2011 Midseason Awards

The league spoke and the commish has answered.

After an outrage in the comments section pf the power rankings that the commish has gotten lazy, evident by no Midseason Awards, we present by popular demand, the 2011 Midseason Awards.

Agree, disagree, and bash in the comments section. Just be sure to defend! Here we go...


Best pickup: Lance Berkman, Joe
Honorable mention: Alexi Ogando, Bob; Michael Morse, Chris

Worst drop: Daniel Hudson, Ken
Honorable mention: Jason Vargas, Chris; Bartolo Colon, Dave

Player who survived on a roster too long: Adam Dunn, Hal
Honorable mention: Alex Rios, Chris; Jason Bay, Hal

Best trade: Shea acquires Justin Verlander, Martin Prado, Starlin Castro for Hanley Ramirez, Pedro Alvarez

Best draft pick: Asdrubal Cabrera in Round 20, Adam
Honorable mention: Michael Pineda in Round 20, Bob; Josh Beckett in Round 11, Jack

Worst draft pick: Kendrys Morales in Round 8, Ken
Honorable mention: Jason Heyward in Round 2, Ken; Derek Jeter in Round 3, Shea

Best keeper: Matt Kemp, Dave
Honorable mention: Jered Weaver, Mike; Jose Bautista, Hal

Worst keeper: Bronson Arroyo, Ken
Honorable mention: Joe Mauer, Rick; Justin Morneau, Shea

Worst keeper decision: Ken keeps Bronson Arroyo over Jay Bruce or C.J. Wilson
Honorable mention: Joe only signs Tommy Hanson and Dan Haren to 1-year deals

Biggest bomb-thrower: Early-season three-way trade from Andy, Chris, Shea
Honorable mention: Attack of the Commish on the blog in Week 14

Midseason MVP (player): Justin Verlander, Shea
Honorable mention: Jose Reyes, Chris; Jered Weaver, Mike

Midseason LVP (player): David Wright, Jack
Honorable mention: Hanley Ramirez, Andy; Zack Greinke, Chris

Best team name: All I Do Is Lose, Andy
Honorable mention: We Going Money, Rick; DUIs & MRIs, Shea

Worst team name: Minnesota Twins, Chris
Honorable mention: Turd n the punchbowl, Ken; Draft wasn't Wed, Dave

Most dramatic win: Bob beats Chris 10-9 in rivalry week after James Shields CG on Sunday afternoon and Adrian Gonzalez goes 4-for-4 without an RBI on Sunday night.
Honorable mention: Hal beats Andy 10-8 after a stat correction turns a Sunday tie into a Monday win.

Worst loss: Jack loses to Rick, 9-8, the only one so far to do so
Honorable mention: Dave, winner of three straight, gets thumped by Andy, loser of four straight, 18-1

Best manager: Joe
Honorable mention: Chris; Jack

Biggest surprise: Andy
Honorable mention: Rick; Hal

Most improved from last year: Mike
Honorable mention: Jack; Ken

Best team: Bernie Madoff, Mike
Honorable mention: Smutt Peddlers, Joe; Cole Miners, Bob

Worst team: Fireballs, Rick.
Honorable mention: All I Do Is Lose, Andy; Charlene Murphy?, Hal

2nd half predictions:
*Denotes wildcard

Facebook Division
1. Mike 14-7-1
2. Joe* 14-7-1
3. Jack* 12-8-2
4. Bob* 13-9
5. Adam 11-11
6. Dave 8-12-2

Twitter Division
1. Chris 12-9-1
2. Ken* 12-10
3. Shea 11-11
4. Hal 10-11-1
5. Andy 6-15-1
6. Rick 2-18-2
Read more!

2010 Midseason Awards

Gentlemen, here is this year's Midseason Awards.

Remember, this is all good-natured, so don't get too high or low over it. Feel free to post your thoughts below on what I hit, what I missed, and any of your own if you have different categories or choices.

Without further ado...


Best pickup: Troy Glaus, Chris.
Honorable mention: Corey Hart, Shea; Colby Lewis, Bob.

Worst drop: Paul Konerko, Rick.
Honorable mention: Adrian Beltre, Hal; Shaun Marcum, Chris.

Player who survived on a roster too long: Rick Porcello, Joe.
Honorable mention: Adam Lind, Andy; Adam Jones, Bob.

Best trade: Keeper League acquires Hal for Richie.

Best draft pick: Jason Heyward, Andy.
Honorable mention: Stephen Strasburg, Bob; Andy Pettitte, Shea.

Worst draft pick: Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike.
Honorable mention: Mark Reynolds, Chris; Aaron Hill, Dave.

Best keeper: Justin Morneau, Shea;
Honorable mention: Adrian Gonzalez, Chris; Adam Wainwright, Dave.

Worst keeper: Grady Sizemore, Chris.
Honorable mention: Ian Kinsler, Mike; Jason Bay, Jack.

Worst keeper decision: Rick keeps CC Sabathia instead of Roy Halladay;
Honorable mention: Jack lets Miguel Cabrera walk; Adam gives up two draft picks for Manny Ramirez and Josh Beckett.

Biggest bomb-thrower: Chris trying to petition to cut Grady Sizemore.
Honorable mention: Joe's razzle-dazzle swap of Dice-K and Wade Davis.

Best stiff: Shea picks up Mike Leake as a Sunday stiff, he becomes top pitcher.
Honorable mention: Andy picks up Ian Snell, gives him win over tie in Week 2; Joe picks up Wade Davis, helps him preserve Week 4 win.

Worst stiff: Joe picks up Sam LeCure at 1:37 a.m. when he has literally zero chance of winning on Sunday.
Honorable mention: Shea picks up Kevin Millwood for an outing of 11 hits and 8 earned runs; Andy picks up Derek Holland and he doesn't make it out of the second inning.

Midseason MVP (player): Ubaldo Jimenez, Dave.
Honorable mention: Miguel Cabrera, Shea; Robinson Cano, Chris.

Midseason LVP (player): Grady Sizemore, Chris.
Honorable mention: Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike; Jimmy Rollins, Dave.

Best team name: Turd n the punchbowl, Ken.
Honorable mention: Billy Ball, Jack; Time to Mo Vaughn, Dave.

Worst team name: Manager of the Year, Mike.
Honorable mention: Don't Tase Me Bro, Bob; Rebuilding Year Ova!, Shea.

Best win: Hal beats Bob 16-3 for his first-ever victory.
Honorable mention: Ken beats first-place Andy 12-8 to continue strong surge after awful start; Adam beats Bob 11-9 to move into a tie for first place.

Worst loss: Rick loses 15-4 to winless Ken in Week 6.
Honorable mention: Joe loses 17-2 to Dave.

Most dramatic win: Andy beats Jack 10-9 on Dallas Braden's perfect game.
Honorable mention: Rick beats Andy 8-7 on Adrian Beltre's hit after Kevin Youkilis' hit ties the matchup.

Best manager: Andy.
Honorable mention: Hal; Bob.

Biggest surprise: Rick.
Honorable mention: Jack; Adam.

Most improved from last year: Shea.
Honorable mention: Adam; Chris.

Best team: Snooki Punch, Andy.
Honorable mention: Cole Miners, Bob; Phightin Sillies, Adam.

Worst team: Manager of the Year, Mike.
Honorable mention: Billy Ball, Jack; Fireballs Ten, Rick.

2nd half predictions:
*Denotes wildcard

Elin Nordegren Division
1. Andy 15-6-1
2. Hal* 14-8
3. Chris* 11-9-2
4. Ken* 10-10-2
5. Shea 9-13
6. Rick 9-13

Tiger Woods Division
1. Bob 14-7-1
2. Adam* 13-9
3. Joe 11-11
4. Jack 8-11-3
5. Dave 7-14-1
6. Mike 5-17

Read more!

The Mark Reynolds Debate

After I came out with the Midseason Awards, there were of course a few grumblings here or there about exclusions. Sure, that was to be expected.

One of them came from Bob, who thought his pickup of Mark Reynolds - or Joe's dropping of him - should have been considered for an award, or at the very least honorable mention.

"Did you know Mark Reynolds is rated as the 10th best fantasy player in Yahoo?" Bob asked me at the time.

I gave it a quick chuckle, didn't think much of it and went on with the rest of my day.

Bob didn't, though. He brought it up again Thursday night after Reynolds clubbed his 19th homer of the season, helping Bob to a 9-8 lead over Shea.

More after the jump.


"I think Mark Reynolds deserves an apology for not being considered in the worst drop, best pick up categories," Bob said Thursday. "He told me earlier that he's going to use that as motivation for the rest of the season."

Well OK then, look out league. But, let's revisit this for a couple minutes. Here are Reynolds' stats, going back to Tuesday when the awards came out: .267, 18 HR, 49 RBI, 98 K. Pretty darn good, for sure. But Edwin Jackson (Chris) won the award for best pick-up, with Chris Carpenter (Jack) and Jason Bartlett (Joe) as honorable mention. Hard to argue with any of them, especially Bartlett (.370 AVG/.988 OPS/14 SB currently) because of his position. So who gets the boot for Reynolds?

The worst drop is a little more debatable. I gave Tommy Hanson (Dave) the award because of his upside and promise, most notably his keeper potential on a team with an expiring contract. Matt Wieters (Adam) was on there because of his potential as well at such a limited position. The third one, Huston Street (Ken), is probably where Reynolds could have gone. Street's had a nice season, sure, but he hasn't been as valuable as Reynolds.

I guess if Reynolds is the reason Bob beats you one week you have me to blame!

So, with that said, what's everyone else think? Does Bob have a point? Who would you have put in there?
Read more!

Midseason Awards

Gentlemen, here is this year's Midseason Awards. Remember, this is all good-natured, so don't get too high or low over it. Again, remember to stay tuned last this week for something that will revolutionize the league! Without further ado:


Best pick-up: Edwin Jackson (Chris). Honorable mention: Chris Carpenter (Jack), Jason Bartlett (Joe).

Worst drop: Tommy Hanson (Dave). Honorable mention: Matt Wieters (Adam), Huston Street (Ken).

Player who survived on a roster too long: Ben Sheets (Adam). Honorable mention: Andy Sonnanstine (Jack), Daisuke Matsuzaka (Andy).

Best (and worst) trade: Grady Sizemore for Dustin Pedroia and Raul Ibanez (Adam and Chris). Honorable mention: Ryan Theriot for Adam Lind (Richie and Andy)

Best draft pick: Zack Greinke (Chris). Honorable mention: Raul Ibanez (Chris), Torii Hunter (Ricky).

Worst draft pick: David Ortiz (Bob). Honorable mention: Magglio Ordonez (Joe), Francisco Liriano (Shea).

Best keeper decision: Robinson Cano (Ken). Honorable mention: Jason Bay (Jack), Justin Upton (Richie).

Worst keeper: Ervin Santana (Shea). Honorable mention: Jimmy Rollins (Dave), Brandon Webb (Chris).

Midseason MVP (player): Albert Pujols (Ricky). Honorable mention: Raul Ibanez (Adam), Zack Grienke (Chris).

Midseason LVP (player): David Ortiz (Bob); Honorable mention: Jimmy Rollins (Dave), Magglio Ordonez (Joe).

Best stiff: Livan Hernandez (Chris). It won him the week, and to quote Bob, "It was a professional one too, (he) did it 20-25 minutes before rosters switched over to Sunday." Honorable mention: Josh Outman (Andy).

Worst stiff: Dontrelle Willis (Ken). He claimed he wasn't stiffing, but we all saw through that. Karma came back to bite him! Honorable mention: Chan Ho Park (Bob).

Best team name: Byrnes When I Peavy (Dave). Honorable mention: Commish is a Commy (Chris).

Worst team name: waldr83 (Richie). Honorable mention: only can beat richie (Shea).

Best win: Ken, Week 11. 10-8 over Joe. Honorable mention: Jack, Week 11. 14-4 over Ricky.

Worst loss: Bob, Week 4. 18-1 to Jack. Honorable mention: Ken, Week 8. 15-1 to Jack; Ken, Week 7: 15-2 to Joe.

Most dramatic win: Adam, Week 11. 9-8 over Shea thanks to Juan Pierre's heroics.

Most heartbreaking loss: Richie, Week 4. 10-9 to Dave thanks to endless extra-innings.

Best manager: Joe. Honorable mention: Jack.

Biggest surprise (manager): Adam. Honorable mention: Bob.

Most improved from last year: Adam. Honorable mention: Jack, Andy.

Best team: Joe. Honorable mention: Jack, Andy.

Worst team: Richie. Honorable mention: Shea, Dave.

2nd half predictions:

*Denotes wildcard
Brad Lidge Division:
1. Jack 14-5-3
2. *Chris 12-7-3
3. *Ricky 10-9-3
4. Adam 11-11
5. Richie 4-17-1
6. Shea 3-19

Tug McGraw Division:
1. Joe 16-4-2
2. *Andy 14-6-2
3. *Ken 14-7-1
4. Bob 11-10-1
5. Mike 8-13-1
5. Dave 6-15-1
Read more!