Rookie of the Year

I’d love to discuss the Minnesota Twins starting rotation, but really…I’m not quite sure who’s on it. I’m in good company, because beyond Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser, and Kevin Slowey, even Gardy has no idea who’s starting. Matt Tolbert was a happy surprise for me for making the team, as was Carlos “Zippy” Gomez.

Anyway, Rookie of the Year. This has been something that’s been on my mind for a long time. MLB players have come from other countries–most notably Japan, but Cuba and Korea have sent a few–and are considered rookies by Major League Baseball’s rules. They’ve never played in the major leagues, so therefore they count as rookies. Even if they’ve been champions in their home countries for years. It seems a little unfair that a 20-year-old who’s only been in pro ball for two years is competing for a rookie award against a 26-year-old who’s been the top dog in his home country for a couple of years.

The problem is, I’m not sure where the line is drawn. How can you decide if someone should be considered a rookie or not? I can’t consider age. The 31-year-old who toiled in the minors his entire career gets called up and has a stunning year? He should be considered a rookie. The 26-year-old who dominated his home country for a couple of years but finally comes to the US/Canada to play ball should not be considered a rookie. (And, of course, if you did it straight by age, and not by baseball experience, you’d end up with guys winning rookie of the year in multiple years, so let’s keep the current standards for rookie in place, but add to them.)

I thought about considering time spent playing professional baseball, but that didn’t really work either. The 31-year-old rookie mentioned previously probably was drafted when he was between 17-21 years old, giving him at least ten years in professional baseball–not at the major league levels, but in professional baseball nonetheless. If you did that, the 23-year-old who was drafted out of high school and has five years of professional experience In my opinion, he is just as much a rookie as the 25-year-old who was drafted out of college and spent two years in professional baseball.

I don’t know how it can be solved, but I’ve always felt it silly that guys who are coming to the US and Canada for professional baseball in the prime of their careers, after dominating professional baseball in their home countries, are considered rookies. It fits the technical definition of rookie, but it doesn’t seem to fit the spirit of the competition–an award for a new guy whom has shown he is better than all the other new guys.

The Timberwolves are 18-52, and are no longer last in the division–in fact, the Seattle Sonics, also in the Northwest division, have a 17-55 record and in the Western Conference, the Memphis Grizzlies are 18-55! The competitions between the Timberwolves and the 13-58 Miami Heat is all but gone, sadly for those of us amused by the situation.