Meaningless April Baseball Awards Part 2...

I'm back for the National League version of the Meaningless April Baseball Awards. Not meaningless in that the stats and performances don't count, just meaningless in that the players/teams in this list will most likely change next month, and every month thereafter as the season progresses. With that being said, the meaningless National League awards were a bit harder to decide, mainly because there were a lot more standout good (and bad) performances in the month of April. But, because these awards are in fact, meaningless, I guess it doesn't really matter who I pick anyway. So, without further ado...

• Best Team - Arizona Diamondbacks
• I don't think their 19-8 record is an April fluke. The Diamondbacks are for real. They have fantastic pitching with two bona fide aces in Brandon Webb and Danny Haren, a possible breakout in Micah Owings, a lefty legend in Randy Johnson (if he can stay healthy), and some prospect named Max that may or may not be the second coming of Jesus himself. If you look at their offensive lineup, its littered with very good young stars in Justin Upton, Conor Jackson, Mark Reynolds, Chris Young, and Stephen Drew. Their only potential problem was the back end of their bullpen, but they have been pretty steady thus far. We'll see what happens, but I do believe they are the best team in baseball, not just the National League
• Runners Up: Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals

• Worst Team - Washington Nationals
• They spent millions of dollars on a brand new ball park, but I guess they forgot that if you don't have a good team to sell, it doesn't matter how nice the stadium is. The Nationals started off great with a walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman, but ended up only winning nine more games after that. Truth is, outside of Zimmerman and maybe Nick Johnson (who I bet will break his leg or something sooner or later) I really don't see any legit talent on this team. They have a couple of decent young pitchers, but nothing that is even going to come close to competing in the already crowded NL East. 100 losses is likely for the lowly Nationals.
• Runners Up: Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres

• MVP - Hanley Ramirez
• There are a few well deserving candidates for this one, but I decided to give it to this 24 year old stud because of what team he's on. While the other candidates are all on good teams with other good hitters, Hanley is on the Marlins, who have far exceeded anyone's expectations in the early season. With 8 homers, 18 RBIs, 9 steals, and a .336 batting average, Ramirez seems right on track to set career numbers in every stat. The fact that hes putting up these types of numbers without Miguel Cabrera as protection, makes it even more impressive.
• Runners Up: Chase Utley, Derrek Lee, Chipper Jones

• LVP - Ryan Howard
• What do you get what you have a .177 batting average, 5 home runs, and only 12 RBIs? You get a typical Ryan Howard April. He's a career .237 hitter in the first month of the season. With his ridiculously long, uppercut swing, it just takes this slugger a little while to get going. Still, his 38 strikeouts in 96 at bats means hes whiffing in more than 1/3 of his at bats so far, and he's even admitted that he's not "seeing the ball right." Either way, unless he's hurt, if you don't think that Ryan Howard will have 40-50 homers and around 130 RBIs this year, you simply don't know baseball.
• Runners Up: Andruw Jones, Carlos Delgado, Kahlil Greene

• Cy Young - Brandon Webb
• The Cy Young winner of 2006 is back with a vengeance right now. 6-0, 1.98 ERA, 1.05 Whip! Webb is pitching out of his mind right now. He also out dueled the Cy Young winner of last year, Jake Peavy. Considering how good the Diamondbacks are, I wouldn't be surprised to see Webb's first 20 win season. His 34/14 K to walk ratio in 41 innings isn't half bad either.
• Runners Up: Jake Peavy, Edinson Volquez, Carlos Zambrano

• Lame Duck - Barry Zito
• When the Giants signed him to the absurd contract of $126 Million for 7 years, I'm pretty sure they were looking for a little better than 0-6, a 7.53 ERA, 15 Ks, and 11 walks with a whip of almost 2! Barry's awful month was capped off wih a one way ticket to middle relief. What happened to this pitcher that went 23-5 in 2002? Is he self conscious about the contract, injured, a former steroid user? I guess we'll never truly know.
• Runners Up? Ublado Jimenez, Tom Gorzelanny, Aaron Heilman
  

See ya in a month for The Only Slightly Less Meaningless May Baseball Awards...

Meaningless April Baseball Awards

If Baseball ended today the four American League playoff teams would be non other than The Chicago White Sox, the Oakland Athletics, The Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, and The Baltimore Orioles?!? If Baseball ended today the four National League Playoff Teams would be The Arizona Diamondbacks, The Chicago Cubs, The St. Louis Cardinals, and The Florida Marlins?!?

April generally means very little in the grand scheme of an entire baseball season. But, since the first month of the 2008 baseball season is coming to a close in the next couple of days, I figured I would give my input on the highs and lows of the meaningless month known as April.

Now April Baseball isn't necessarily meaningless per say. I mean every game won in April counts the same as it does in July and September, same with every home run hit, and base stolen. However, the stats accumulated either at ridiculously fast paces or obscenely slow paces do not usually represent the stats a player will have at the end of a season. So, take these rewards with a grain of salt because next month they will likely be completely different, and by the end of the season, likely mean nothing at all.

April American League Awards

• Best Team - Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
• I could have said The Oakland Athletics because they have the best record, but the Rays are ending the month on a six game winning streak and a sweep of everyone's favorite team, The Boston Red Sawx. This team is young, fast and talented. They have up and coming stars in BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and James Shields. They have an experienced and rejuvenated closer in Troy Percival. And, they are in first place without their staff Ace Scott Kazmir, American League strike out champ of last year. Realistically, by the end of May, they will likely be closer to third or 4th in the AL East, but the Rays definetly have potential to compete in the future.
• Runners up: Oakland A's, Baltimore Orioles

• Worst Team - Detroit Tigers
• They started off losing 10 of their first 12 games. They rebounded pretty well from this especially with the return of Curtis Granderson, but I give them the worst team award because everyone picked them to win like 120 games this year, and their pitching as already shown its weaknesses. Tigers will compete for a playoff spot, but they are also very overrated.
  
• Runner Up: Texas Rangers

• MVP - Manny Ramirez
• He may be playing for a contract, but for now he's playing for the Sox. As much as I hate this guy, he is one of the best right handed hitters of all time. Read this SI article to see why: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/04/22/manny/index.html. Manny will be in discussion for the year's MVP when its all said and done.
• Runners up: Carl Crawford, Joe Crede

• LVP - Robinson Cano
• Everyone projected big things from the 4th year Yankees 2B who put up career highs in Home Runs and RBIs last year. He still will probably have a very good year, but for now hes just 15/98 batting a sparkling .153 with 1 HR and 5 RBIs. Perhaps his worst number is his .217 on base percentage. The encouraging thing is that he only has 12 strikeouts in 98 at bats which means hes making contact. I expect Cano to break out any time now, but for April, he was the LVP.
• Runners up: Kenji Johjima, Jack Cust

• Cy Young - Cliff Lee
• Sure he went 18-5 in 2005, but no one expected the kind of start Cliff Lee has had. 4-0, 31.2 innings, 11 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 29 strike outs, 0.28 ERA, 0.41 whip. That is the best statistical start to a season since Roger Clemens in 1991. Opponents are hitting .109 off him! Sure, hes faced Oakland twice, but they have the best record in the American League right now. Yes, he faced Kansas City and Minnesota, but he still has only walked TWO guys. Everyone knows Cliff Lee isn't REALLY this good, but he definitely earns the April Cy Young.
• Runners Up: Chien-Ming Wang, Zack Greinke, Felix Hernandez

• Lame Duck - Phil Hughes
• This pains me to write, but Phil Hughes has had an April to forget. He's 0-3, has only 18 innings pitched, 26 hits, 17 runs, 10 walks, 11 Ks, and an ERA of 7.85. He's 21, and you can tell that hes one good start away from turning himself around, but he had to be rewarded the Lame Duck of April. I still think he can win 15 games this year.
• Runners Up: Gil Meche, Nate Robertson

I'll be back tomorrow with the April National League Awards...