Lou Gehrig Award (Best American League First Baseman):
Contenders:
- Miguel Cabrera-.344/448/.586/.436
- Adrian Gonzalez-.338/.410/.548/.406
- Mike Napoli- .320/.414/.631/.444
Miguel Cabrera- While most of the talk this year about the Detroit Tigers, focused on Justin Verlander being an incredible pitcher who was willing his team to victories even when he wasn't pitching, people tended to forget that Cabrera was having yet another MVP-esque season. Cabrera's fWAR was 7.3 which led all American League First Basemen. While WAR shouldn't be treated as an end-all, be-all stat it's hard not to see his dominance this season. He led the American League in both batting average and on-base percentage. Finished 2nd among qualified batters for slugging percentage (Napoli did not qualify). He also finished 2nd in OPS among qualified batters in the American League. He finished tied for first in OPS+ and tied for first in runs created. About the only negative thing you can say about Cabrera is that his defense well below average which limits his value somewhat. I don't really have that big of a problem with it, as first base is not where you put your best defender anyways. Further, if anyone can put up this kind of offense, it almost off-sets the fact that he can't play defense.
Adrian Gonzalez- He was my pick pre-season pick for the American League MVP, while the historic Red Sox collapse and the rise of Jacoby Ellsbury as a star player will make sure he does not get the MVP award, he still put up a great season in his first season in Boston. He finished 2nd in batting average, 3rd in On-Base percentage, and 7th in slugging percentage among qualified batters in the American League. His OPS was 3rd as was his OPS+ and he finished 4th in Runs Created. Unlike Cabrera, Gonzalez can handle first base defensively, as well. His defense is appreciated by both stats nerds (or whatever we're called) and traditionalists, alike. Side note: it's amazing that traditionalists and sabremetricians can agree on defense on so many people (Cabrera, Gonzalez, etc.) but yet as soon as they disagree on one player it's as if neither of them agreed on even one player.
Mike Napoli- Napoli had a great season. There is no doubting that. It's just a matter of how you much do you value someone who is playing 40 games less than those he is competing against. Had Napoli qualified he would have led the league in slugging percentage and came in second in OPS assuming the same type of play. Even if his slugging percentage dipped 25 points, he still would have led the league. It's hard for me to look past the fact that he played 40 less games than Cabrera and Gonzalez.
Who I'd vote for: 1. Miguel Cabrera 2. Adrian Gonzalez 3. Mike Napoli
Jeff Bagwell Award (will be re-named Albert Pujols Award once he retires):
Contenders:
- Prince Fielder- .299/.415/.566/.408
- Albert Pujols- .299/.366/.541/.385
- Joey Votto- .309/.416/.531/.403
Prince Fielder- The National League's top two contenders are a little bit closer than it was in the American League. Fielder had a great season at the plate finishing 2nd in the league in On-base percentage and 3rd in slugging percentage. He finished 3rd in OPS, 4th in OPS+, and 3rd in Runs Created. However, his defense was lacking. It doesn't bother me that he's worse defensively than most first basemen. It's just that if I was voting for the best first basemen and one is a worse defensive player than another I do have to account for that somewhere. In the American League, it wasn't a problem because Cabrera had a much better season on offense than Gonzalez did. Whereas, in the National League Votto and Fielder had nearly identical offensive seasons. The main difference being that Fielder had a higher slugging percentage.
Albert Pujols- With all due respect to Albert Pujols, this was the worst season of his career. Most players would kill to have one season this good but for Pujols this was a down year. It was still an all-star caliber year but yet the worst for him.
Joey Votto- We'll compare him directly to his only competitor in this fake award process, Prince Fielder.
Joey Votto: .309 AVG
Prince Fielder: .299 AVG
Votto: .416 OBP
Fielder: .415 OBP
Votto: .531 SLG%
Fielder: .566 SLG%
Votto: .403 wOBA
Fielder: .408 wOBA
Votto: 155 wRC+
Fielder: 162 wRC+
Votto: .947 OPS
Fielder: .981 OPS
Votto: 156 OPS+
Fielder: 164 OPS+
Votto: 133 Runs Created (per Baseball-reference)
Fielder: 135 Runs Created (per Baseball-reference)
Defense- Advantage: Votto
I won't go through the numbers on defense but everything I've seen has Votto demonstrably better defensively compared to Fielder. Fielder has a slight advantage over Votto in terms of offense but I think Votto makes up for it in defense. Either one would be a good choice to win first basemen of the year.
How I'd vote: 1. Joey Votto 2. Prince Fielder 3. Albert Pujols
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