Pass The Silver Polish...

Dave Paisley

Yes, folks, the pumpkins are rotting in the backyard, just like this year's World Series losers, and the turkeys are still blissfully unaware of their fate, so it must be time for the annual spin of the wheel at the old Baseball Writers Association of America awards.

You have to love baseball for the ability to keep up interest year 'round. With a six-month regular season and a one-month playoff run, you might think it would be difficult to keep up interest for the other five months. Face it, none of the other major sports do, although the NBA lottery and draft comes the closest to providing a major sport-related off-season event (in addition to its numerous arrests and other non-sports-related activity.)

With spring training lasting just six weeks, MLB manages to fill in the remaining time with postseason awards and trades. If anything, the last couple of weeks have been more newsworthy than September and October combined, and December promises some blockbuster deals to keep beisbol up front in sports news.

With all of that in mind, here's the BBWAA award schedule:

• Monday, November 8 -- National League Rookie of the Year
• Tuesday, November 9 -- American League Rookie of the Year
• Wednesday, November 10 -- National League Manager of the Year
• Thursday, November 11 -- American League Manager of the Year
• Monday, November 15 -- National League Cy Young Award
• Tuesday, November 16 -- American League Cy Young Award
• Wednesday, November 17 -- National League Most Valuable Player
• Thursday, November 18 -- American League Most Valuable Player

Right now I'll focus on the awards coming up in the next week. There'll be plenty of opportunity to examine the big money awards next week. First, the rookies:

National League Rookie of the Year
My colleague Jason Barker is the real expert on rookies, but that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion. Actually, though, I don't have much of an opinion regarding the National League rookie race. The top position players are probably Pittsburgh 2B Warren Morris (.787 OPS) and Florida OF Preston Wilson (.852). While Wilson has the better overall numbers (although not by much), Morris would get my nod for simply being a second baseman. The main pitching contender is probably Kevin McGlinchy, but it's hard to make the argument that someone who has mostly been a middle reliever should get the award over an everyday player. Starting pitchers who might pick up a few votes are the Pirates' Kris Benson and Padres' Matt Clement.

American League Rookie of the Year
There are several much better candidates in the AL, most notably in the pitching department. We have the Mariners' Freddy Garcia, who pitched strongly all year, ending up with a 4.07 ERA and 17-8 record. Then we have the A's Tim Hudson, who came along in midseason and posted a 3.23 ERA and an 11-2 record. Finally, there's the Rangers' Jeff Zimmerman, who started spectacularly in middle relief before tailing off at the end of the year to a 2.36 ERA and 9-3 record.

Position player candidates are primarily the Royals' Carlos Beltran (.791 OPS) and the Red Sox' Brian Daubach (.922) who saw more limited action. Apart from the fact that he managed to acquire 108 RBI, it's hard to see what all the fuss about Beltran is. Ask any GM whether they'd rather have -- Beltran, Garcia or Hudson, I doubt if you'd find more than a handful who'd pick Beltran.

I think Zimmerman was way overrated too, as a middle reliever can easily come up with a fluky run like he did, and it was obvious his luck began to run out late in the season. If it hadn't been for the wins he was racking up early, nobody would have noticed him at all.

So, for me, it comes down to Garcia or Hudson. There's no doubt Hudson was better on the field, but again the novelty factor comes into play. He was roughed up later in the season. Garcia, on the other hand, pitched over 200 innings (though probably not a wise decision by Lou Piniella) and was essentially the co-ace of the Mariner staff with Jamie Moyer. I think that kind of performance deserves the award. Local bias? Maybe, but I still think it's a valid case.

Next up we have the Manager of the Year awards. These are a little curious, as it's difficult to really tell what valuer a manager adds to the team. If a guy gets lucky and gets career years out of his players, is that good managing? If his GM acquires Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Maddux, does the manager deserve the credit for their performances? However strange the award may be, they're going to hand them out anyway, so here's my take.

National League Manager of the Year
I think we can scratch Phil Garner, Davey Johnson, Jim Riggleman, Tony LaRussa and Jim Leyland. The obvious candidates are the managers of playoff teams, including one-game playoff loser Jack McKeon. That means McKeon, Bobby Valentine, Larry Dierker, Bobby Cox and Buck Showalter. Given the Diamondbacks' amazing showing this year, is there any way Showalter doesn't win this award?

American League Manager of the Year
Here we can immediately scratch Terry Collins, Larry Parrish, Tom Kelly, Ray Miller, Lou Piniella, Tony Muser and Jerry Manuel. The main contenders are, of course, playoff bound managers Joe Torre, Johnny Oates, Jimy Williams and, ironically, Mike Hargrove. Dark horse contenders are Oakland's Art Howe, who turned an also-ran into a contender, and Toronto's Jim Fregosi, who took over in unusual circumstances in the spring and almost made a go of it. Of the playoff-bound managers, I think Hargrove has the best chance of being selected, although I have a sneaking suspicion Art Howe may get the award.

So next week, we'll revisit the MVP and CY awards one more time

about the author

Dave Paisley is crossing his fingers that he'll win the coveted "strikethree columnist of the year" award. Be sure to tell him about snowballs and hell at drdjp@strikethree.com.