Trout Wins Third Straight Stan Musial Award

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout swept the balloting on his way to his third successive Stan Musial Award, as selected by members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Trout, who had arguably his worst full season in the big leagues, still posted a 7.9 bWAR on his way to leading the Angels to their first playoff appearance since he became part of the team.

Trout won in a rout, capturing all 15 first place votes and beating out his closest competition, Cleveland outfielder Michael Brantley, by 90 points.  Only Trout and Brantley were able to cross the 100-point plateau.

In the National League, fresh off winning the Walter Johnson Award (again), Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers took home the Stan Musial hardware as well.  Kershaw was the only player in the big leagues to outperform Trout according to bWAR, coming in with an even 8.0.

Kershaw garnered nine of the possible 13 first place votes and beat out the runner-up, 2013 Musial winner Andrew McCutchen, by 23 points.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Mike Trout, Los Angeles (15) 195
Michael Brantley, Cleveland 105
Jose Bautista, Toronto 74
Corey Kluber, Cleveland 67
Victor Martinez, Detroit 66
Josh Donaldson, Oakland 65
Jose Abreu, Chicago 51
Felix Hernandez, Seattle 47
Alex Gordon, Kansas City 45
Jose Altuve, Houston 44
Robinson Cano, Seattle 35
Adrian Beltre, Texas 29
Ian Kinsler, Detroit 12
Nelson Cruz, Baltimore 9
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit 8
Adam Jones, Baltimore 7
David Price, Tampa Bay/Detroit 4
Phil Hughes, Minnesota 3
Brian Dozier, Minnesota 2
Jon Lester, Boston/Oakland 2

National League

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles (9) 151
Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh (4) 128
Giancarlo Stanton, Miami 106
Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee 82
Anthony Rendon, Washington 66
Buster Posey, San Francisco 62
Anthony Rizzo, Chicago 32
Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles 25
Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati 16
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis 15
Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee 11
Jason Heyward, Atlanta 11
Jhonny Peralta, St. Louis 10
Jayson Werth, Washington 9
Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles 8
Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh 8
Justin Morneau, Colorado 6
Justin Upton, Atlanta 4
Cole Hamels, Philadelphia 2
Todd Frazier, Cincinnati 1
Hunter Pence, San Francisco 1

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 215 blogs spanning most of the 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in many instances over the past five years.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 13-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point scale for first through tenth place. In the interest of transparency, links to the ballots are listed below.

Prior Winners:
2013: Mike Trout, Los Angeles; Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh
2012: Mike Trout, Los Angeles; Buster Posey, San Francisco
2011: Jose Bautista, Toronto; Matt Kemp, Los Angeles
2010: Josh Hamilton, Texas; Joey Votto, Cincinnati
2009: Joe Mauer, Minnesota; Albert Pujols, St. Louis

American League
Boston Red Thoughts
The Tribe Daily
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
TribeCards
North Dakota Twins Fan
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Seattle Mariners Musings
The Blue Jay Hunter
500 Level Fan

National League
Inside the ‘Zona
Cincinnati Reds Blog
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
Dodger Blue Heaven
Lasorda’s Lair
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Fightin’ Phillies
The Lunatic Fringe
Baseball Geek In Galveston
Fungoes

Kluber Edges Hernandez For Walter Johnson Award

In a thrilling race, some new blood emerged to win the American League Walter Johnson Award.  Corey Kluber, the unexpected ace of the Cleveland Indians, nipped 2010 winner Felix Hernandez of Seattle by six points in voting held by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

Kluber, who went 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA and a 152 ERA+, received eight of the possible 14 first place votes and 80 points overall.  Hernandez received the other six first place nods and 74 total points, coming just short of being the second American League pitcher to have two Walter Johnsons on his mantle.

Unsurprisingly, it was a much different story in the National League as Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his third Walter Johnson in four years.  Kershaw swept the voting, receiving all the first place votes and more than doubling the point total of the runner-up, St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Corey Kluber, Cleveland (8) 80
Felix Hernandez, Seattle (6) 74
Jon Lester, Boston/Oakland 26
Chris Sale, Chicago 26
David Price, Tampa Bay/Detroit 19
Phil Hughes, Minnesota 10
Max Scherzer, Detroit 3

National League

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles (14) 98
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis 47
Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati 43
Jordan Zimmerman, Washington 17
Cole Hamels, Philadelphia 11
Jake Arrieta, Chicago 6
Stephen Strasburg, Washington 6
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles 5
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco 3
Doug Fister, Washington 2

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 215 blogs spanning most of the 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in most instances over the past five years.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 7-4-3-2-1 point scale for first through fifth place. In the interest of transparency, links to the ballots are shown below.

Prior Winners:
2013: Max Scherzer, Detroit; Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles
2012: Justin Verlander, Detroit; R.A. Dickey, New York
2011: Justin Verlander, Detroit; Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles
2010: Felix Hernandez, Seattle; Roy Halladay, Philadelphia
2009: Zack Greinke, Kansas City; Tim Lincecum, San Francisco

The official website of the BBA is located at baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com. The BBA can be found on Twitter by the handle @baseballblogs and by the hashmark #bbba.  For more information, contact Daniel Shoptaw at baseballbloggersalliance@gmail.com.

American League

Boston Red Thoughts
The Tribe Daily
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
North Dakota Twins Fan
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Seattle Mariners Musings
The Blue Jay Hunter
500 Level Fan

National League

Inside the ‘Zona
Cincinnati Reds Blog
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
Dodger Blue Heaven
Lasorda’s Lair
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Fightin’ Phillies
Ghost of Ray Kroc
The Lunatic Fringe
C70 At The Bat
Pitchers Hit Eighth

Kimbrel Takes Home Fourth Consecutive Goose Gossage Award

Perhaps the Baseball Bloggers’ Award for best reliever needs to be renamed.

For the fourth year in a row, Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel took home the hardware.  Given that the award has only been in existence for five, there’s no contest on who the most decorated relief pitcher in BBA history is.  This was actually the first year that Kimbrel was actually challenged, finishing just 11 points ahead of Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman.

For the third consecutive year, Kimbrel posted an ERA under 1.75, though his 95 strikeouts was the lowest in a full year in his career.  He led the league again in saves and put up an 227 ERA+, which was incredibly significantly lower than he had the last two years (399 and 311, respectively).

In the American League, New York reliever Dellin Betances, who also received votes for the BBA’s Willie Mays Award, edged out Kansas City reliever Wade Davis for the Gossage honors.  Betances, who appeared in 70 games for the Yankees, put up a 1.40 ERA and a 277 ERA+ while striking out 135 in 90 innings.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Dellin Betances, New York (6) 50
Wade Davis, Kansas City (5) 47
Greg Holland, Kansas City (4) 27
Zach Britton, Baltimore 7
Sean Doolittle, Oakland 4

National League

Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta (7) 51
Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati (5) 39
Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles (1) 15
Mark Melancon, Pittsburgh 7
Jonathan Papelbon, Philadelphia 3
Ken Giles, Philadelphia 1
Trevor Rosenthal, St. Louis 1

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 215 blogs spanning most of the 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in most cases in their history.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first through third place. In the interest of transparency, links to the ballots are listed below.

Prior Winners:

2013: Koji Uehara, Boston; Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta
2012: Fernando Rodney, Tampa Bay; Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta
2011: Jose Valverde, Detroit; Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta
2010: Rafael Soriano, Tampa Bay; Brian Wilson, San Francisco

Official Ballots

American League
Boston Red Thoughts
The Tribe Daily
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
North Dakota Twins Fan
TribeCards
Subway Squawkers
Patrick Mullin Training
Seattle Mariners Musings
The Blue Jay Hunter
500 Level Fan

National League
Inside the ‘Zona
Cincinnati Reds Blog
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
Dodger Blue Heaven
Lasorda’s Lair
TribeCards
Subway Squawkers
Patrick Mullin Training
Fightin’ Phillies
Ghost of Ray Kroc
The Lunatic Fringe

Abreu Unanimous Selection for Willie Mays Award

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu was a unanimous selection for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s Willie Mays Award for top rookie in the American League.  All fifteen ballots cast believed Abreu, a free agent signee from Cuba, was the top new player on the junior circuit.

Abreu clubbed 36 home runs and drove in 107 while putting up a .317/.383/.964 line and an OPS+ of 169.  Those stellar offensive numbers helped him outpace his runner-up, New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, by 53.5 points.

The National League voting was not quite as clear-cut, though it still was a landside for the winner.  New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom snagged ten of the thirteen first-place votes available to beat out Cincinnati Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton by 28 points.  deGrom tallied nine wins, a 2.69 ERA and an ERA+ of 130 before being shut down at the end of the season.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League
Jose Abreu, Chicago (15) 75
Masahiro Tanaka, New York 21.5
Collin McHugh, Houston 10.5
Dellin Betances, New York 6
Mookie Betts, Boston 6
Danny Santana, Minnesota 6
Matt Shoemaker, Los Angeles 3
Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay 3
Brock Holt, Boston 2
Yordano Ventura, Kansas City 2

National League
Jacob deGrom, New York (10) 54
Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati (2) 26
Ender Inciarte, Arizona (1) 9
David Peralta, Arizona 9
Ken Giles, Philadelphia 6
Joe Panik, San Francisco 2
Jeurys Familia, New York 1
Yangervis Solarte, San Diego 1

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 215 blogs spanning most of the 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America a large portion of the time.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first through third place. In the interest of transparency, links to individual ballots are listed below.

Prior Winners:
2013: Wil Myers, Tampa Bay; Jose Fernandez, Miami
2012: Mike Trout, Los Angeles of Anaheim; Bryce Harper, Washington
2011: Eric Hosmer, Kansas City and Jeremy Hellickson, Tampa Bay; Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta
2010: Neftali Feliz, Texas; Buster Posey, San Francisco
2009: Andrew Bailey, Oakland; Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh

Voters:

American League
Boston Red Thoughts
The Tribe Daily
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
North Dakota Twins Fan
TribeCards
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Seattle Mariners Musings
The Blue Jay Hunter
500 Level Fan

National League

Inside the ‘Zona
Cincinnati Reds Blog
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
Dodger Blue Heaven
Lasorda’s Lair
TribeCards
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Fightin’ Phillies
The Lunatic Fringe

Hurdle Wins Second Consecutive Connie Mack Award

Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter and Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle were named the 2014 Connie Mack Award winners today by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  The Connie Mack Award recognizes those considered the top manager for the season.

This is the second straight year for Hurdle to take home the hardware from the BBA after breaking the Pirates’ long playoff drought last season.  Hurdle again led Pittsburgh into the promised land of October, securing a wild-card berth after a strong September surge left them just short of the divisional title.

Hurdle received seven first place votes among the 16 ballots cast and was left off entirely of only one voter’s entry.  Hurdle received 51 points, eleven more than his closest competition, Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants.

Showalter led the Orioles to their first American League East divisional title since 1997, winning the division by 12 games over the New York Yankees.  Baltimore won 96 games this season, eleven more than they were able to win in 2013.

Showalter garnered 11 first place votes from the 15 ballots cast.  He was named on every ballot and outpaced his closest rival, Kansas City’s Ned Yost, by 37 points.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Buck Showalter, Baltimore (11) 65
Ned Yost, Kansas City (3) 28
Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles (1) 22.5
Lloyd McClendon, Seattle 13
Bob Melvin, Oakland 3
Tito Francona, Cleveland 2
Brad Ausmus, Detroit 1.5

National League

Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh (7) 51
Bruce Bochy, San Francisco (4) 40
Matt Williams, Washington (2) 20
Don Mattingly, Los Angeles (1) 17
Mike Matheny, St. Louis (2) 16

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 215 blogs spanning most of the 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in all but two instances in the past two years.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and for this award, were tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first through third place. In the interest of transparency, links to the individual ballots are listed below.

Prior Winners:

2013: John Farrell, Boston; Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh

2012: Bob Melvin, Oakland; Davey Johnson, Washington

2011: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay; Kirk Gibson, Arizona Diamondbacks

2010: Ron Washington, Texas; Bud Black, San Diego

2009: Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles of Anaheim; Jim Tracy, Colorado

Voters:

American League
Boston Red Thoughts
The Tribe Daily
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
North Dakota Twins Fan
TribeCards
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Seattle Mariners Musings
The Blue Jay Hunter
500 Level Fan

National League
Inside the ‘Zona
Cincinnati Reds Blog
The Flagrant Fan
Misc. Baseball
TribeCards
Dodgers Blue Heaven
Lasorda’s Lair
Subway Squawkers
Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog
Fightin’ Phillies
Padres Trail
The Lunatic Fringe
RetroSimba
Baseball Geek In Galveston

Five More Added To BBA

Please welcome our newest BBA members.  We look forward to working with them in the future!  (Chapters in parenthesis)

Scott, Ghost of Ray Kroc (San Diego)
Jerry, Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ (General)
Doug, Baseball Geek In Galveston (St. Louis)
Wayne, The Diamond Nine (General)
Pat, Patrick Mullin Training (Other)

Eight Added To The Baseball Bloggers Alliance

Please welcome our newest BBA members.  We look forward to working with them in the future!  (Chapters in parenthesis)

Stephen, Southside Showdown (Chicago AL)
Nicholas, Bronx Pinstripes (New York AL)
Ed, Foul Ballz (General)
Robin, Baseball Card Blog (Miscellaneous)
Luis, Taking Back Baseball (General)
Tyler, Tyler’s Think Tank (General)
Wade, Every 5th Day (General)
Joe, Venom Strikes (Arizona)

Three Make Hall of Fame Cut In Baseball Bloggers Alliance Voting

Maddux, Thomas, Glavine Recommended by Blogger Organization for Cooperstown

December 30, 2013: The Baseball Bloggers Alliance today recommends three players from the official Hall of Fame ballot to be inducted into Cooperstown this summer. Pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, most closely associated with the Atlanta Braves, and long-time Chicago White Sox first baseman/designated hitter Frank Thomas reached the 75% threshold when BBA members cast their ballots.

Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner for the Braves, pitched from 1986 to 2008 and won 355 games while posting a 3.16 ERA and striking out over 3,300 batters. He had a career WHIP of 1.143 in just over 5,000 innings and an ERA+ of 132 over that span. His best season was 1995, when he fashioned a 19-2 record with a 1.63 ERA, good for a bWAR of 9.7 that year.

Thomas played from 1990 to 2008, all but the last three season on the south side of Chicago. He has a career slash line of .301/.419/.555 and fashioned an OPS+ of 156 during his playing days. He put up his highest single-season bWAR in 1997, when his 1.067 OPS and 35 home runs played a large role in his mark of 7.3.

Glavine’s career spanned roughly the same time frame as Maddux’s, with Glavine starting in 1987. He won the Cy Young in 1991 and 1998 and finished runner-up two other times. His career ERA was 3.54 and he won 305 games during his tenure with the Braves and the New York Mets. Glavine had a 1.314 WHIP for his career and an ERA+ of 118.

The voting of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance has often been close to what the baseball writers eventually decide, though the correlation is stronger with the year-end awards. A quick look at the past few years:

In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA voting, while the writers inducted only Andre Dawson.

In 2011, the BBA selected Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven and both were inducted into Cooperstown that summer.

In 2012, Barry Larkin and Jeff Bagwell were selected by the BBA, but the writers only took Larkin.

Last year, the bloggers again picked Bagwell, while the writers could not agree on anyone to honor.

Bagwell lost support in this year’s voting, coming up roughly 10% shy of recommendation. The final vote totals are as follows:

Greg Maddux 94.51%
Frank Thomas 80.22%
Tom Glavine 75.82%
Mike Piazza 72.53%
Craig Biggio 70.33%
Jeff Bagwell 64.84%
Barry Bonds 60.44%
Roger Clemens 59.34%
Tim Raines 54.95%
Edgar Martinez 41.76%
Curt Schilling 39.56%
Mike Mussina 32.97%
Alan Trammell 30.77%
Jack Morris 25.27%
Mark McGwire 21.98%
Larry Walker 17.58%
Jeff Kent 15.38%
Lee Smith 14.29%
Don Mattingly 9.89%
Fred McGriff 8.79%
Rafael Palmeiro 7.69%
Sammy Sosa 4.40%
Moises Alou 3.30%
Eric Gagne 2.20%
Luis Gonzalez 2.20%
Sean Casey 1.10%
Kenny Rogers 1.10%
Richie Sexson 1.10%
J.T. Snow 1.10%
Armando Benitez 0.00%
Ray Durham 0.00%
Jacque Jones 0.00%
Todd Jones 0.00%
Paul Lo Duca 0.00%
Hideo Nomo 0.00%
Mike Timlin 0.00%

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball. The BBA currently has approximately 240 blogs in its membership, including some of the most prominent blogs on the Internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.

More information about the BBA can be found at their website, baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com, or by contacting the founder and administrator of the organization, Daniel Shoptaw, at baseballbloggersalliance@gmail.com.