Mid-Season AL MVP, CY Young and ROY

Rotojunkie has taken over the dynamic feature started by Baseball Happenings that draws on the collective knowledge of the blogging community to provide intelligence on which players are currently considered the leading contenders for the big three baseball awards - MVP, Cy Young and ROY - for the American and National leagues.  This week's AL voting should be available later today. 

AL Cy Young:
1.  Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
2.  Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
3.  Joe Saunders, Los Angeles Angels

My voting remains the same as last time, but I have Justin Duchscherer in the picture.  What holds him back is he has not pitched as many innings as any of the top three - the 21 inning gap behind Saunders is the smallest one.  John Danks of the 1st place White Sox has a great ERA but five Wins is more than a stretch to get in the picture.

AL MVP:
1.  Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
2.  J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox
3.  Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

Hamilton holds on to the top spot simply because he has more ABs than either Drew or Rodriguez, two players on better teams.  With injuries beginning to creep in for Hamilton, I don't expect him to occupy the top spot much longer.  Anyone else notice that ARod is just three HRs behind the AL lead and has eleven SBs to go with his .405 OBP?

AL ROY:
1.  Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
2.  Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees
3.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox

With Jacoby Ellsbury's plummetting OBP (.344), he no longer grabs the top spot.  Evan Longoria has an OBP just three points lower and an OPS more than 100 points higher.  As long as Joba Chamberlain continue to look like a #1 starter, Ellsbury's hold on the 2nd spot will not last much longer either.