I don’t really want to talk about the Rookie of the Year vote. I wrote up two different posts trying to solidify my thoughts about the vote and why I disagree with Coghlan winning the award, but the easiest thing I can say is that I still think the BBWAA is too focused on statistics that aren’t the best measure of performance. Honestly, it’s not that McCutchen didn’t win that bugs me, it’s that he was only even named on seven of thirty one ballots. There was not a huge gap between Coghlan and McCutchen’s performances (you can argue playing time if you want, but then Hanson had absolutely no business finishing third and ‘Cutch’s counting stats mostly outpaced Coghlan’s in that shorter time, which means that I don’t buy that argument), but Coghlan had a higher batting average and won. Similarly, there was almost no difference between JA Happ and Randy Wells except for their records; Happ finished second and was actually named on more ballots than Coghlan, Wells was named on one ballot.
I feel like in some regards I’ve been rehashing this same argument here for three or four years and I’m honestly just kind of tired of making it. Anyways, Rob Neyer makes some good points about the McCutchen vs. Coghlan debate here, while Rob Iracane, maybe one of the biggest non-Pirate fan ‘Cutch supporters on the web, at Walkoff Walk makes the argument for McCutchen. I’ll stick with my BBA ballot and we won’t talk about this anymore, except to say that if playing time really is what cost McCutchen this award then I’ll take an extra year of him over a statue every single day of the week.
On to other things. MLB Trade Rumors has a list of left-handed trade targets/non-tender candidates. Perez might be an interesting buy-low guy given his history with the Indians and Rhodes might be a really cheap trade candidate if the Reds are looking to dump salary.
Beyond the Boxscore has UZR projections for 2010, if that’s your sort of thing.
There’s now a petition to have the MLB Network air the Dock Ellis no-no. I know online petitions never work, but a man can dream, can’t he?
This isn’t Pirate-related, but the Twins’ new uniforms are sweet.
And finally, don’t forget to check FanHouse tomorrow for a bunch of offseason NL Central previews by yours truly.
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