FHFS - 2004 Awards

San Francisco(AP)-Troy Glaus of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Brian Giles of the Pittsburgh Pirates took home the American and National League MVP's, respectively, it was announced this morning. Giles led all vote-getters with 77 points received, including 14 first-place votes. Glaus was second with 71 points received and 12 first-place votes. The next closest recipient in either league was Nomar Garciaparra, with just 36 points received and 3 first-place votes.

Voting results
Top 12 finishers in the NL MVP voting, on a 5-3-1 basis:
Players	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Giles, Pitt.	14	2	1	77
I.Rodriguez, Col.	1	5	--	20
Guerrero, SD.	1	2	2	13
C.Jones, Col.	1	1	4	12
C.Guzman, Mon.	--	2	2	8
Edmonds, Ari.	--	2	2	8
Grieve, Ari.	1	--	1	6
Sheffield, LA.	--	1	2	5
Giambi, Atl.	--	1	1	4
Schmidit, SF.	--	1	1	4
Sexson, Mon.	--	1	1	4
A.Rodriguez, SF.	--	--	1	1

Brian Giles stood head and shoulders above a crowded field this afternoon, when he was announced as the winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award to become the first Pirate to grab the honor since Barry Bonds in 1992. Giles faced a formidable group of stars that included San Diego's Vladimir Guerrero, Montreal Dynamo Cristian Guzman and Colorado's dynamic duo of Larry “Chipper” Jones and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, but the patient right fielder outclassed the others in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Receiving 14 of a possible 18 first-place votes, Giles was also second on two ballots and third on another for a total of 77 points, based on a system that rewards 5 points for first place, three for second, and one for third. "I am very excited," Giles said from his home in San Diego . "I am very happy to share this with my teammates and the entire city of Pittsburgh . God willing, I will be able to help this team get back to the World Series."

Tampa Bay -- For much of the 2004 season, Tampa Bay third-baseman Troy Glaus didn't just beat opposing pitchers. More often than not, he dominated, overwhelmed and even owned them. On Thursday, Glaus won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in the same impressive fashion. Glaus was the catalyst to one of the best offenses in baseball last season, the World Champion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He posted a 1.008 OPS with a .400 OBP and .608 SLG despite just a .257 AVG. he homered 54 times while driving in 139 runs, and BB'd 138 times. He also scored 139 runs.

Although some expected the balloting to be a tight, two-man race between Glaus and Boston's Nomar Garciaparra, it proved not to be close at all. Members of the Baseball Writers Association of America selected Glaus for the award short only 3 votes from a unanimous selection, giving him 12 of 18 first-place votes for a total of 71 points. "It's a tribute to his accomplishments this year," Devil Rays general manager Myron Peabody said of Glaus. "It was obvious people in the industry respected what he accomplished. It was quite a feat."

Garciaparra, who received 7 of 18 second-place votes, was a distant runner-up with 36 points in a 5-3-1 tabulation system. Also receiving votes in the American league were Bobby Abreu (13 points, 1 first-place vote), Darin Erstad (9 points, 1 first place vote), Pedro Martinez (7 points, 1 first-place vote), Carl Everett (5 points), Ryan Klesko (5 points), Rafeal Furcal (4 points), Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells and Vicente Padilla (3 points), and Alfonso Soriano, Jeff Kent and Travis Hafner (1 point).

Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox and Jason Schmidt of the San Francisco Giants took home the AL and NL Cy Young awards, respectively, it was announced early this morning. Martinez led all vote-getters with 66 points, including 10 first-place votes, and Tampa Bay Devil Ray righty Freddy Garcia was second with 63 points, including 7 first-place votes. Jason Schmidt finished third in the vote-total, finishing with 56 points and 7 first-place votes, edging out teammate Zach Day, who finished with 48 points and 7 first-place votes.

San Francisco (AP) - The transformation is complete. Jason Schmidt isn't just an emerging ace anymore, he's part of a select fraternity that reaches back almost 50 years. The Giants' top pitcher was recognized as the National League's best this morning, when he was announced as the winner of the NL Cy Young Award.

In a slightly marginal victory, Schmidt received 7 first-place votes and 6 seconds for 56 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Rotation mate Zach Day also received seven firsts, 3 seconds and 4 thirds for 48 points. "It's just a great award for me. It's been an incredible week," Schmidt said via conference call from Hawaii. "The fact that this one has so much history behind it is quite an honor."

By virtue of his victory, Schmidt's name will go into the record books next to some of the most celebrated pitchers ever to take the mound. He didn't have to sneak in the back door -- the tall, quiet-spoken Schmitty was 18-10 placing fifth in the NL with a 2.98 ERA this season and was a major force behind the Giants rise to an NL championship appearance. The imposing right-hander also recorded 184 strikeouts, holding opposing hitters to a .217 batting average and posting a 1.29 WHIP. He paced the league, with teammate Zach Day, with 18 victories and also set the standard for endurance leading the circuit in complete games (6) and shutouts (5).

"If anyone deserves it, it's him," said Day. "Not just for what he does on the field, but off the field as well. What people don't see in the clubhouse, is he was able to come in with a positive vibe. He was always in a good mood. People wanted to feed off of him and do well. It's a tribute to him."

Boston (AP) - Pedro Martinez long ago staked his claim as one of the greatest pitchers in history, and at times the Bo Sox ace seemingly can only top himself for Major League honors.

He did it again this morning, capturing his unprecedented sixth consecutive American League Cy Young Award and seventh overall, records only the 33-year-old veteran can boast. Martinez received 10 of 18 first-place votes, 5 second-place votes and one third-place vote. Finishing second was Freddy Garcia of Tampa Bay, followed by teammate Carl Pavano. "Anytime you win an award it's an honor and a privilege," said an obviously happy Martinez . "It's a lot of hard work and everything is correlated with the team. It's overwhelming and I'm almost at a loss for words. But you almost wish there could be an Cy Young for each team," he added. "All of us deserve it. Freddy and Carl definitely deserved it. Randy, Kerry, Vicente. It could be split pretty much equally."

Yet there can be only one Cy Young winner, and voting members of the Baseball Writers of America overwhelmingly gave Martinez the honor. Martinez 's numbers almost defy physics. In his 13th professional season, Martinez led the Junior Circuit in two triple crown categories, earned-run average (2.23) & strikeouts (295), and also set the league standard with 8 complete games while limiting opponents to a .168 average.

How many pitchers could have been a shade or two below optimum performance and still lead the Major Leagues in ERA? How many pitchers could win 16 games and still be a part of the Cy Young Award conversation? Perhaps nobody Martinez. His 5'11 inch, 170 pound frame doesn't seem imposing on the mound. In fact, in comparison to other power pitchers in baseball like the Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, Pedro Martinez is one of the smallest pitchers in the bigs. But don't let the size of this thoroughbred of the Dominican Republic fool you. He packs a powerful fastball and a knee-buckling change-up that has blown away the competition for the past four years.

"You just don't expect a guy weighing 97 pounds to throw 99 miles an hour," said AL MVP Troy Glaus of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in a sarcastic way. "He's just very aggressive. I never really watched Bob Gibson pitch, but I get the feeling he's like a Gibson. If he has to throw one under your chin, he'll do it."

Oakland (AP) -- The Baseball Writers' Association of America has confirmed what Jose Reyes' peers, teammates and Athletic fans believed all along. Saturday, the BBWAA recognized the A's shortstop and catalyst as the top rookie in the American League. Reyes received 6 first-place votes en route to 30 points. New York Yankee outfielder Henri Stanley, and Toronto Blue Jay third-baseman Mark Teixeira, the only other player to appear on each of the 6 ballots, finished second (14 points) and third (12 points) respectively, each receiving first place kudos.

Reyes, a 22-year-old native of Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic, is the first Athletics since Ben Grieve in 1998 and first Dominican-born player to earn the Jackie Robinson Award, which is named in honor of the player who won the first BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 while breaking baseball's color barrier.

Reyes was equally as happy to win the award for his country and his team. "It's nice to have a whole country behind you, obviously, and I know there are a lot of people pulling for me," said Reyes. "But it also means a lot to the city of Oakland and the organization. I'm not giving one precedent over the other. But to have that many more people to share it with, as far as being the first in both, I think it makes it that much more special."

Reyes becomes the fifth Oakland player to win BBWAA Rookie of the Year honors, joining Jose Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), Walt Weiss (1988) and Ben Grieve (1998). Since the A's moved to Oakland in 1968, only the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 10, have more Rookie of the Year award winners. Harry Byrd won the award for the 1952 Philadelphia A's, giving the Athletics franchise six Rookie of the Year winners overall. This is the third major off-season award for Reyes, who has already been named American League Rookie Player of the Year by The Sporting News and received the Players Choice Award for the American League's Outstanding Rookie.

Cincinnati (AP) - Red closer Rafael Soriano was named winner of the 2004 National League Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America Thursday. Soriano became the first Red to win the Rookie of the Year award since Scott Williamson in 1999, the first reliever since Seattle's Kaz Sasaki in 2000, and the the first National League reliever since Williamson in '99

The right-hander was named first on 5 ballots, second on one and was entirely left off three of the 9 ballots cast by three newspaper writers from each league city. Soriano totaled 28 points to 16 for runner-up Lew Ford of Colorado and 11 for Francsico Rodriguez of the Padres. In addition to placing in the Rolaids Relief Man race, Soriano was named The Sporting News National League Rookie and Reliever of the year, then received the Players Choice Award for the National League's outstanding rookie.

San Francisco(AP)-Myron Peabody of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and John Rayman of the Pittsburgh Pirates took home the coveted General Manager of the year awards, it was announced yesterday in a press conference. They edged out the surprise Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, respectively. Rayman was the leader in vote-getters, receiving 66 points, including 9 first and 7 second-place votes. Peabody received 59 points, including 7 first (one less than second place Oakland, it might be worth noting), 7 second and 3 third-place votes.

The World Series champion Devil Rays sported the top record in the game at 122-40, leading the league in runs scored/runs allowed ratio. They scored 1094 runs (2nd to division-mate Tor.) and allowed an AL low 651 runs (second only to SF's 648 allowed). They finished a league-best 61-20 at home, & an identical league-best 61-20 on the road. Of note, new acquisitions such as Morgan Ensberg, John Vander Wal, Miguel Tejada and Todd Hundley certainly helped Tampa on its way.

The World Series runner-up Pittsburgh Pirates sported the fourth-best record in the NL, behind the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres & Arizona Diamondbacks, though likely won the award after edging the Giants in a seven-game series in the NLCS. The Pirates were second in the NL in runs scored, behind the powerhouse Colorado Rockies of Coors field, and fifth in the national league in runs allowed, behind San Francisco, Arizona, San Diego and Florida. The club was 46-35 at home and 48-33 on the road, while finishing 52-30 in what is likely a sorry excuse for an NL Central. The Division was locked up in March. The voters likely saw the acquisitions of 2B Luis Castillo, SS Angel Berroa, 1B Lee Stevens, RP Mariano Rivera, RP Rick White and RP Scott Sullivan as the keys to Pittsburgh's success.