Sean Doolittle Wins BBBA’s 2016 ‘Tony Gwynn’ Leadership Award

These 2 are always in the charity work. Recently they have even hosted dinners for a LGBT dinner, and Thanksgiving Dinner for Syrian refugees..

By Chuck Booth (BBBA President)

We are proud to present the winner of the Tony Gwynn Leadership Award to Oakland A’s Relief Pitcher Sean Dooittle, who narrowly edged OF Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets  by one mere vote.

This distinction goes to an outstanding individual in the MLB that reflects both a great leader in the game – but also off the field.

Thanks to all members who voted.   The other nominees were Clayton Kershaw, Brett Lawrie and Jeff Francoeur.

Here was a response from one of our members (A’s Chapter President – Jen Rainwater – and what she wrote about Doolittle, and his girlfriend Eireann Dolan.)

I had a tough time with this because I really like Jeff Francouer, he’s been a friend to the Oakland fans for years – he even tailgated with us on a day inspired by his friendship – Bacon Day – when he played in the AL we had Bacon Day three or four years in a row – so much so that the organization got in on it and had “Bacon Facts” etc up on the big screen during the game. He’s a great person!

However, Sean Doolittle and Eireann Dolan are two of the most amazing people on earth. They made national news helping the Syrian refugees but they do so much more just around the community striving for equality, helped the families of fallen police officers and helped to spread the word about drunk driving when a man named Diego was struck and killed by a drunk driver – getting his brother the chance to throw out the first pitch at a game and dedicated it to Diego. The hashtag #FirstPitchFoDiego got Doolittle’s attention and he helped the family, not to mention the million things that Eireann Dolan has done for LGBTQ rights – they are truly selfless and amazing people.

If you are interested here is a link to a piece I wrote on Doolittle and Dolan for FanRag Sports Network’s TodaysKnuckleball.com … it details many of their good works and is worth a read if you are having trouble with your decision. I’m not telling you who to vote for at all, just providing more information. I know Eireann Dolan and have insight about what she and Doolittle have done for the community that you may not find elsewhere! Thanks for reading this and I hope you will check out my post! Thank you!

Read Jen’s piece on Doolittle  here.

I am not surprised Doolittle won here either.  A lot of the BBBA members have had the ability to meet the man before, and all have come back raving about him.

 

 

MLB Power Rankings 2016: Week 2 – April

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_Hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

Disclaimer:  We based these rankings on best strength to win the World Series.  Therefore some teams that have an easier division to play in, with the least path of resistance to the postseason overall may be ranked a lot higher than a club who is equally talented, yet may play in a juggernaut of a division.

The Cubs will top our list for a second straight week despite losing 2 out of 3 games to the Rockies at Wrigley Field this weekend.  The biggest reason is the pitching.

Jake Arrieta is 3 – 0, and has picked up right where we he left off in 2015, and Jon Lester has thrown awesome too.  The Bullpen has also been good.

The bats are too solid not to come around and gel as the season moves along.  They are playing .750 baseball after a 4 – 2 week still.

Bryce Harper is the best player on the planet, and has homered in 6 straight contests at Citizens Bank Ball Park (4 overall in a row for the MLB this year.)

Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg. Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy are their top players – and all performing like it, the rest of the club is following through in their secondary roles.  This team is scary.

I have the Royals as the top American League club.  This squad is 8 – 1 in games that are not started by back end of the rotation man Chris Young.

The reigning 2 time pennant winners have company on the top of the Division to make it interesting, however this team has the better pedigree the last few years.

Some may say with a weekend series win – that the Dodgers should be put in front of the Giants, yet they are still only one game ahead of San Francisco.

With the Giants – there is no real weakness, while with the Los Angeles team, the Bullpen is not giving everyone confidence in the back half of games.

The Dodger Blue is still in the top 5, so I am high on them. Kenta Maeda could be the steal of the winter with how this guy is throwing so far.  Reinforcements are starting to come back.

Projected Top 5 Save Leaders In The American And National League For MLB 2016

Craig Kimbrel is still about as filthy as they come in nailing down games in the Majors. With 225 Saves and a 1.63 ERA in the last 5 years of his career, this 27 year old flamethrower brings his talents to Beantown and a top rated club. Last year was the 1st season he didn’t lead the National League after four consecutive years of leading the Senior Circuit. He still managed 39 Saves for a 74 win San Diego team. Since the Red Sox are going to be somewhere in the 90 win range, Kimbrel should at least be in the mid 40’s in Saves again for 2016.

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

Figuring out the Saves Leaders for the 2016 year is a lot easier to project than the Holds Leaders we did last week.  Perhaps the easiest to discern is also the National League.

Since I projected 7 teams will win 90+ games in the Senior Circuit I have listed 5 teams with their Closer out of the fold there.  I did however, leave out Hector Rondon and Mark Melancon.

I feel the Bucs may trade Melancon despite being in a position to make the playoffs.   I also think the Cubs will blow out a ton of clubs this season in games, and therefore not need Rondon to lockdown a 3 run or under lead.

This is the same reason why I won’t label Roberto Osuna for the top 5 in the American League either.  It is also not unfathomable to see the Jays go with Drew Storen to close down games.

I fully think that Craig Kimbrel will lead the entire Major Leagues for the Boston Red Sox as their Closer.

I may have gone with Aroldis Chapman on the list as well, however his pending suspension for his domestic violence call in should see him riding pine for at least 25 games.  The New York Yankees should still lead the Junior Circuit for total team Saves.