Phillies 1st Baseman Ryan Howard.....Not bad for someone who was called up in July.....Unfortunately, him and Utley are about the only things to look forward to on that team...

.288 with 22 home runs and 63 RBIs

i'd seen this guy at reading for awhile and honestly never thought he'd do much in the majors. i guess that's why i'm not a scout...

even though they'd been calling him the gold star of the oragnization for the last five years?

Franceour was robbed!

yes. i was also taking into consideration the organization that was saying these things. as i said, i'm not a scout; i just used to go to reading a lot. i saw him have trouble with breaking balls quite a bit a few years ago and wasn't optimistic about him transitioning well into the majors.

Agreed but there's no way Ryan Howard is gettin as much poon as the wonderboy right about now.

A guy who has the world by the tail these days.

Ultimately you could make an sure fire case for both Francouer and Howard in this catagory, but only one can win. But they should both be really good players for a long time, no doubt about that.

Props go out to Robinson Cano for finishing runner up to Street in the AL. I had the opportunity to watch him everyday on tv this summer and he's a fine looking ballplayer. I'm sure that SweetSweetDruganaut will concur with me on that one.

Yeah..Both are good, but it's a numbers game...

Franceour AVG .300 | HR 14 | RBI 45

vs.

Howard AVG .288 | HR 22 | RBI 63


and that's who won...

I would've moved Gomes up to second place in the AL (that's what happens when you play for Tampa rather than NY), but I can't argue with the winners.

Why no love for the guy who actually played the whole year?

well that and not having as good a year as Cano didn't help him either.

How do you see that?

Gomes .282/.372/.534, 21 HR, 61 R, 54 RBI for a bad team
Cano .297/.320/..458, 14 HR, 78 R, 62 RBI for a first place team

Cano's numbers are a little better than I thought, but I'd take Gomes, especially considering that Cano had tons of great hitters around him to help his R and RBI.

Yeah Cano had better hitters around him but its hard to say people were pitching around Gomes. Tampa had a decent offense anyway, their problem was pitching. And I don't really get your first place and bad team point. Do you really believe its easier to be a rookie on the yankees than on the devil rays?

What your mostly saying is that you'd give the nod to a guy who played a hell of a lot of dh because he showed slightly better power numbers. Cano needs to work on getting in front on the ball more and not being so flashy, still he played the best defense NY had seen at 2nd since Willie Randolph on top of being a very productive and clutch hitter in meaningful pressure AB's. He may have been their best player the last few weeks of the season which should count for something.

np: curtom story disc 1

Good teams have better players than bad teams, that's what makes them good.

If you're on a good team, it's more likely you'll have players on base in front of you to help your RBI total. If you're on a good team, it's more likely you'll have good hitters behind you to drive you in if you're on base.

I'd say its at least a little evened out by the fact that as a rook, Gomes got to bat cleanup or fifth for Tampa where Cano for much of the year got stuck in the 9 hole behind an aging bernie williams, Womack occasionally, Crosby, Sierra, and Posada or Flaherty. Hardly a great advantage.

Yeah, Willy T. was robbed.

That's true.

Anyway, as I said before, Cano had better numbers than I thought. Knowing that, and taking into account his playing a more important defensive position, I could go either way now.

So, you're bi-curious about the AL Rookie of the Year?