With an extra day before the Brewers resume play for the second half, OnMilwaukee.com polled local sportswriters and broadcasters that regularly cover the team to select players worthy of mid-season awards. Here are the results:
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Most Valuable Player
Prince Fielder, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers’ own Prince Fielder was a unanimous choice as the National League’s Most Valuable Player. The slugging first baseman is having a breakout season – in just his second year in the majors – and currently leads the NL with 29 home runs and a .620 slugging percentage. Fielder’s 70 RBI trail just the 73 driven in by former Brewer Carlos Lee. A left-hander that can hit to all fields, Fielder’s batting average has hovered between .280 and .300 for most of the season, and starts the second half hitting at a .284 clip.
Cy Young Award
Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres
Peavy has pretty much dominated the National League in 2007; leading the league in strikeouts with 125 and the No. 2 ERA in the league at 2.19. He’s 9-3 this year and has allowed just three home runs In 119 innings of work. The right-hander easily beat out the Dodgers’ Brad Penny, who is tied for the league lead with 10 victories (with just one loss), and has a 2.39 ERA.
Rookie of the Year
Hunter Pence, OF, Houston Astros
Again, the Brewers have a viable candidate in 3B Ryan Braun (.350, 11 HR, 32 RBI), but Houston’s Hunter Pence is the panel’s choice for top rookie. It’s a good one, as Pence has gone on a tear since being called up on April 28. His .342 average now ranks among the league leaders and he’s also got 11 homers with 42 RBI and 39 runs scored. Pence has been a bright spot on an otherwise dismal Houston club, and just narrowly beat out the highly-touted Brewers rookie for top honors.
Comeback Player of the Year
J.J. Hardy, SS, Milwaukee Brewers
This was the closest vote on the survey and there are many worthy candidates including Cincinnati’s Josh Hamilton and Ken Griffey, Jr., Washington’s Dimitri Young, as well as a pair of votes that were cast for the Cubs’ Derrek Lee. In the end though, the Brewers’ J.J. Hardy took the award. Hardy – like much of the Brewers’ offense – has cooled off a bit after starting the season on a tear. But he’s still recovered nicely from the ankle injury that held him to just 35 games last season; the shortstop is batting .280 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI and has solidified the No. 2 spot in the Milwaukee lineup.
Manager of the Year
Ned Yost, Milwaukee Brewers
It’s taken five years, but Yost finally has the Brewers in a position to snap long strings of futility. Yost edged San Diego’s Bud Black by one vote in the race (perhaps a little Midwest bias), but is worthy of the award. The Brewers jumped out to the best record in baseball, played a 30-game stretch where the posted the worst record in baseball, yet managed to lose just a half-game off their division lead. A late first-half swoon has the Brewers just 4.5 games ahead of the Cubs, but Yost’s job in getting a young Milwaukee club to play first-place baseball is worthy of the honors.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Most Valuable Player
Alex Rodriguez, 3B, New York Yankees
In one of the tightest races among panelists, Rodriguez gets the nod as AL MVP based on the simple wording provided to Baseball Writers Association of America voters; in short, Rodriguez is the most valuable player to his team right now. Without his MLB-best 30 home runs and 86 RBI, the Yankees would be much worse than their current 42-43 mark in the AL East. This is the player Yankees fans expected when George Steinbrenner brought A-Rod – and his massive contract – from Texas. Amazing what can happen to a player in a possible contract year, isn’t it? Rodriguez narrowly edged Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez, who leads all of baseball with a .367 batting average.
Cy Young Award
Dan Haren, Oakland
Another trade that makes A’s GM Billy Beane look like a genius. While Barry Zito struggles with the Giants, Haren – who was traded from St. Louis for Mark Mulder (7.14 ERA in 2007 with the Cardinals) – earned the starting job in the All-Star game by posting a 10-3 record with 2.30 ERA in the first half. At one point, he had a string of 13 consecutive quality starts. Boston’s Josh Beckett, Detroit’s Justin Verlander, and C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland all garnered votes, but in the end, it was impossible to look past Haren.
Rookie of the Year
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox
Six players received votes from the panel, but it Matsuzaka earned the hardware by living up to the pre-season hype by going 10-6 with a 3.84 ERA. His teammate and countryman, Hideki Okajima got consideration (2-0, 0.83) as a reliever, but the votes went in Dice-K’s favor.
Comeback Player of the Year
Sammy Sosa, OF, Texas Rangers
OK, everybody who thought that Sosa would never be heard from again, please raise your hand … our panel agrees. In a crowded field, Sosa took 43% of the votes after putting up some impressive first-half numbers with the Rangers: 14 homers, 63 batted in with a .245 average isn’t too bad for a guy that was out of baseball a year ago and pretty much stunk it up in 2004-'05 with the Cubs and Baltimore.
Manager of the Year
Mike Sciosica, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Only woeful Kansas City has hit fewer home runs than the Angels, yet the team has scored more runs and accumulated more first-half victories than any team in franchise history. Scioscia has managed to keep this team on track and focused, and in position to win a third AL West crown in the last four years.
A total of 17 reporters cast ballots in the OMC poll. They are: Andrew Wagner, Drew Olson (OnMilwaukee.com); Todd Welter, Kyle Dlaby (WTMJ-AM); David Marcus, Lance Allan (WTMJ-TV), Doug Russell (WSSP-AM), Ryan Nolan, Brandon Cruz (WDJT-TV), Vic Feuerherd (Wisconsin State Journal), Dennis Semrau (Capitol Times), Bill Johnson, C.J. Knee (WAUK-AM), David Cotey (Sportsticker), J.R. Radcliffe (MLB.com), Colin Fly (Associated Press), Dan Mike (Milwaukee Post).
