Some pretty interesting facts have come to light over the past few days in the reportage and windbaggery surrounding the announcement of the AL and NL Rookies of the Year yesterday…

1. Did we know that Ryan Braun had the highest rookie slugging percentage in the history of baseball? Wow.

2. Troy Tulowitzki saved the Rockies something like 50 runs on defense, no matter which method you use. That is even more amazing, and probably means he’s the best defensive player in the game today. Although I can’t help wondering if Coors Field may be at least slightly skewing those numbers due to more balls in play or something.

3. Did we know Dustin Pedroia played the last 2 months of the season and the playoffs with a broken hand? Gamer!

4. Daisuke Matsuzaka had a higher VORP than Dustin Pedroia. This makes me feel a bit better about me having picked him as AL ROY back in my October 2 post. Still, after watching Pedroia’s amazing performance in the postseason, and now hearing about the broken hand, I realize I should have picked him over Matsuzaka. Giving that I also went knee-jerk with Braun over Tulo without even looking at the defensive stats, this now puts me in the embarrassing situation of having to admit to Sarah that I was wrong and she was right about BOTH Rookie of the Year picks. Ouch.

I’m not here to harp on Dustin Pedroia’s victory in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.  In fact, we picked the diminutive one as the deserving candidate in a previous post. So while I commend the voters for not being swayed by things such as seemingly gaudy power numbers (Delmon Young) or name recognizition (Daisuke Matsuzaka), I do have to question how Jeremy Guthrie isn’t even in the top-8.

The voting went as follows: 1) Pedroia 2) D .Young 3) Brian Bannister 4) Matsuzaka 5) Reggie Willits 6) Hideki Okajima 7) Josh Fields 8) Joakim Soria

 You mean to tell me we couldn’t find a spot for a pitcher who posted a 3.70 ERA with a 1.21 WHIP over 175+ innings? Do I need to mention that he had a 2.62 K/BB ratio? The only thing I can think of as to why his name was omitted was that the voters saw he only had seven wins. But that’s not really his fault when he only received twelve decisions in 32 games pitched (26 starts).

In fact, in the months of May and June, the Oriole righty went through a stretch of ten starts during which he pitched 72 2/3 innings (that’s over seven innings per start) and allowed only 14 earned runs (1.73 ERA). He got two wins to show for it.  Sucks for him.

So where do I think he belongs on this list of also-rans? #2. Right behind Dustin Pedroia. Compared to Brian Bannister, Guthrie pitched more innings, had a lower ERA, same WHIP, with a far superior strikeout rate and K/BB ratio. The only area where Guthrie trailed? Wins. So naturally, Bannister is the #3 rookie and Guthrie’s name in nowhere to be found.

And so it goes for year-end awards.

Now that the 2007 season has come to a close, it’s time to parse the 2007 rookie class and separate the wheat from the chaff, the best from the rest, the cookies…from the crumbs.

American League

Cookie: Dustin Pedroia

My picking “Pedro” (as the guys on the team have christened him) should come as no surprise to regular readers of UmpBump. Quite simply, no other rookie has grown up as fast or as completely as the little man with the big swing. After a brutal first month in the majors, Dustin was hitting .182 at the end of April, and the ravening hordes of Red Sox Nation were calling for blood. Worse, veteran players on other teams were audibly laughing at him and his body-wringing swing during his at-bats.

They’re not laughing now. Pedroia finished the season with the best batting average of AL rookies (.317), the best OPS (.822), and the most runs scored (88). Though he only has seven stolen bases, he has the best stolen base percentage (0.88). And he’s one of the hardest batters to strike out in the league (just 42 K’s in 581 plate appearances, for a beautiful walk-to-strikeout rate of 1.12) . Such a rate of contact without a lot of power (just 8 homers on the season) must mean he grounds into a lot of double plays, right? Actually, no—Pedroia has done that just 8 times this season.

Defensively, Pedroia has been solid but not spectacular. This is an area where I believe his diminutive stature has hurt him—many a time I’ve seen him dive after a gapper, his 5′7″ frame fully extended, only to watch the ball sail just an inch past his wee arm. Nevertheless, he plays an acrobatic second base, epitomized by the amazing grab he made to save fellow rookie Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter.

In addition to his maturity on the field, Pedroia has also shown maturity off the field: after a brief hubbub early in the season when Alex Rodriguez through a multimilliondollar elbow at him to try and break up a double play, Pedroia’s mild comment (calling it “cheap” but also “no big deal”) got all kinds of airtime. And young Dustin promptly learned a valuable lesson: zip it.

For being the rookie to play the most like a big-leaguer, Dustin Pedroia deserves to be the American League Rookie of the Year.

Crumbs: Delmon Young, Reggie Willits, Josh Fields, Brian Bannister, Jeremy Guthrie.

Not that I think these guys are crummy players—just that it’s the crumbs they’ll get stuck with when Pedroia gets the cookie. Delmon Young has gotten a lot of attention as a potential ROY for knocking in 93 RBI, no mean feat (it doesn’t hurt that his average, which was .288 overall, jumps to .347 with runners in scoring position). However, the Tampa Bay left fielder has a hideous VORP (just 5.7, compared with Pedroia’s 36.0). And while Young gets props for playing in all 162 games this year, he instantly loses those props for failing to run out a grounder and being benched by his manager with just one game left to play. I know it’s hard to run out every ball when it’s the end of September and you play for the Devil Rays, but this is just the kind of immature incident that has gotten Young in trouble in the past. It’s not big-league. It’s bush-league.

Willits, left-fielder for the Angels, gets an honorable mention for having the best eye of the rookie class. Though it’s hard to strike out Pedroia, it’s hard not to walk Willits: a .391 OBP, 69 walks, and 4.44 pitches per plate appearance. Once he gets on, pitchers had better keep their eye on him, too—he had 27 steals this year. But he has absolutely no power—just 20 doubles and no homers.

Josh Fields should be an interesting guy to watch develop. The White Sox third baseman only played 100 games this year, which hurts his ROY status in my mind, but he’s an interesting combination of above-average defensive ability and power hitting. His average was just .244, yet he hit 23 homers and has a .480 slugging percentage. If he can learn some plate discipline (he had 125 strikeouts in those 100 games—yikes) he could be a real threat for Chicago.

As for the pitchers, Guthrie and Bannister, it’s hard to say what these kids would have done if they’d been on better teams (as opposed to the Orioles and the Royals, respectively). Bannister may not strike out a lot of people, but he doesn’t walk a lot of folks either. He was consistently good all year long, but especially effective June through August. Guthrie was a bit more uneven, but finished the year with comparable numbers. I don’t think either of them is the rookie of the year, but I’d sure like to have them on my team.

National League

Cookie: Troy Tulowitzki

The Rockies shortstop has really turned it on in the past week to help his team get to the playoffs, with a grand slam here, a triple there, a couple of doubles over there. But that’s nothing new for the newbie—he’s been playing well all season long. His .287 average, 24 homers, and 98 RBI make him a great offensive shortstop. Lucky for the Rockies, then, that they sacrifice absolutely nothing on defense: Tulowitzki has been the best defensive shortstop in the league this year.

Crumbs: Ryan Braun, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Hunter Pence, James Loney.

Ryan Braun, third baseman for the Brewers, has a drool-worthy amount of offense: .324 average, .634 slugging percentage, 1.004 OPS, and 34 homers. Those homers look even more amazing when you realize he played in just 113 games. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I feel bad about giving awards to guys who don’t play on an everyday basis, or close to it. I also feel bad handing out cookies to guys who are the worst at their positions, defensively. And Braun has been, hands down, the worst third baseman in the league this year. Sorry, Ryan. Even your husky VORP (57.2) isn’t enough to save you.

What about Hunter Pence, you ask? The Astros centerfielder put up some very good numbers—.322 average, 69 RBI, 17 homers, and nine triples in 108 games. He uses his speed well in the outfield, where he’s above average defensively, but I feel obliged to note that he has a harmful .69 stolen base percentage. Nevertheless, If he’d played in more games, he could have given Tulowitzki some real competition.

I also considered Kevin Kouzmanoff, the third baseman for the Padres. Alas, poor Kevin! He loses another heartbreaker to his Colorado foe. His offensive numbers are juuust a touch softer than Troy’s across the board. Plus, he’s right down there with Braun as a craptastic corner glove. Nevertheless, he was the only rookie besides Tulowitzki and Diamondbacks CF Chris “.237″ Young to play in more than 140 games, and that, plus his decent numbers, is enough to earn our consideration.

Finally, I feel obliged to give an honorary crumb to James Loney, the young Dodgers first baseman. Like Pence, if he’d played in more games (as opposed to just 96) he could have given Tulowitzki a run for his money. In three important categories, he achieved some impressive numbers: his .331 average, .381 OBP, and 114 runs scored. As two nice peripherals, his walk-to-strikeout rate was the best in the class at 0.58, as was his average with runners in scoring position—a whopping .419. And not that first base is a defensively demanding position, but it’s worth noting that he can hold his own there.

Loney, Pence, and Braun (move him to first base, somebody!) might not be your NL ROYs, but any of them could very well end up being your NL MVPs a few years hence.

Compared to last year, ranking the rookies for this season is pretty boring, since as Coley points out, most of the best rookies were in the NL, but even in the NL the choice is obvious given Ryan Braun’s utter dominance.

But I have been a bit surprised at some of the names that keep getting mentioned, as well as some of the names who haven’t been mentioned much.

So I decided to rank the top 15 rookies together in one group, including players from both leagues. Here is what I came up with:

1. Ryan Braun (NL)
2. Troy Tulowitzki (NL)
3. Daisuke Matsuzaka (AL)
4. Hunter Pence (NL)
5. Dustin Pedroia (AL)
6. Jeremy Guthrie (AL)
7. James Loney (NL)
8. Brian Bannister (AL)
9. Chris Young (NL)
10. Kyle Kendrick (NL)
11. Yovanni Gallardo (NL)
12. Peter Moylan (NL)
13. Reggie Willits (AL)
14. Joakim Soria (AL)
15. Hideki Okajima (AL)

Sure enough, 8 out of my top 12 rookies hail from the National League. Although I’m not sure if this necessarily means good things for inter-league balance, since the Red Sox and the Yankees are probably just going to sign away all these guys as soon as they hit free agency.

Also, as you can see, I agree with Coley’s contention that at least based on pure numbers, Troy Tulowitzki was really unlucky to have his rookie year in the same season as Ryan Braun. But in actuality I don’t really feel too bad for him, given that he benefitted greatly from playing half his games in Coors Field, posting a ridiculous .942/.720 home/road OPS split.

Hunter Pence had a heck of the year, hitting for both average and power and stealing bases as well, and even with his injury woes he still managed to play in 108 games and log 456 at-bats. He’s not the Rookie of the Year, but he has a heck of a future ahead of him.

After Braun, Dodgers first-baseman James Loney was actually the second-best rookie in the National League this season, and did get into 96 games, but couldn’t make as much of a contribution to his team as Pence or Tulowitzki since was pointlessly blocked for the first two months owing to Ned Colletti’s foolish decision to resign Nomar Garciaparra despite the fact that Loney led all of baseball in batting average at AAA in 2006.

Frankly, I don’t understand why anyone is even considering Delmon Young, and as you can see, I’ve left him off my list. In fact, he wouldn’t even make my top 20. Delmon Young led all rookies in at-bats with 654, yet only hit 13 home runs, walked a mere 26 times, and posted a woeful .723 OPS. 10 other rookies hit more home runs, most of them in far fewer at-bats. Out of the eight rookies who qualified for a batting title, five had a higher OBP than Young, including teammate Akinori Iwamura. The bottom line is, if you get 654 at-bats and OPS .723 as a corner outfielder, you are in fact severely hurting your team, even if you are a veteran. You are certainly not anywhere close to being the Rookie of the Year!

I’m also not sure why Hideki Okajima gets mentioned so much. Sure he had a great year, but Peter Moylan was by far the best rookie relief pitcher this year (although he was in the NL), and even in his own league Joakim Soria of the Royals put up nearly identical numbers while posting 17 saves to Okajima’s 5.

A guy who certainly deserves more consideration is D-Backs centerfielder Chris Young. He’s not the Rookie of the Year because his batting average and on-base percentage were atrocious, but he did contribute greatly at a defensive skill position while playing every day, and chipped in 32 home runs along with 27 stolen bases.

I’ve saved perhaps my most controversial call until last: I’m going to have to go with Daisuke Matsuzaka over Dustin Pedroia as my 2007 AL Rookie of the Year. First of all, I don’t buy the whole argument that Japanese players shouldn’t be eligible for ROY consideration given all their experience in Japan. Having watched a lot of Japanese baseball, I can say firsthand that it is nowhere near the level of the Majors. That’s why Matsuzaka’s ERA was 4.40 this year and not 2.35. Also, Matsuzaka was only 26, which isn’t really that old. If an American player gets lots of experience in the minors and then has a breakout season at 27 or 28, we don’t say he should be ineligible for the award.

But more importantly, Matsuzaka had a better year than Pedroia. Sure, he wasn’t *quite* as good as some of the more delierious Boston fans might have expected, but was still one of the better pitchers in the American League, posting 15 wins, pitching over 200 innings, and striking out 201 batters. Sure, Pedroia had a great season, but was he even the most valuable rookie on his own team? Put another way, would the Red Sox rather have played through this past season without Daisuke Matsuzaka, or without Dustin Pedroia? I think it’s clear that Matsuzaka made a greater contribution as a rookie in the AL.

It’s that time again. The Umpbump writers are here to give you their picks for Rookie of the Year, MVP and Cy Young of each league. Let’s start with Rookie of the Year. Boo ya!

Rookie of the Year

For a few years now, we’ve been subjected to AL fans’ boasts about how superior their league is, as evidenced by the AL’s general dominance of in the World Series, interleague play, and complete ownership of the All-Star Game.

But it looks like the tide is changing. Just looking at this year’s Rookie of the Year nominees makes me smile, because the NL candidates are just head and shoulders above the AL candidates.

Fear not, NL fans. Better times lie ahead.

The National League

Not so long ago, it looked like there would be three top candidates for NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun, Hunter Pence and Troy Tulowitski. But Pence got hurt. And then there were two.

So, let’s first look at Tulowitski, who plays a mean shortstop and hit for both average (.287) and power (24 HR) this year. Most years, he’d be your winner. His 98 RBI, 101 runs and .357 OBP are outstanding for a first year player. And he was one of the biggest reasons the Rockies were able to make their improbable wild card run.

But then there’s Braun, who was … he was … well, I really don’t know what to say about Braun, except that if I can find a way to get him on my fantasy team next year, I’m going to be a happy man. In only 112 games – 40 fewer than Tulowitski — he hit 34 HR and 97 RBI, with a .366 OBP. If he had started the year with the Brewers, we might be talking about Braun as an MVP candidate, and the Brew Crew might be gearing up for a playoff series.

I don’t think there’s any real debate here. It’s Braun all the way.

The American League

Matsuzaka and Okajima are bogus candidates (since they played many years of professional ball in Japan), but are candidates nonetheless. Matsuzaka had a nice little season, though he was being paid like a guy who was expected to be a little better than “nice”. Okajima was the real revelation, posting a 2.22 ERA and acting as a reliable set-up option for closer Jonathan Paplebon. Okajima loses points, since middle relief isn’t exactly a high-profile role, but between the two Japanese Red Sox pitchers, I think Okajima is the stronger ROTY candidate.

Delmon Young had a nice little season, with 13 HR, 93 RBI and a .316 OBP for the ever-improving but still not winning Tampa Bay “Don’t call us devils” Rays.

And then there was that other Red Sox rookie, Dustin Pedroia, who had 8 HR and 50 RBI, while playing a very solid second base. Pedroia’s power numbers obviously weren’t as good as Young’s. But maybe he just didn’t have as many opportunities as Delmon? After all, he was hitting second in Boston’s lineup, behind the worthless Julio Lugo, while Delmon was hitting in the middle of a solid Tampa Bay offense.

Uh oh. Wait a second, Boston fans. On closer inspection, we see Young had a much higher average with runners in scoring position — ..347 to .263, and that probably accounts for his higher RBI totals as much as anything.

Of course, it’s not all about power. Pedroia’s OBP was much, much higher than Young’s — .380 (compared to .316).

So who do we choose? The more clutch Delmon or more frequently on base Dustin? And what about the lights-out Okajima?

All things being equal, I’m going with Pedroia. That OBP is just too good to ignore. Plus, when two players are so close offensively, I’m prone to then look at defense. And Pedroia’s was better.

Long term, I think Young will be a more valuable player, at least for fantasy purposes. But this year, Pedroia was the man. And he’s your AL Rookie of the Year.

So the Rookie of the Year awards have been handed out and Justin Verlander and Hanley Ramirez are the lucky winners.

For those of you keeping score at home, that means Alejandro is 2-0, having accurately predicted the ROTY winners, while Sarah, Nick and I are 1-1 (Sarah and Nick correctly guessing that Verlander would win but missing on Ramirez, while I got Ramirez right but guessed Liriano would win the AL award).

For the record, we weren’t picking who we thought would win the awards, but who should win the awards, so it’s no big deal to get a pick wrong.

I picked Albert Pujols for MVP, because I think he should win. But I’m pretty sure Ryan Howard is going to win. Certainly, if the ESPN sports reporters are any indication, he will. Of the 18 ESPN writers, 11 voted for Howard, six voted for Pujols and one voted for Beltran.

Howard was a monster in Japan last week. So maybe the ESPN guys know what they’re talking about. Then again, not one of them picked the Tigers to beat the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. Not ONE.

Rookies. So young and innocent. So naive and trusting. So….so….skinny.

Which of these tender young morsels showed the most promise this year? Which of them is most likely to end up, 15 years down the line, with bum knees, a bad back, an HGH-bloated jaw, a contract his team wants to dump, tobacco-stained teeth, kids who barely know his name, two ex-wives who both hate him, tens of millions of dollars, three SI covers, and a venereal disease he picked up on a rehab assignment in Florida after his second wrist surgery?

In the National League, there are many good candidates. I have to start by mentioning Cla Meredith. When the Sox dumped Meredith (sending him to the Padres with Josh Bard in order to reacquire knuckler-catching-specialist Doug Mirabelli) Boston was elated. This trade ended up being a bad move for a number of reasons (not least because the Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield spent a good chunk of time on the DL, rendering Mirabelli’s defensive skills somewhat extraneous, and because Jason Varitek, playing hurt and then missing a lot of time, had a lousy year—and looking back on it, wouldn’t you have rather just stuck with Bard (.333) no matter how many passed balls he had?) but a big reason is that Cla recovered from his previous struggles to pitch the way Boston had initially hoped he would. In 50 and two-thirds innings of relief, he struck out 37, walked just 6, and racked up 5 wins (and only one loss). How did he do it? Well, his 1.07 ERA and .170 BAA didn’t hurt. And looking back at the Red Sox’ season (sorry, I can’t help it) given that two of their biggest problems were filling the spot behind the dish and bridging the gap between the starting pitcher and Jonathan Papelbon (a role formerly filled by Mike Timlin, the ghost of whom was not enough this year), if the Red Sox had kept ahold of Bard and Meredith, we could be gearing up for the playoffs tonight instead of sitting at home watching Netflix movies. So for his great performance in relief this year, Meredith is my No. 3 ROY pick.

Hanley Ramirez is even more impressive. He’s got good offensive numbers for a shortstop (.292/59 RBI/17 HR, along with 46 doubles and 11 triples). But what impresses me even more is that he racked up almost the same number of walks (56) and stolen bases (51). So why am I not giving him my ROY award? Too many errors. A whopping 26, putting him third-from-last among qualified NL shortstops. Yikes. (In fairness, his range factor puts him in the top half of that group, but still.) So Hanley is my runner-up.

For my top NL ROY pick, I’m going to go with Ryan Zimmerman. Yes, he’s got those 110 RBIs and 20 homers (both nice, round numbers). But he also has 47 doubles and 61 walks. Good show, kid. Yes, he made 15 errors on the season down there at the hot corner, but in the NL that’s good enough to put him in a three-way tie for best fielding percentage. It’s a tough call, but Zimmerman edges out Ramirez based on defense.

Now for the AL. Francisco Liriano was quite the stud for the Twins in the first half, but his arm gave out down the stretch. I know that’s not uncommon for a rookie pitcher, but still. This is the bigs, and ROY is a big-league award. No doubt Liriano will come back next year, stronger and tougher, and be as lights-out as before. His 12-3 record and 2.16 ERA are smoking, and even though his teammates have apparently nicknamed him “Franchise,” he didn’t go the full stretch and so I just can’t give him my ROY.

The same stands, sadly, for Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Pap won over Beantown with his fire, consistency, and jaw-dropping ERA (which never rose above 1.00 all season). He even gave rise to the best new turn-of-phrase in sportswriting this year. In short, he’s the hotness. And maybe he would have pitched through his transient subluxation had the Sox stayed in contention. But as it is, they shut him down about a month ago.

There’s a case to be made for Nick Markakis, the bedimpled Orioles rightfielder, who’s already batting third in the birds’ lineup. Unlike some of the other newbs we’ve been discussing here on UmpBump, this is a guy who has only gotten better as the season has gone on, hitting .365 in the second half. If I were a GM and I had to, say, find a promising young rightfielder to replace an old, injury-prone free-agent rightfielder, he’d be right at the top of my list (not that the O’s are going to let him get away). But ROY winner? Not this year. Not even with my weakness for all things tall, dark, and handsome. Sorry, Dimples.

I’ll give Pap my third place vote over Liriano (but just by a hair) and Markakis my number two slot, but first place has to go to—surprise surprise—Justin Verlander. Much of the Tigers’ surprising success this year can be laid at his feet (17 wins and a solid 3.63 ERA). And unlike the other young guns on the list, he hasn’t flagged as the season’s gone on. That makes him my AL Rookie of the Year.

The Rookie of the Year award can be a harbinger of great things to come (Ryan Howard) or of stunning, dramatic collapse (Eric Hinske). It’s hard to imagine that this year’s candidates have anything other than great careers ahead of them. But then again, somebody probably said that about Jerome Walton, too.

Without further ado, the picks.

The NL

3. Dan Uggla (.281/.337/.474, 26 HR, 89 RBI)
2. Ryan Zimmerman (.289/.354/.475, 20 HR, 109 RBI)
1. Hanley Ramirez (.292/.353/.481, 17 HR, 51 SB)

Dan Uggla was an all-star this season and a legit slugger in the middle of the Marlins lineup. He was also solid defensively and, with the exception of Chase Utley, was probably the league’s best 2B. But he wasn’t this year’s best rookie.

It’s tempting to give the ROTY to Ryan Zimmerman in anticipation of the career he’s going to have, just as it’s tempting to give Derek Jeter the MVP award as a sort of career achievement award. Zimmerman’s got to be the surest thing among all of the talented rookies in the class of 2006. But he wasn’t this year’s best rookie, either.

Hanley Ramirez’s VORP (value over replacement player) this season was 50.7. The rookie with the next highest VORP was Uggla, at 38.6. In other words, it wasn’t even close. Ramirez hit for average, played above average defense and stole an obscene number of bases. He’s a game-changing player. And before all is said and done he’s going to be the biggest reason we’ll look back and say, “Man, the Red Sox got hosed in the Josh Beckett trade!” His biggest shortcoming is that he strikes out too much, 150 times this season, or around 25 percent of the time. But the long and short for Hanley is this: if he gets on base, he’s dangerous. And he gets on base a lot.

The AL

3. Justin Verlander (17-9, 3.63 ERA, 186 IP)
2. Jonathan Papelbon (35 SV, 0.92 ERA, 75K/68.1IP)
1. Francisco Liriano (12-3, 2.16 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 121 IP)

How do you know there are a lot of great rookie pitchers in the American League? When the top three candidates for AL Rookie of the Year are all pitchers, that’s how. And Jered Weaver, if he had gotten a few more starts, could have easily made this list.

Justin Verlander was the Tigers’ ace this season, stepping up when others faltered and leading Detroit to its first playoff appearance since…ummm…I have no idea when. But it’s been a long time.

Jonathan Papelbon had an ERA of less than one. I mean, really, how do you have an ERA under one and not win a major award?

I’ll tell you how. You go head to head with Francisco Liriano, who, along with Johan Santana, strapped the Twins on his back and led them to the post season. Liriano got hurt late in the season, but when he was healthy, he was untouchable. And there is plenty of precedent for giving the ROTY to a rookie who doesn’t play a full season. Ryan Howard won last season, even though he only played in 88 games. Liriano was dominant as a reliever early in the season and he was dominant as a starter in the second half. And he’s your 2006 AL Rookie of the Year.

It was the wise Gary Payton who once dubbed a young rook by the name of Steve Francis, a naïve mind of sorts, a “Punk-ass bitch” for dissin’ the then Vancouver Grizzlies and forcing a trade to the Houston Rockets – at draft night.

But this is UmpBump; and before I stray too far away from the point (because, frankly, I had to do serious homework for this one) I shall nominate my Rookie of the Year candidates and other Punk-Ass Rookie Bitches – otherwise referred to as PARBs.

Instead of concentrating solely on stats and numbers, I decided to look for names that, during the course of the season, caught my eye for having a certain level of maturity and consistency.
Players like Matt Cain, the Giants’ rookie starter, who came close to a no-hitter, but sucked balls for my Fantasy team when I added him soon after, will not qualify for my list.

I’ll briefly elaborate on the PARBs that I think deserve some recognition for their skills; but before that, here’s who I think will win the ROY award in each League.

AL

Justin Verlander, SP Detroit Tigers

Verlander was unhittable during the first half of the season. A starter with a 95+ mph fastball is no joke. Being a rook, his arm fatigued towards the end, but his 17 wins will sure get him the ROY award.

NL

Hanley Ramirez, SS Florida Marlins

So apparently, the entire Marlins’ infielder squad could receive the ROY award as a team, since they are among the top rookies in hitting. I had to pick one of ‘em, and what the hell, I went with Ramirez because he has the higherst BA amongst NL rookies (AVG .294 | HR 17 | RBI 59 | OBP .355 | SLG .485 ). I just as well could’ve picked Dan Uggla (AVG .282 | HR 26 | RBI 89 | OBP .338 | SLG .478).

Now here are who I think are other notable rooks:

• Joel Zumaya, RP Detroit Tigers
(right)

Buster Olney had a ho-hum feature for ESPN.com Insiders about the 20 best weapons in the post-season (I mean, c’mon, Chase Utley’s energy?!?), but he did strike a chord with Joel Zumaya’s fastball. The kid has a flame tattooed around his glove hand, so when he’s ready to delivery his 100-mph fastball, it looks as if he garners his strength from the flames around his glove. Nice.

He also leads the league in Holds with 29 (a semi dubious stat; but quantifiable none-the-less; and he’s tied for second in innings pitched with 79.0 (before Friday’s game).

It was common knowledge towards the end of the season that if a Tiger’s starting arm faltered, they only had to stay in the game until Zumaya was summoned.

• Melky Cabrera, OF New York Yankees

Suuuuure, tha Yankees are done this year, suuure with Matsui an’ Sheff done fo’ da year you can almost bet them’ Sawks will win the division.

And then The Milk Man came on the scene. Not only did Cabrera fill in nicely for Matsui, the Yankees had a hint of a Left-fielder controversy when Matsui was able to return. While his numbers were not astronomical (.279, 7 hr, 50 rbi, 451 ab, unlike, say Ryan Howard); his contribution was more than enough to solidify the Yanks’ conquest of the AL East crown once again.

• Anibal Sanchez, SP Florida Marlins

Well I gotta include the kid, the no-hitter kid; how could I not? His numbers are decent (10-3 with 114.1 IP and 18 starts), but remember, we’re looking at the bigger picture here. What rooks are going to have the composure to carry their careers into the next level. Besides, his middle name can only help.

Honorable mention: Francisco Liriano SP Minnesota Twins, Prince Fielder 1B Milwaukee Brewers, Ryan Zimmerman 3B Washington Nationals.

Last week, we here at umpbump gave you our hard-hitting MVP picks, so this week, we’ve decided to unveil our picks for NL and AL Rookie of the Year picks. I’ll get things started today, with picks from Alejandro, Coley, and Sarah to follow over the weekend.

National League

3. Ryan Zimmerman (.289/.354/.475, 20 HR, 109 RBI)
2. Hanley Ramirez (.292/.353/.481, 17 HR, 51 SB)
1. Josh Willingham (.277/.358/.494, 25 HR, 78 RBI)

I’m as surprised as anyone that I ended up picking two Florida Marlins as my top two picks. The Rookie of the Year race in the NL this year was bursting with potential contenders, and it was up and down all year, and I really thought someone like Andre Either, Prince Fielder, or Ryan Zimmerman would come out on top, but now here we are with four games left to play, and it seems clear that Josh Willingham was the best young rookie on the Senior Circuit in 2006.

True, Zimmerman’s RBI total is impressive, but as we know, RBI is the mainstream stat least indicative of a player’s actual performance. Meanwhile, Willingham bested Zimmerman in both OBP and SLG, and hit five more homers than Zimmerman in more than 100 fewer at bats.

Hanley Ramirez proved he is a complete player this season, showing the ability to hit for average and power, and steal loads of bases, but Ramirez’s totals were bolstered by the numerous extra at bats he had as a leadoff batter. Meanwhile, Willingham showed the killer combination of both power and patience at the plate, leading all batting-title qualified rookies in OPS and establishing himself as a legitimate heart-of-the-order threat down the stretch for the Marlins.

American League

3. Kenji Johjima (.291/.334/.455, 18 HR, 76 RBI)
2. Jonathan Papelbon (35 SV, 0.92 ERA, 75K/68.1IP)
1. Justin Verlander (17-9, 3.63 ERA, 186 IP)

Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis and Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima put up remarkably similar numbers in this year, but Johjima gets the nod for third place because he plays catcher.

Jonathan Papelbon was an absolute revelation as the closer for the Red Sox in the first half of the season, but faded down the stretch and ultimately had to be shelved due to an impingement in his shoulder. Still, his first half performance was so dazzling, it was enough to earn him second place on my ROY ballot.

The clear winner in the American League has to be Justin Verlander. Not only did he provide nearly 200 IP and 17 wins to his team, but he also served as de facto staff ace for much of the year when Kenny Rogers was struggling, and helped lead the Tigers to their first pennant since god knows when. Basically he pitched like a Cy Young candidate in his rookie season.

It’s too bad Francisco Liriano got hurt and the Angels ridiculously sent Jared Weaver down to the minors for five starts. Otherwise, the AL top three would have almost certainly been all starting pitchers.