First Half Awards
July 13, 2005
by Chris Wang
It's already the All-Star break and it's time to hand out the first half awards.
And the award goes to...
NL MVP (aka the Barry Bonds Award): Derrek Lee
Finally someone other than Barry will win MVP and the runaway winner for the first half is Derrek Lee. He carried the Cubs offense and the fact that he's challenging for the Triple Crown has to be given props. He leads the majors in batting average (.378), on-base percentage (.452), slugging percentage (.733), OPS (1.186), tied in homers (27) and is second in the NL in RBI (72). Let's hope that his shoulder holds up so he can make a run at the Crown, but given his .275 career average don't be surprised if he cools off.
Honorable mention: Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones, Morgan Ensberg, Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Abreu
AL MVP: Miguel Tejada
It's a shame Tejada can't pitch because then the Orioles would probably still be in first place. He's the majors best shortstop by a wide margin. His leadership and passion for the game is unquestioned. While his RBI total is down from last year (no surprise), the rest of his numbers are actually better than his MVP season of 2004. He's hitting .329/.373/.604 and is on pace to hit 56 doubles, 35 homers and 115 RBI.
Honorable mention: Vlad Guerrero, Travis Hafner, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Brian Roberts
NL CY Young: Roger Clemens
Last season, the Cy Young should have gone to Randy Johnson but his 16-14 record didn't sit well with the voters. This season it's Clemens that has been the victim of poor run support with just 3.91 runs per start - 10th worst in the NL. Clemens has been flat out dominant with a 1.48 ERA (almost a full run better than Oswalt), 0.95 WHIP, .188 BAA and 112 strikeouts in 122 innings. There is plenty of fuel left in the Rockets tank.
Honorable mention: Dontrelle Willis, Chris Carpenter, Roy Oswalt, Pedro Martinez, Chad Cordero
AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
The 2003 Cy Young winner had a great first half going 12-4 with a 2.41 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. He had a sparkling strikeout-to-walk ratio of 108-to-18. He had 14 quality starts and had posted a solid win total despite having the 8th worst run support in the AL (4.12 runs/game).
Honorable mention: Kenny Rogers, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Bartolo Colon
NL Rookie of the Year: Willie Taveras (Hou)
Barmes was clearly the frontrunner until he was taken out by a set of stairs, so my choice in the mix of solid yet unspectacular choices is Willie Taveras. He made the jump from Double-A to the majors without a hitch and should provide the Astros with a solid leadoff man for years to come. Though he's not a power hitter, he's been far better at Minute Maid Park hitting .364/.403/.455. As he takes more walks like he did in the minors, he should provide a solid OBP and even more steals.
Honorable mention: Jeff Francis, Yhency Brazoban, Clint Barmes, Rickie Weeks, Ryan Church, Lance Niekro
AL Rookie of the Year: Chris Young (Tex)
Young pitched consistently well for the Rangers and is a key reason why they were in the AL West race. Despite pitching half his games in a hitter's paradise, Young went 8-5 with a 4.01 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a solid strikeout-to-walk ratio of 89-to-26.
Honorable mention: Aaron Hill, Nick Swisher, Tadahito Iguchi Houston Street, Scott Kazmir, Gustavo Chacin, Chien-Ming Wang, Jessie Crain
Fantasy's Best and Worst of the First Half
Catchers
Stud: Brandon Inge (Det) .283-7-38, 47 runs, 7 steals
Dud: JD Closser (Col) .205-4-18, 21 runs
Surprises: Mike Matheny (SF) 245-9-42, 27 runs
Greg Zaun (Tor) .277-6-35, 32 runs
Breakout: Yadier Molina (StL) .255-5-30, 28 runs
First Basemen
Stud: Derrek Lee (ChC) .378-27-72, 69 runs, 10 steals
Dud: Jim Thome (Phi) .207-7-30, 26 runs
Surprises: Darin Erstad (Ana) .289-4-38, 61 runs, 6 steals
Shea Hillenbrand (Tor) .302-9-42, 56 runs, 2 steals
Breakout: Lance Niekro (SF) .397-10-34, 22 runs
Second Base
Stud: Brian Roberts (Bal) .345-15-49, 56 runs, 18 steals
Dud: Kaz Matsui (NYM) .234-3-21, 21 runs, 3 steals
Surprises: Bill Hall (Mil) .280-13-39, 41 runs, 11 steals
Breakout: Jorge Cantu (TB) .283-15-56, 39 runs
Robinson Cano (NYY) .288-6-29, 35 runs
Third Base
Stud: Alex Rodriguez (NYY) .317-23-72, 65 runs, 9 steals
Dud: Mike Lowell (Fla) .226-4-26, 31 runs
Surprises: Morgan Ensberg (Hou) .290-24-65, 53 runs, 6 steals
Joe Randa (Cin) .300-12-45, 40 runs
Breakout: David Wright (NYM) .281-11-44, 48 runs, 7 steals
Shortstop
Stud: Miguel Tejada (Bal) .329-19-62, 55 runs, 4 steals
Dud: Nomar Garciaparra (ChC) .157-0-4, 6 runs
Surprises: Craig Counsell (Ari) .272-7-30, 52 runs, 11 steals
Breakout: Felipe Lopez (Cin) .304-14-48, 49 runs, 6 steals
Clint Barmes (Col) .329-8-34, 40 runs, 4 steals
Jhonny Peralta (Cle) .297-11-33, 36 runs
Outfield
Studs:
Bobby Abreu (Phi) .307-18-58, 63 runs, 21 steals
Carlos Lee (Mil) .268-22-76, 49 runs, 10 steals
Manny Ramirez (Bos) .275-22-80, 53 runs, 1 steal
Duds:
Carlos Beltran (NYM) .266-10-44, 38 runs, 4 steals
Magglio Ordonez (Det) .196-3-11, 9 runs
Austin Kearns (Cin) .224-6-25, 22 runs
Surprises:
David Dellucci (Tex) .265-16-34, 58 runs, 4 steals
Brady Clark (Mil) .317-7-31, 62 runs, 8 steals
Cliff Floyd (NYM) .287-22-55, 51 runs, 7 steals
Breakout:
Grady Sizemore (Cle) .287-9-40, 53 runs, 11 steals
Kevin Mench (Tex) .291-16-45, 42 runs, 2 steals
Willie Taveras (Hou) .296-3-15, 49 runs, 22 steals
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this column, please use the comments section below or feel free to e-mail me at cwang@fantasyinfocentral.com.
Fantasy Baseball 
Always good, Chris.
For years Bonds got the award because he had to carry the rest of the team around him, and the Giants typically found themselves either in the playoffs or darn close to it. This year, I think the same can be said of Pujols.
Reggie Sanders has exceeded expectations this year, but he's put together nothing more than a very good season. Edmonds had a sparkling season last year, and while this season has still been very good (I know he's near the top in OPS leaders in the OF), he has dropped off. Rolen's been out most of the year and was nothing special when he was in. Same story with Larry Walker.
To be truthful, I think it would be pretty accurate to say that the St. Louis Cardinals have been lifted to the best record in the NL by Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter, and Matt Morris with some occasional chipping in by role players (like Nunez, Taguchi, Reyes, and Tavarez). It does, in a way, mimic the Giants' success. An amazing hitter, and one or two good pitchers (Schmidt+ the flavor of the year, a la Russ Ortiz) with some important but forgettable role contributions.
I think that Lee and Pujols are the only two viable candidates for the award, but to be fair, it really does matter where the Cubs finish in the voting. If they win the Wild Card or finish a few games out (but still finishing 2nd in the NL Central), Lee should and will get it. However, if the Cubs finish way out of the Wild Card race (and especially if they finish 3rd in the division), I think Pujols will get it.
But this is just my opinion.
P.S. I thought the Barry Bonds award went to the World's Largest Head.
It's interesting that Lee is being hyped for the triple crown, but there is little to no mention of Albert Pujols chasing the same and he probably has a better chance being in a better lineup. Pujols ranks #2 in average, #5 in homers and #3 in RBI. If I were to place a bet, I'd put my money on Pujols...
Your comparison of the Cards and Giants lineups is a big stretch though IMO. The Giants had no support for Barry while the Cards have several big bats - you left out Eckstein who is having a great season at leadoff; Edmonds is top 10 in OPS and Sanders top 20 in the NL. On the pitching side, the Cards have the lowest ERA in the NL for two years runnings - that's more than just Carpenter and Morris...
Anyone want to nominate someone for World's Largest Head?
I was way off about the pitching though, probably because Mulder/Suppan/Marquis can't be consistent. Apologies there, but it's easy to overlook the competence of the bullpen when you have two horses like Carp and Morris.
I don't know if you can find it Chris, but Baseball America wrote an article where they did an analysis on Lee and Pujols' chances of the Triple Crown, and based upon some of their statistical projections, Lee had a 10% chance of winning the T.C. and Pujols' chances were at 15%.