Casinotes 55.10- End Of Season Awards, and stop smirking

[chicoruiz]

Well, I had kind of forgotten I had them until I was cleaning out my file cabinet for the end of the year….

At the beginning of the season, I had bought some plaques to give away for various accomplishments at the end of the season. I think I had it in my mind that we might have a banquet or something and present them there. But so many of the players have voiced their intention to get out of town ASAP once the last game is played, that I decided I’d better pick some names and get them to the engravers pronto.

Anyway, here we go:

MVP (Or batter of the year, or whatever)- Only one feasible answer here. RF Bronx Cortez is basically the only player on the roster who can safely be defined as Good at Baseball. His WAR of 2.2 leads all position players; the next highest is 1.14. Think about those numbers for a minute, and you’ll see why I’m not currently known for my sunny disposition.

Pitcher of the Year- Being the best pitcher on the Gamblers’ staff is kind of like being the best bluegrass banjo picker in Bulgaria; the competition isn’t too steep. I finally decided on Dave Woodard. I tried him as a starter early on, and it was a bit of a debacle, but once he returned to the pen he became a perfectly serviceable reliever. Combined, he contributed 106 innings with a 3.46 ERA.

Reliever of the Year- Honestly, this should go to Woodard, but I don’t want to give two awards to the same guy. I finally landed on Guo-liang Chen, who at least answered the call 79 times and was…okay. He’s been better before, and will be better again.

Rookie of the Year- Spencer Clough had a nice season and seems to have a future, but in the last analysis he was just a backup catcher. So my choice was James Robinson, who has only made ten starts so far, but sports a 2.53 ERA and gives hope that he may be a part of the next relevant Atlantic City team.

Surprise of the Year- Other than me not sticking my head in the oven, the biggest surprise (in a positive sense) was Leo Hill. As a Rule 5 pick, he was expected to work only in lost causes, but a combination of factors (Woodard and Cherry sucking as starters, Huggins getting traded), he ended up making 22 starts, and while no one is suggesting a Nebraska Award for him, the kid held his own. A decent outing in this last week will nose his ERA under 5.00, which is all you could ask.

GM of the Year- Me, for not going berserk and rampaging through the locker room with a machete.

[trmmilwwi]

Wierd, you always seem to get GM of the Year for the Gambler franchise.