And now...the AL Statnutties

Rookie of the Year: A few good candidates here: Joba Chamberlina of the Yankees, Chris Carter of the Rangers, Armando Gallaraga of the Tigers and Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox. But one stands out above the rest, Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays. He led all rookies in homers despite playing only 122 games. His defense was generally solid, and he had a solid .343 OBP. He looks like a superstar in the making.

Player of the Year: An interesting category. My first instict was to go with Josh Hamilton of the Rangers, but after reviewing the data, I've chosen Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees instead. Rodriguez was third in the AL in homers with 35, finished second in OPS to Hamilton's teammate Milton Bradley, hit .302, stole 18 bases and was 8th in RBI's despite missing 24 games. You cant blame him for the Yankees disappointing finish, despite what "clutch" stats show. He hit 11 of his homers in the 7th inning or later.

Cy Young: Ordinarily, Roy Halladay would be a lock for this one, but you can't ignore Cliff Lee's year. All but left for dead after an awful 2007(5-8, 6.29) he rebounded to finish 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA. His four complete games were second to Halladay, as he became the first Indian since Bob Lemon in 1954 to lead the majors in wins(ironically, both tied the NL leader).

MVP: Once again, I'll be using my formula for this one. If you are unfamiliar with it, refer to the NL Statnutties(http://nutsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-annual-statnutties.html).

Your top 5 finishers:

3rd)-M. Cabrera, DET
M. Bradley, TEX
J. Hamilton, TEX
C. Quentin, CHI
K. Youklis, BOS
2nd)J. Mauer, MIN
1st) D. Pedroia, BOS


According to the formula, Pedroia is the Statnuttie AL MVP. I can honestly find little fault with this selection. Quentin and Mauer are deserving candidates, and I think had Quentin not missed most of September, he would have had a very strong case, as he would have likely led the AL in homers(he finished second despite not playing a game after September 1st), and would have been a top 5 finisher in RBI's and runs. Still, Pedroia led the AL in runs, and was 2nd in batting average, while playing terrific defense at 2B. He even managed to double last years home run total with 17 this year, and stole 20 bases.

So there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Leave it in the comments, I'd love to hear about it.