October 16, 2014

BP Unfiltered

IBA Update: October 16

by Craig Goldstein

What a long strange journey it’s been. You and me, and these crazy IBAs.

Ok, so, for the most part there’s been little to no changes in the voting back from when we started. I blame a mostly obvious group of candidates and a smart electorate. Still, even the “wide open” races like NL ROY have been fairly stagnant because apparently everybody loves them some Ender Inciarte. I don’t know.

Let’s run through some of the changes over the past couple weeks, while taking time to stop, and point and laugh at some of the more bizarre votes that took place. Sure, the likelihood is that someone turned their ballot in as a joke, but it’s far more fun to assume they really truly believe that Andrew Lambo (615 OPS, 72 OPS+, 39 at-bats) was the second best rookie in the National League this season.

We already mentioned Tony Sanchez and his 660 OPS in 75 at-bats getting a vote, but it’s far easier to swallow this vote when you realize the man acknowledges that a hot dog is a sandwich. Matt Szczur got a first place vote because Cubs Twitter is an angry, unwieldy beast that will ultimately consume itself, likely taking a couple other team twitters with it.

Still, there has been some movement since the voting began. Ken Giles was once challenging Inciarte for third place in in NL ROY, but fourth place now belongs to postseason extra-base hit master Kolten Wong. It’s probably his playoff performance that has given him a bit of a lift, which doesn’t seem in the spirit of the voting, but as Kurt Vonnegut would say, “so it goes.”

Speaking of playoff lifts, Ned Yost has gone from 6th in the AL MOY voting, all the way up to third, displacing Lloyd McClendon who dropped to 6th himself, as Bob Melvin bumped to 4th and Tito Francona is in 5th. I guess voters dig the bunt. At least one voter also digs Todd Redmond, because the Blue Jays pitcher received a 10th place vote on one ballot, thanks for his 75 innings of 3.24 ERA ball. Not to be outdone, Scott Atchison appeared on THREE ballots (4th, 8th, 9th) for AL Player of the Year, and one shudders to think who ranked behind him on said ballots. It doesn’t appear that Joakim Soria engendered himself to Detroit fans, as he either received sarcastic ballots in the AL Pitcher of the Year race, or enthusiastic Baltimore fans were applauding his ALDS performance.

I don’t fault anyone for having fun with the IBAs though. It’s been a fun season, so the awards should have some entertainment to them as well. The pure numbers drown out the hucksters and the ne’erdowells, anyway. Remember though, voting closes Oct. 17. That’s tomorrow for some of you, and today for more of you, depending on when you read this. If you haven’t already voted and feel like Andrew Lambo needs your support, you can still chime in here.

The voting as of 5:24 p.m. on Oct. 16 is currently below. Make your last ditch efforts, people.

AL Player of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Mike Trout	7008
2	Michael Brantley	2451
3	Corey Kluber	2089

AL Pitcher of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Corey Kluber	4043
2	Felix Hernandez	3646
3	Chris Sale	1858

AL Rookie of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Jose Abreu	4604
2	Masahiro Tanaka	1393
3	Dellin Betances	1208

AL Manager of the Year

Rank	Manager	Points
1	Buck Showalter	1810
2	Mike Scioscia	539
3	Ned Yost	269

NL Player of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Clayton Kershaw	5313
2	Andrew McCutchen	4501
3	Giancarlo Stanton	4083

NL Pitcher of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Clayton Kershaw	4782
2	Adam Wainwright	2137
3	Johnny Cueto	1918

NL Rookie of the Year

Rank	Player	Points
1	Jacob deGrom	4000
2	Billy Hamilton	2931
3	Ender Inciarte	671

NL Manager of the Year

Rank	Manager	Points
1	Clint Hurdle	1014
2	Bruce Bochy	956
3	Matt Williams	578

Craig Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @cdgoldstein
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