2008 American League Midseason Awards

MVP, Cy Young and More at Baseball's All Star Break

Jul 13, 2008

With the All Star Game coming up on Tuesday, July 15, it's time to hand out the midseason awards to the best American League baseball players, managers and executives.

And he wins it by a mile. Josh Hamilton, best known before this season as the highly talented but troubled phenom who was banned from baseball for drug abuse, is having an historic season. Through 92 games, Hamilton is batting .314 with 21 home runs and a Major League-leading 95 RBI. If he keeps up this pace, he will drive home 167 runs, the most since Joe DiMaggio in 1937. Without Hamilton, the Rangers would be nowhere. With him, they are 49-46 and in the thick of the wild card hunt.

Rivera gets the nod for a number of reasons. 23 saves in 23 save opportunities is one good reason. An earned run average of 1.06 and a WHIP (walks + hits per inning) of 0.64 are two more. Need additional evidence? How about 50 strikeouts and only 4 walks in 42.1 innings? Those numbers, and Rivera's continued dominance at age 38, separate him from the pack.

There are at least two other pitchers who are also very deserving. Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels is on pace to break the saves record, but his earned run average (2.41) and his WHIP (1.22) look downright bloated compared to Rivera's numbers. As great as K-Rod is, he doesn't deserve the award ahead of Rivera simply because he has had more save opportunities. Sorry, Frankie.

Cliff Lee is also having a great season for the Indians, but isn't it time to pick a closer? A relief pitcher hasn't won a Cy Young Award in the American League since Dennis Eckersely won it in 1992.

Evan Lomgoria, Tampa Bay Rays. He's as good as advertised. His bat in the middle of that lineup has helped transform the Rays into a first place team. He's the best first year player. Jacoby Ellsbury and Joba Chamberlain (also still rookies despite playing a number of games in 2007) were pretty dazzling in the first half of the season, as well.

One only needs to look at the standings to make this decision. The Rays, after a decade of being the worst team in baseball, are in first place -- ahead of the big payroll, big name Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. 'Nuff said.

(By the way, Ozzie Guillen is a close second, and may end up winning the real award come the end of the season.)

The Twins lost Johann Santana and Torii Hunter in the past two off-seasons, but smart moves by Ryan has kept the Twins in the hunt -- again. This guy needs to be mentioned in the same sentence as Theo Epstein and Billy Beane.

Coming off the worst season of his otherwise stellar career, Mike Mussina decided it was time to make some serious changes to his approach to pitching. The former power pitcher lost a few ticks on the old fastball over the past few seasons, and in 2007 it showed. Hesitant to challenge hitters with his slower stuff, Moose pitched away from contact all last year, always trying to make the perfect pitch -- and rarely doing so.

But after an off-season conversation with Jamie Moyer of the Phillies (who rarely throws harder than 82 MPH), Mussina decided to trust his movement, ball placement and the defense behind him. The results have been positive, with Moose winning 11 games at the mid-point of the 2008 season.

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