2008 Award Predictions

Ah, that time of year again where we can look anywhere from really good to really stupid. Time to predict the award winners in each league.

American League Cy Young

C.C. SabathiaJosh Beckett was last season's winner, beating out C.C. Sabathia Josh Beckett, Fausto Carmona and Chien-Ming Wang among others. Things are a little more wide open now with Johan Santana out of the AL.
The Contenders

Josh Beckett
Fausto Carmona
Erik Bedard
C.C. Sabathia
Chien-Ming Wang
Justin Verlander
John Lackey

and the winner is....Erik Bedard. We went back and forth between Bedard and Verlander, neither of whom was outstanding in their season opener yesterday. But we feel Bedard in a pitcher's ball park will excel.
Our pick: Erik Bedard


American League MVP

Alex Rodriguez easily grabbed this award with a monster season. Magglio Ordonez would have won it in any other season. There are a lot of contenders for this award, so we're not even going to bother to name all of them. Many people it will be Grady Sizemore, who we think is not quite on par with his hype. But we do agree a centerfielder will win the award.

Our pick: Curtis Granderson


American League Rookie of the Year

Dustin Pedroia, that little..., grabbed the award last year. Joba Chamberlain, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Clay Bucholz are grabbing most of the attention. But just like the NL's winner last year, we think it's going to be a 3rd Baseman who started the season in the minors.

Our pick: Evan Longoria


American League Manager of the Year

Seattle's John McLaren is an early favorite as big things are expected of the M's. But the winner will be from a team not expected to do anything at all.

Our pick: Trey Hillman


National League Cy Young

Jake Peavy won last year's award. We always like Carlos Zambrano as one of the favorites. Then you've got Santana, Chris Young, Brandon Webb, Cole Hamels and others.

But this year we like to, quote John Sterling, "go a back-to-back, and a belly-to-belly".

Our pick: Jake Peavy


National League MVP

We were so close last year. We took Chase Utley and it was his DP partner Jimmy Rollins who won it. Again, too many contenders to mention. The guy we're going with had a rough 2nd half, but we think he'll take it over his teammate on the left side of the infield.

Our pick: Jose Reyes


National League Manager of the Year

Joe Torre could very well grab this his 1st year in LA, but we're not as impressed with the Dodgers as some. Willie Randolph has the hot seat and a favored team, which makes it difficult to win the award. Our pick is an old favorite.

Our pick: Dusty Baker

National League Rookie of the Year
Jay Bruce, Homer Bailey, J.R. Towles, Geovany Soto, and Johnny Cueto are among the names being bandied about. But we think this year's winner won't fall prey to the writer bias that hit Hideki Matsui in 2003.

Our pick: Kosuke Fukudome

We can't even think of anyone in the AL right now, but our pick for Comeback Player of the Year in the NL is Pedro Martinez.

So there you have it. We'll probably know by the All-Star Break whether or not we're crazy.