Awards and Lowell

Two words for the Red Sox front office: Pedro Feliz. 1. He is a gold-glove caliber third baseman; 2. He hit 20 home runs for the Giants last season; 3. He is younger and cheaper than Mike Lowell.

There, I said it. Send over the tar and feathers later, but I think that over the next four years that Feliz will produce more than Lowell. His comparable players at this stage of his career: Tim Wallach, Charlie Hayes, and Chris Sabo. His projections over the next five seasons are almost equal to Lowell's. He is a free agent, and he will cost about half as much. Let Mike get his four years somewhere else, Pedro is my man.

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Let me touch on the joke that is the awards voting: no Gold Glove for Curtis Granderson? Or even Coco Crisp? Torii Hunter and Ichiro getting them for past performance only diminishes the award. Well, at least no one was stupid enough to award another to Jeter.

As far as MVP, why is it such a given to give it to A-Rod? Someone explain how the Red Sox win anything without David Ortiz? And this bologna about A-Rod having a season that cannot be matched by anyone? Phaw. He had a great first couple weeks, that is all. To the numbers!!!

EQA: Equivalent Average. A measure of total offensive value per out, with corrections for league offensive level, home park, and team pitching. EQA considers batting as well as baserunning, but not the value of a position player's defense. (from BaseballProspectus.com unless otherwise noted)
A-Rod: .339
Papi: .337
Or, practically identical for all intents and purposes.

WARP: Wins Above Replacement Player, level 1. The number of wins this player contributed, above what a replacement level hitter, fielder, and pitcher would have done, with adjustments only for within the season.
A-Rod: 11
Papi: 8.2

OPS: On-base percentage plus slugging--a simple breakdown of batting stats (yeah, this is my definition)
A-Rod: OBP: .422 SLG: .645 OPS: 1.067
Papi: OBP: .445 SLG: .621 OPS: 1.066

Yeah, I can see how A-Rod is such a slam dunk for MVP. The Yankees see him as so valuable, they will plug Wilson Betamit into third base and still win 90+ games next year. Take Ortiz out of the Red Sox batting order and see how they do. Old Purple Lips was no better than Big Papi this season, and certainly no more valuable. Who are these writers who form their opinions on these awards without even looking at what each player did? These morons made their picks in early May and mailed in the rest of the season. Great work, BBWA.

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