Bobby Beat 1999 v5: Trades Talked, Awards Awarded

[jiminyhopkins]

Washington, DC--

As the Bobs await the results of salary arbitration, team needs for 2000 have been identified and trade feelers have been sent out to a few teams.

Left field is a concern. Roy Nicoletti is a free agent who most likely won't return. The club has offered him arbitration, but only for the chance of a draft pick, as Nicoletti is a Type A free agent. Starting pitching is also a problem area, and reliever Duane Ward has been dangled to a couple teams with no progress as of yet. Recent reports have CF prospect Armando Cabrera involved in talks with a divisional rival.

In other news, the DC sportswriters association has given out their annual team awards for 1999.

Team MVP was quite obviously Neil McKinney, as the 26 year old superstar put together another spectacular season and is the favorite runner up for the JL MVP Award. Neil's HR and RBI, as well as his VORP, were the second highest of his young career. As he enters his final arbitration year, team officials are readying a long term contract extension that could approach 60-70 million dollars.

Team Cy Young was given to the obvious candidate, veteran SP Ken Howell. He quite easily led the club in every pitching category of consequence, and recently agreed to a 2 year contract, shortly before he recorded his 200th career win.

Team ROY was also pretty much clear cut, being 22 years young reliever James Endres. The young fireballer still has a way to go before he reaches his potential. Eventually he could be better than 25 year old teammate Brendan Meyer, but as it stands now the two hurlers represent one of the best young closer tandems in the MBBA.

Breakout Player of the Year went to young 2B Joe Sixpack. Had he qualified for the batting title, his .343 tally would have been 3rd in the JL behind probable MVP Bopper Kengos. He has been tabbed as the long term solution at second base, which has allowed the club to part ways with Matthew Burgoon and Zebediah Williams, saving a good chunk of change. Late in the season he thrilled fans with a 20 game hitting streak and a couple of 5 for 5 performances.

Community Impact Player of the Year went to veteran RF Terry Blass, after he spearheaded the team's charitable response to the flooding event Aug 25th and 26th in Washington and nearby Annapolis and Baltimore, MD. Blass is also an active contributor to various Children's Hospitals in the region.

Stay Tuned for further updates!

[7teen]

McKinney would have probably won the Silk Award had it not been for Kengos' high VORP. Playing SS, Kengos will likely always be in the top 3 of voting since his VORP will likely be extremely high each season. If you compared their stat lines, taking VORP out, it would have been a lot closer.

Kengos: .345/.383/.577 40HR 131 RBI
McKinney: .304/.376/.631 48 HR 122 RBI

In fact, McKinney's OPS was better than Kengos' as was his HR total. McKinney even scored more runs. Though Kengos had quite a few more total base hits than McKinney.