2049.5: 2049 Juan Pablo Award

[Rubaboo]

Juan Pablo. The demi-god himself. A name synonymous with reliable excellence game after game, season after season. To apply his name to an award truly gives it weight in the Mexico City organization. The criteria for an award bearing Juan Pablo's name might be different than your typical 'generic TN offensive MVP award' in that it won't necessarily go to the player that had the highest highs throughout the year but to the player who best personified the consistency and dependability that made up the foundation of Juan Pablo's sparkling body of work. I'm getting horny misty eyed just thinking about it...

Anyway... the recipient of the 2049 Juan Pablo Award is Matt Normore. The Aztec DH had a very consistent season, posting the following monthly OPS numbers: April: .813, May: .928, June: .879, July: .823, August: .989, September: .682. Full Season numbers: .317/.353/.504, 49 2B, 7 3B, 18 HR, 48 SB, 132 OPS+, 3.5 WAR.

Despite a September swoon, Normore was a plug and play player in the top half of the Aztec lineup throughout the season. Signed from the division rival Calgary Pioneers during the offseason for a 2 year deal at a total of $5M, Normore set career highs in WAR and OPS+ before opting out of the last year of his deal seeking a significant raise in FA. While his time in Mexico City may have been short lived, he will always have the career highlight of his name being typed in the same sentence as Juan Pablo's. That, as they say, ain't nothing.