Year in Review: Awards

Let's start first with the Rangers.

MVP. Marlon Byrd. I know Michael Young had better numbers in almost every offensive category, and yet I'm still picking Byrd. Without Byrd, the Rangers offense would have struggled mightily-more so than it already did, at least. Also, I lean towards Byrd because Young missed basically the final month of season. Byrd, now a three-year Ranger veteran, has proven to be a true leader for this team. I'm a huge fan of how he plays the game, and I think this year he deserved it.

Runner-up. Michael Young. Easy choice. Young was having a fantastic year before his injury and his numbers still looked terrific. No other Ranger came close to the status of Byrd and Young.

Pitcher of the Year. Scott Feldman. Feldman has now proven that he is an elite starter. If not for his bad finish he could have been the game's only 20 game winner. But that's irrelevant. Feldman saved the Rangers staff when he joined it in April and all but took over Millwood's spot as the Ace.

Runner-up. C.J Wilson. A lot of people don't like C.J. I've talked to him a few times and there couldn't be a friendlier person. He's also a great pitcher. From what I've heard, peoples' reasons for disliking Wilson are pretty arbitrary. One lady said on the radio that she didn't like C.J because she didn't like his personality when she got to speak with him at a public event. You get the picture. But the bottom line is that on the mound he was dynamite, especially in the first half. He came up huge in the bullpen for the Rangers this year.

Now, for the league awards. I'm running out of time here, so this will be brief.

AL MVP. I'm going with Joe Mauer. What else does he need to prove? He's a classic ballplayer who plays classic baseball the way it's meant to be played.

NL MVP. Albert Pujols.

AL Cy Young. Felix Hernandez.

NL Cy Young. Adam Wainwright.

AL ROY. Elvis Andrus.

NL ROY. Tommy Hanson.

AL Manager of the Year. Mike Scioscia.

NL Manager of the Year. Jim Tracy.

Note: Sorry if this week's recap of the season was a little stale. It happened that it landed right on the week that I had a boatload of tests to study for.