September 28, 2006
I am a big sports fan. I have season tickets for the Devil Rays, and while I work on college basketball, I really love baseball too! I remember the debates over Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider when I was a youngster.
Well, there are lots of discussions over who should win the major baseball awards this season. I am not Peter Gammons, but I do have opinions on these postseason honors. Here are my choices for the awards:
AL MVP: Derek Jeter, Yankees. There are a lot of strong candidates, like David Ortiz of Red Sox, Jermaine Dye of the White Sox and Justin Morneau of the Twins. Jeter comes to play every day and he is a leader for a Yankee team that has been hurt by injuries to Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. Jeter's contribution has been a positive for Joe Torre's squad.
NL MVP: Ryan Howard, Phillies. He simply carried the team after the trade of Bobby Abreu. What a terrific sophomore season!
AL CY YOUNG: Johan Santana, Twins. He simply dominated in the second half of the season, leading the Twins to the postseason.
NL CY YOUNG: Trevor Hoffman, Padres. This is a tough call. A lot of people are talking about Chris Carpenter and Brandon Webb, but I feel the Padres would not be contending for a playoff berth without Hoffman.
AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Jim Leyland, Tigers. Joe Torre did a great job in light of the team's injuries, but Leyland took over and led Detroit to the playoffs for the first time since 1987.
NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Joe Girardi, Marlins. This team was 20 games below .500 earlier in the season. To take a young team and get them into playoff contention for a good part of the season is incredible.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Justin Verlander, Tigers. There was an incredible crop of newcomers in the AL. Jered Weaver, Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Liriano … wow. Verlander was a key starter for the Tigers in their playoff run.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Dan Uggla, Marlins. Again, there were many candidates like Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, Josh Johnson of the Marlins, Takashi Saito of the Dodgers and Josh Barfield of the Padres, to name a few. Uggla slumped a bit down the stretch but his overall performance makes him my choice.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in 1979. Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.
