The Hot Stove Hall of Fame

We will be voting in positional order, ending before the S8 regular season starts.

C - Jorel Flair (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)

1B -Pedro Rijo (Florida Marlins)

2B -Mariano Alfonseca (Toronto Blue Jays)

3B -

SS -

LF -

CF -

RF -

DH -

SP1 -

SP2 -

SP3 -

SP4 -

SP5 -

CL -

Season 7 MVP Breakdown

The season is starting to wind down, and with only 51 games left, the big time players are starting to set themselves apart. So without further ado, here are my current finalists for the MVP award in the AL and NL:

AL

1 - Mariano Alfonseca - Toronto Blue Jays .353 Avg / 1.033 OPS / 25 HR / 114 RBI
2 - Roland Durrington - New York Yankees .332 Avg / 1.016 OPS / 34 HR / 96 RBI
3 - Corey Gibson - Toronto Blue Jays .304 Avg / .914 OPS / 115 R / 24 HR / 90 RBI / 47 SB
4 - Russ Anderson - Boston Red Sox .330 Avg / 1.049 OPS / 43 HR / 102 RBI
5 - B.J. Norton - Tampa Bay Devil Rays .276 Avg / .985 OPS / 90 R/ 42 HR / 95 RBI

NL

1 - Diego Pineda - Florida Marlins .314 Avg / 1.005 OPS / 115 R / 26 HR / 94 RBI / 38 SB
2 - Joe Jenkins - St. Louis Cardinals .332 Avg / 1.009 OPS / 25 HR / 101 RBI / 20 SB
3 - Rudy Jamison - Chicago Cubs .325 Avg / 1.020 OPS / 34 HR / 100 RBI / 26 SB
4 - Brad Simmons - Houston Astros ..282 Avg / .986 OPS / 41 HR / 103 RBI
5 - Chris Sheets - Florida Marlins .335 Avg / .919 OPS / 99 R / 18 HR / 54 RBI / 31 SB


The Cy Young finalists will follow in the coming days.

Marlins or Cardinals? (Pitching)

The Marlins have the better team ERA, but play in a little more of a neutral park. So here is a breakdown of how the staffs fare head to head:

Starter #1

Cardinals - Hector Baez

Marlins - Ramon Suh

Advantage - Marlins

Suh is probably the leading NL Cy Young candidate thus far, compiling a 15-2 record with an ERA hovering around 2.00. Baez however, has been a bit of a disappointment since his arrival from Montreal a couple weeks back. He is 3-1 in 6 starts with St. Louis, but a 4.58 ERA is lackluster compared to his expected returns.

Starter #2

Cardinals - Julio Escobar

Marlins - Willie Otanez

Advantage - Push

Escobar still needs to prove he can stay healthy...but despite only appearing in 12 games (all starts) he has been extremely impressive, posting an 8-1 mark with a 2.33 ERA. Otanez, on the other hand, hasn't been quite as dominant, but has started 22 games and has a 13-4 record with an ERA of just 3.10. If Escobar was healthy all season, and kept up the same marks, this would go to the Redbirds.

Starter #3

Cardinals - Ben Sparks

Marlins - Jamie Jacobs

Advantage - Marlins

Sparks has pitched over his head his entire career, and this season is no exception. Ratings wise, this looks like it should be no contest, but Sparks has now pitched 6 1/2 seasons of great baseball despite less than exceptional ratings. Jacobs, however, is arguably the best pitcher in Hot Stove history. Since coming to Florida from Montreal a couple weeks back, he has posted a 5-1 record, including an impressive 5-hit shutout this afternoon. Down the stretch, this matchup definitely belongs to the veteran with 117 career wins, although Sparks will definitely put up one scrappy fight.

Starter #4

Cardinals - Alex Saenez

Marlins - Al Watson

Advantage - Cardinals

Watson is enjoying a career year, with 15 wins already, and an ERA of only 3.14, but Saenez is up there with Jacobs as one of the most dominating pitchers in league history. Elbow inflamation has kept Saenez down a bit, but an 11-2 record and a 3.06 ERA are still quite impressive in 21 starts. Expect Saenez to get on a roll as the season progresses, and Watson to somewhat return back to Earth.

Starter #5

Cardinals - Carlos Gurrido

Marlins - Todd Black

Advantage - Marlins

How Gurrido has an ERA under 4 is beyond me. Like Ben Sparks, (but even more impressive) Gurrido defies the ratings idea and continues to impress with a 10-4 record and a 3.83 ERA. This is not expected to keep up all season, as a couple of bad outings could quickly jettison him out of the Cards rotation in favor of DaRond Priest (currently SP#6). And although Black has only started 3 games for the Fish, he is 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA, and combined with his earlier work in Baltimore, the rook stands at 10-3 with a 2.08 ERA in only 18 starts.


Middle Relief

Advantage - Marlins

Rusty Tabaka, Murray Keeler and Kevin Goodwin lead a middle relief corps with an ERA right around 3.00. Charles Freeman and Ron Becker post some good numbers, but guys like Julio Pizzaro really hold the club down from the level Florida's relievers.

Closer

Advantage - Cardinals

How the mighty have fallen!! After winning a ROY and 2 straight fireman awards in the last 3 seasons, Paul Cho has fallen off the face of the earth, posting a 6.69 ERA, giving up 30 runs in only 40 innings. Remember, this is a Closer with a career ERA under 2.50 going into the season, only blowing 10 saves in 3 stellar seasons. Meanwhile, Julian Valdes is quietly posting an ERA of 3.33 with 20 saves in 24 chances. Not amazing, but definitely light years better than Cho's atrocity of a season. If this keeps up, Kevin Goodwin might be seing save chances in the near future.


That's 4-2-1 Marlins, but just like the standings, it's alot closer than it looks on paper.

Marlins or Cardinals?

It has really been an epic battle so far between the NL South rivals. With both teams on pace for 110+ wins, I thought it'd be fun to put them head to head and see where the advantages really lie. Feel free to comment.

C

Cardinals - Jack Sutton

Marlins - Ryan Brumbaugh

Advantage - Cardinals

Brumbaugh has a small edge defensively, although Sutton calls a game better. The major difference is Sutton's offensive prowess. He is arguably the MVP of the St. Louis squad, especially when he plays such an important position. Brumbaugh is decent offensively, but obviously no match for Sutton.

1B

Cardinals - Jeremy Costello

Marlins - Pedro Rijo

Advantage - Marlins

Florida castoff Costello is a solid all-around 1B, although a bit of a slug on defense, but he is definitely no match for defending NL MVP Rijo. Although Rijo has struggled a little in the last week, he is still hitting .332 with a .434 OBP and a 1.000 OPS.

2B

Cardinals - David Williams

Marlins - Chris Sheets

Advantage - Push

The Marlins have the long-term advantage here, as Sheets will be hitting .330 with 130 runs scored for 10 more seasons, but right now, he and Williams are pretty much even. Williams has the power advantage, but Sheets leads in speed and average. Both are superstars, with Williams a legit MVP candidate and Sheets a shoo-in as a ROY finalist.

3B

Cardinals - Joe Jenkins

Marlins - Alex Segui

Advantage - Cardinals

Segui is growing older, but still producing as much as ever, while Jenkins is just entering his prime. Their stats are eerily similar this year, although Segui has missed some time due to injury. Jenkins is more likely to produce at the same level for the rest of the season however.

SS

Cardinals - Guillermo Pena

Marlins - Al Pineda

Advantage - Marlins

This one isn't even close. While Pena is the superior fielder by quite a bit, Pineda has an OPS 300 points higher, definitely worth the 10 extra errors.

LF

Cardinals - Eli Villa

Marlins - Miguel Dominguez

Advantage - Marlins

Villa has been a very good for the Cards, but Dominguez has been great. Taking advantage of the OBP machines in front of him, Dominguez is on pace to hit .312 with 34 HRs and 132 RBI.

CF

Cardinals - Ruben Ramirez

Marlins - Fernando Montero

Advantage - Marlins

Florida management was planning to use Montero as a super-utility man this season, but he performed so well in spot starts early on that he go his CF spot back for good. The 29 yr old is having a career season, hitting .313 with a nearly .400 OBP and 80 runs scored. Ramirez has been a bit of a disappointment, hitting only .260 with a less than stellar .329 OBP.

RF

Cardinals - Tripp Andrews

Marlins - Diego Pineda

Advantage - Marlins

In any given season, this one would be a push, but Pineda is having a career year, and Andrews hasn't quite lived up to his outstanding billing. Pineda is on pace to score over 170 runs and drive in 135 runs. This should be a very interesting matchup in future years, as neither player has hit his projections. Both will be team cornerstones for a long time.

Bench

Cardinals - Dan Frederick, Justin Hubbard, Jeff Harper, Sammy White

Marlins - Daryl McKnight, Brian Lee, Miguel Mercado, Bryant Grissom, Heinie Gilbert

Advantage - Marlins

By a long ways. All those guys on the Marlins bench will be starting within a couple seasons. McKnight is a future MVP.


As the lineups go, that's 6-2-1 Marlins. It's really not by that big of a margin though, as many of the positions are very close, with some players simply enjoying career seasons.

That's it for tonight, I'll go over pitching staffs in the next day or two.

NL Season Awards

So the season award update isn't for a couple days, but I figured I couldn't wait that long and I put together a list of who I feel should be in the running for NL Cy Young, MVP and Rookie of the Year.

Cy Young

1. Footsie Thompson (WAS) - 16-4 2.80 ERA 1.20 WHIP
2. Jamie Jacobs (MON) - 16-6 2.76 ERA 1.11 WHIP 6 CGs 187 K's
3. George Lowry (LA) - 14-8 2.92 ERA 1.21 WHIP 6 CGs
4. Gary Carpenter (NY2) - 14-2 3.10 ERA 1.16 WHIP
5. Al Watson (FLA) - 16-4 3.83 ERA 1.20 WHIP 3 CGs 2 SHO

MVP

1. Dan McEnroe (MIL) - .308 AVG 41 HR 112 RBI 1.057 OPS
2. Kent Carson (CH1) - .330 AVG 36 HR 99 RBI 1.035 OPS
3. Pedro Rijo (FLA) - .356 AVG 27 HR 98 RBI 1.030 OPS
4. Joe Taft (LA) - .331 AVG 105 R 44 SB .968 OPS
5. J.D. Brinson (WAS) - .293 AVG 39 HR 110 RBI .941 OPS

Rookie of the Year

1. Lee Berra (MON) - .302 AVG 42 HR 102 RBI 1.014 OPS
2. Al Watson (FLA) - 16-4 3.83 ERA 1.20 WHIP 3 CGs 2 SHO
3. Gene Ford (HOU) - .321 AVG 24 HR 86 RBI .954 OPS
4. Fernando Montero (FLA) - .312 AVG 21 HR 81 RBI 106 R .917 OPS
T5. Benny Pujols (NY2) - 24-26 SV 1.79 ERA 1.04 WHIP
T5. Mateo Vicente (HOU) - 31-37 SV 3.46 ERA 1.25 WHIP

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