Baseball is back and what a great time of year it is. Fire up your grills and get ready to consume as much baseball as possible this spring and summer. Just to keep the fun going, let’s take a look at very early predictions for the AL and NL award winners.
Manager of the Year
AL – Lloyd McClendon, SEA
NL – Matt Williams, WSH
McClendon will be tasked this year to manage one of the teams with the largest projected win spreads in baseball, meaning this team could win 70 games if things go bad or 95 games if things click. If the Mariners reach their potential, McClendon takes home the hardware.
The exact opposite situation is happening over in Washington. It seems like the Nationals floor is still an NL East title. When you have a team that could win over 100 games, that manager should always be the preseason pick.
Rookie of the Year
AL – Carlos Rodon, CWS
NL – Jorge Soler, CHC
Rodon is going have a huge advantage, sliding into the White Sox rotation behind Sale and Samardzija. Rodon also has a great bullpen behind him—meaning the Sox may not hesitate to pull him if he is having a rough start and his ERA is taking a hit.
Soler, on the other hand, is being overlooked currently because of Kris Byrant. But make no mistake, this guy has all the tools to someday win an MVP. He could easily put up a .275/.340/.450 line this year with 25 HR and 70 RBI.
Cy Young
AL – Felix Hernandez, SEA
NL – Clayton Kershaw, LAD
Hernandez and Kershaw are probably the two best pitchers in the game who happen to be on teams with World Series aspirations. That makes this the easiest pick of the bunch. Anytime either of these two make a start, it is must-see TV. Kershaw’s five most similar comparisons through age 26 according to Baseball Reference are: Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Babe Ruth, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez. For Hernandez, it’s Greg Maddux, Larry Dierker, Don Sutton, Steve Carlton, and Denny McClain. What that tells you is if they stay on their current paths, both of these guys are going to end up in Cooperstown. So when they take the mound, we should all just sit back and enjoy.
MVP
AL – Mike Trout
NL – Bryce Harper
Considering he has 10.8, 8.9, and 7.9 WAR seasons at 23 years old, Mike Trout could be the pick to win the MVP any year for the next 15 years. He has put up a higher career WAR than Paul Konerko did in 18 seasons.
In the eyes of casual baseball fans and the media who expected Harper to come up and hit 800 foot homers at age 19, Harper has been a disappointment so far. Harper is only 22 years old and is about to prove a lot of people wrong. The Nationals can’t win 100 games without an MVP season from Bryce and I more than expect him to deliver.