripherals although VORP and Win Shares didn't particularly like him this year. By the time I get around to starting pitchers on my player rankings C.C. might not be ranked #3 among A.L. starters but I wanted to get this done tonight so I gave him the nod over Chien-ming Wang and John Lackey. You could even make strong arguments for injured rookies Liriano and Papelbon. Speaking of which...

 

A.L. Rookie of the Year

 

3. Justin Verlander, Tigers

122 ERA+, 2.07 K/BB, 1.33 WHIP, 47.0 VORP, 15 Win Shares

 

2. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox

505 ERA+, 5.77 K/BB, 0.78 WHIP, 38.6 VORP, 18 Win Shares

 

1.

211 ERA+, 4.50 K/BB, 1.00 WHIP, 51.1 VORP, 16 Win Shares

 

Yes they both got hurt by the dominance of these two is too much to overlook and you could make arguments for both. I went with Verlander for 3rd giving him credit for being solid over the full season instead of another dominant pitcher with a small sample in Jered Weaver.

 

A.L. Most Valuable Player

 

10. Carlos Guillen, Tigers

.320/.400/.519, 106 RC, .310 EQA, 67.0 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

9. Justin Morenau, Twins

.321/.375/.559, 120 RC, .308 EQA, 51.8 VORP, 27 Win Shares

 

8. Jim Thome, White Sox

.288/.416/.598, 123 RC, .328 EQA, 63.2 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

7. Jermaine Dye, White Sox

.315/.385/.622, 119 RC, .320 EQA, 65.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares

 

6. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox

.321/.439/.619, 111 RC, .342 EQA, 65.3 VORP, 29 Win Shares

 

5. Travis Hafner, Indians

.308/.439/.659, 124 RC, .355 EQA, 80.4 VORP, 25 Win Shares

 

4. Johan Santana, Twins

 

3. David Oritz, Red Sox

.287/.413/.636, 126 RC, .334 EQA, 75.8 VORP, 29 Win Shares

 

2. Joe Mauer, Twins

.347/.429/.507, 104 RC, .321 EQA, 66.6 VORP, 31 Win Shares

 

1.

.344/.417/.483, 138 RC, .316 EQA, 79.2 VORP, 33 Win Shares

 

If you told me in my first MVP Watch that I'd be picking Jeter at the end of the year as my choice for MVP, and not even have a second thought about it, I would have laughed. I hate the media's infatuation with Jeter as much as anyone but the guy was king sized this year. Of course the media has now become infatuated with Justin Morneau for some ungodly reason. I don't see how anyone can look at the Twins and come away thinking Morneau is the MVP of that team. Anyone arguing Morneau for MVP of the league is out of their mind. Unrelated I should note that I slammed the David Oritz support when the media was ready to give him the award in early August but now with the Red Sox fade and his playing for himself comments he killed his chances. Now though I kinda like the guy and his tear down the stretch, meaningless or not, gives him the 3rd spot. He'd be a hell of a lot better choice than Morneau.