Regular-season awards
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| Boston fans still rue the day the Red Sox traded away Jeff Bagwell. |
American League MVP
1. Juan Gonzalez., Cleveland
2. Ivan Rodriguez, Texas
3. Magglio Ordonez, Chicago
4. Miguel Tejada, Oakland
5. Pedro Martinez, Boston
National League MVP
1. Jeff Bagwell, Houston
2. Edgardo Alfonzo, New York
3. Larry Walker, Colorado
4. Barry Bonds, San Francisco
5. Mark McGwire, St. Louis
American League Cy Young Award
1. Pedro Martinez, Boston
2. Bartolo Colon, Cleveland
3. Tim Hudson, Oakland
4. Freddy Garcia, Seattle
5. Mike Mussina, New York
National League Cy Young Award
1. Curt Schilling, Arizona
2. Kevin Brown, Los Angeles
3. Greg Maddux, Atlanta
4. Al Leiter, New York
5. Ryan Dempster, Florida
One thing to remember
The last time the team with the highest-paid player in baseball made the playoffs was 1986: the New York Mets with Gary Carter. (Courtesy of Gerry Fraley, Dallas Morning News)
The 12 most important additions
1. Alex Rodriguez, Texas
2. Mike Mussina, Yankees
3. Juan Gonzalez and Ellis Burks, Cleveland
4. Jim Tracy, Los Angeles
5. Mike Hampton, Colorado
6. Dustin Hermanson, St. Louis
7. Johnny Damon, Oakland
8. David Wells, White Sox
9. Charles Johnson, Florida
10. Brad Ausmus, Houston
11. Manny Ramirez, Boston
12. Royce Clayton, White Sox
Best groups
Starting Pitching: 1. Yankees over the Dodgers, only because of the different looks they present. 3. Braves. And if John Smoltz and Kevin Millwood come back, the order changes.
Bullpen: 1. Reds. 2. Mets. 3. Giants. AL: Mariners.
Lineup: 1. Indians. 2. Astros. 3. Blue Jays.
Middle defense: 1. Reds. 2. Cardinals. 3. Indians.
Preseason promotion of the spring
Billboards around Baltimore proclaim, "The Kids are Coming to Play."
The only regular under 30 is second baseman Jerry Hairston. Melvin Mora, 29, and Chris Richard, 27 in June, will play roles in the outfield. They have four regulars -- Cal Ripken, Mike Bordick, Brady Anderson, David Segui -- who will be 35 or older at midseason. Pictured on the billboard is catcher Brook Fordyce, who will be 31 in May.
Dazed and confused
Manny Ramirez called Mike Hargrove Tuesday for advice.
Injuries to be concerned about most of the season
1. Matt Williams, 3B, Arizona
2. Kris Benson, RHP, Pittsburgh
3. Adrian Beltre, 3B, Los Angeles
Players who could have monster comebacks
1. Larry Walker, Colorado
2. Juan Gonzalez, Cleveland
3. Curt Schilling, Arizona
4. Kerry Wood, Cubs
5. Shawn Green, Los Angeles
Whatever Junior Griffey does isn't a comeback after he hit 40 home runs a year ago.
Players who could have breakout seasons
1. Carlos Beltran, CF, Kansas City
2. Mark Mulder, LHP, Oakland
3. Lance Berkman, OF, Houston
4. Russell Branyan, 3B-OF, Cleveland
5. Matt Morris, RHP, St. Louis
6. Odalis Perez, LHP, Atlanta
7. Jason Varitek, C, Boston
8. Paul LoDuca, C, Los Angeles
9. Paul Rigdon, RHP, Milwaukee
10. Ben Petrick, C, Colorado
11. Carlos Lee, OF, White Sox
12. Pat Burrell, OF, Philadelphia
13. Tony Armas, RHP, Montreal
14. Paul Wilson, RHP, Tampa Bay
15. Derrek Lee, 1B, Florida
16. Doug Davis, LHP, Texas
17. LaTroy Hawkins, Rel., Minnesota
18. Scott Schoeneweis, LHP, Anaheim
19. Glendon Rusch, LHP, Mets
20. J.D. Drew, OF, St.Louis
Best rookies
American League
Alfonso Soriano, 2B, New York
Jose Ortiz, 2B, Oakland
C.C. Sabathia, LHP, Cleveland
Paxton Crawford, RHP, Boston
Dee Brown, OF, Kansas City
Matt Kinney, RHP, Minnesota
Brent Abernathy, 2B, Tampa Bay
Brandon Inge, C, Detroit
National League
Ben Sheets, RHP, Milwaukee
Jimmy Rollins, SS, Philadelphia
John Riedling, RHP, Cincinnati
Jack Wilson, SS, Pittsburgh
Wes Helms, 3B/1B, Atlanta
Favorite stories of the spring
Jesse Orosco, 44, and Sid Fernandez both throwing very well.
Norm (The Sheriff) Charlton back for his fourth stint with Lou Piniella.
Ken Hill closing for the Rays.
Chris Reitsma, three years after breaking his arm in the Red Sox organization, jumping from Double-A into the Reds rotation.
Chris Donnels, after four years in Japan and a year at Albuqurque, being the opening day third baseman for the Dodgers.
Christian Parker winning the Yankees' fifth starter spot.
Balvino Galvez, who last pitched in the majors in 1986, making the Pirates staff. The last time he pitched in the U.S. was 1993, when he was 0-1, 8.43 for Orlando. He pitched 1994-95 for the Brother Elephants in Taiwan, then spent the last five years with the Yomiyuri Giants, for whom he was 0-6 last season.
Deion Sanders being assured of returning to the Reds on May 1.
Tim Raines' comeback.
Roy Smith, released by the Seattle organization, then spending two years in the Northern League, becoming a submariner and pitching his way onto the Indians staff.
LHP Eddie Oropesa, the Cuban who's gone from everywhere to Philly.
LHP Tim Christman, after four arm operations and just eight games in Double-A, making the Rockies bullpen.
LHP Chris Michalak, 30, going north as Toronto's fifth starter. "He has the best left-handed pickoff move since Jerry Garvin." Now, there's a name that hadn't crossed my mind for a few years.
Stories to follow in the Wall Street Journal
The impact of the AOL and Disney cutbacks on the Braves and Angels.
If you guessed these players might be in opening day lineups, you might be the next Orioles GM
Craig Grebeck, SS, Red Sox
Tony Fernandez, 3B, Brewers
Jack Wilson, SS, Pirates
Chad Curtis or Bo Porter, CF, Rangers
Chris Donnels, 3B, Dodgers
David Eckstein, 2B, Angels
Shane Halter, 3B, Tigers
Rookies and others who should be up come August
1. Roy Oswalt, RHP, Houston
2. Kurt Ainsworth, RHP, San Francisco
3. Sean Burroughs, 3B, San Diego
4. Albert Pujols, 3B, RHP Chad Hutchinson and LHP Bud Smith, St. Louis
5. Joe Crede, 3B, White Sox
6. Corey Patterson, OF, Cubs
7. Adam Everett, SS, Houston
8. Vernon Wells, OF, Toronto
9. John Thomson, RHP, Colorado
10. Jon Garland, RHP, White Sox
Favorite things of the spring
1. Red Sox pitcher Tomo Ohka visiting with Alfonso Soriano in Japanese, which Soriano learned while playing in Japan. They became friends in Triple-A, as Soriano was the only player with whom Ohka could talk. "He would feel less lonely when he'd see me," said Soriano, who learned Japanese when he went there from the Dominican Republic at 17. Does that tell us what an international game this has become?
2. The smiles of Indians shortstop John McDonald and Atlanta's Rafael Furcal. And Furcal and Odalis Perez hanging out on the minor-league fields when they weren't on Braves' road trips.
3. The fluorescent, bright orange wrist-to-elbow armbands worn by the Mets' Tsuyoshi Shinjo. They'd be great to direct traffic in a storm.
4. Tony La Russa saying of Felipe Alou: "If every manager had the same players, Felipe would win."
5. Mike Matheny with Rick Ankiel.
Minor leaguers who made major league impressions this spring
OF Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
IF Juan Uribe, Colorado
SS Antonio Perez, Seattle
SS Wilson Betemit, OF Cory Aldridge and OF-2B Travis Wilson, Atlanta
RHP Bobby Bradley, Pittsburgh
SS Eddie Rogers, Baltimore
Some things to dream about
1. The future Yankee infield of Nick Johnson, Alfonso Soriano, Drew Henson and Derek Jeter.
2. The future Indians pitching staff with Bartolo Colon, C.C. Sabathia, Ryan Drese, Jaret Wright, Tim Drew, Jake Westbrook, David Riske and Zach Day.
3. The Reds' Double-A outfield of Austin Kearns, Adam Dunn and Jackson Melian.
4. Miguel Tejada, Jose Ortiz, Eric Chavez and whoever plays first for the A's all hitting 30 or more homers. No infield has ever had more than two players hit 30 in the same season.
5. Atlanta's pitching with LH Odalis Perez, RH Jason Marquis, LH Horacio Ramirez and RH Matt Belisle.
Let it burn
The three greatest wastes of talent in the last 20 years are Doc Gooden, Jose Canseco and Darryl Strawberry.
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