S23 AL Awards

AL MVP - Nick Jacquez:   When it come to hitting it just doesn't get better than this.  Mr. Jacquez only put up the 1st Triple Crown the blog is aware of in the post-steroid era of World ARod.  If not for Mr. Riggan going crazy with the long ball in The Lou, we'd be talking about a ML triple crown.
      -Slash line:  .357/.432/.661; along with 237 hits, 140 runs, 50 HR, 152 RBI

AL Cy Young - Karl Hurst:  Its hard to believe that a guy could put up a line like Hurst did.....23-3, 0.95 WHIP, 1.89 ERA, 23 QS, a opponent slash line of .202/.250/.287....and not be considered a stone-cold lock for the award, but 8-time All-Star Carlos Valdes did just that.  Valdes was amazing out of the pen for slashtc and his Dodgers this year with herculean 172.1 innings pitched in 80 appearances, he went 15-3, 8 saves, 0.91 WHIP, 1.71 ERA and an opponent slash line of .205/.249/.298.  In the end, the blog has flipped a coin on this one---Hurst is about to win his 3rd Cy Young.

AL ROY -  Kirk Lee:   This one was not a coin flip.  18-9, 1.29 WHIP, 4.03 ERA, a workhorse 212.0 innings pitched, and a solid opponent slash line.  Lee is a 25 yr old who has been patiently biding his time in the minors, but after 3 years of AAA ball and a serious stress fracture in his arm last season, the #9 overall pick in S16 proved he was worth the wait.

AL Coach of the Year -  While a lot of people around the league feel 50below had as good a claim on the COY award as any, the blog feels the manager who deserves the award for S23 is slashtc.   This was his 3rd season in a row of 100+ wins but instead of running roughshod over a weak AL West, he was instead dealing with a young, hungry Tacoma squad that made the playoff, a San Diego squad that is moving in the right direction and a Seattle team that is slowly getting better.  This wasn't a cake-walk this year, but he still got 101 wins.  Good job slash!!