Big Tex hands out Awards!

Allright here we go folks. Since we are in the postseason, I think its time to hand out the Big Tex regular season MLB awards! These awards are coveted by every major league player and hold a special place on their mantle! Remember, these are my opinions. If you do not agree with me, then you are welcome to comment and let me know. And now, on to the awards!

National League MVP: Adrian Beltre,
Honroable mention: Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds

This category is for MOST VALUABLE PLAYER, not best player. In my opinion without Adrian Beltre, the Dodgers would have had trouble staying ahead of the Diamondbacks. He is that good. He led the major leagues with 48 HRs, had a .334 batting average, and 121 rbi's. St Louis had three players on their team, and while Bonds was very good, he did not single handidily carry the Dodgers for most of the season.

American League MVP: Vladimir Guerrero
Honorable mention: Manny Ramierez and Gary Sheffield

I really wanted to give this award to Manny. I really did. he had a season that was a marvelt o watch. However, his lineup for the most part is pretty stacked(Ortiz, Damon, etc) whereas for most of the season, Vlad had nobody else around him. He kept the Angels within striking distance all season then led them to capture the divison in the last few days. Sheffield had a wonderful season as well, but his lineup is more stacked then Manny's.


National League CY Young Award Winner: Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens
Honrable Mention: Jason Schmidt, Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano

This was a tough tough decision for me. There is precedent in splitting the CY Young, and I will take that choice. Simply put, Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens were the only two reliable pitchers for the Astros down the stretch. Houston came back from 7 games and jumped over 5 teams becuase of these two guys. With 20 and 18 wins, these guys dominated the league. Randy Johnson had an amazing season but played for a poor team, and didnt get many chances for wins. Jason Schmidt stumbled in the end of the season and Carl Pavano just was not crisp enough. Good seasons, but not quite Cy young seasons.

American League Cy Young Award Winner: Johan Santana
Honrable mention: Curt Schilling

Lets face it, the difference between these two in wins is negligable(1). But the difference in ERA is dramatic(0.65). Also factor in that when Santana went into a game, opponents peniciled in a loss. He was that dominating this year. Schilling was very very good this year, but Santana was just a bit better.

National League Reliever of the Year: Eric Gagne
Honrable Mention: Brad Lidge

This was by far the toughest category. I gave the award to Gagne for one reason and one reaosn alone: intimidation. He blew 2 saves this season and ended up with 45 saves. Also in non save oppertunities he went 7-3. This guy was near automatic this season. Brad Lidge migth have won this award had he pitched as closer all year, but since he spent part of the season as a setup man for Octavio Dotel. However he did mamage to give Dotel the lead 17 times so he was very effective there. So if you add those 17 holds to his 29 saves and subtract 4, he still has fewer saves then Gagne. His strikeouts were ridiculous, and down the stretch he was the best reliever in the game hands down. But this award is for the whole year, not just the last couple of months.

American League Reliever of the Year: Mariano Rivera
Honorable Mention: Francisco Cordero

This was by far the easiest award to give out. Rivera was just that much more dominant then any other relief pitcher in the American league.

Best National League Player on a bad team: Randy Johnson
Honrable mention: Brad Wilkerson(MTL) and Jim Thome(Philly)

When you have a 2.60 ERA, 290 k's and a record of 16-14, something is very very wrong. And what was wrong was the Diamondbacks. He threw a no-hitter, and essentially needed to bge near perfect just to get to 16 wins. Wilkerson and Thome were the only reasons to watch really bad Montreal and pretty bad Philly, but Randy was a Cy Young Candidate on a really bad team.

Best American league Player on a bad team: Suzuki Ichiro
Honrable Mention: Miguel Tejada

Lets face it, why would you even consider watching Seattle this year? Simple to see Ichiro go after Sissler's 84 tear old record. Why would you watch Baltimore? To see Tejada. Ichiro's record was more important then Tejada's play. Point: Ichiro.

And there you have it. If you disagree with any of this, be sure to comment. If I see no comments I will assume that yall agree with me and that this list is perfect. And it is! Its the Big Tex List!