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 NL voting should be available later today/early tomorrow. 

NL Cy Young:
1. Edinson Volquez Cincinnati Reds
2. Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants
3. Ben Sheets Milwaukee Brewers

This is the first time I have left Diamondback's starter Brandon Webb entirely out of the voting.  He has not pitched well for a couple weeks while Volquez and Lincecum continue to do so.  The Wins are a big difference, but, at this point in the season, the ratios have enough innings behind them that an excellent winning record can overcome a couple Wins difference.

NL MVP:
1.  Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies
2.  Lance Berkman Houston Astros
3.  Dan Uggla Florida Marlins

This one was more challenging than either of the other two votes because Utley has been slumping and doesn't have the 1.000+ OPS of several other hitters.  Heck, he doesn't even have the highest OPS on the Phillies. (Pat Burrell does.)  I stayed with Utley based on his season's work and his team's perch atop the NL East.

Sure, the Houston Astros wouldn't be ahead of the Reds without Lance Berkman, but finishing 6th in the NL Central rather than 5th is a difference without significance.

NL ROY:
1.  Geovanny Soto Chicago Cubs
2.  Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds
3.  Kosuke Fukudome Chicago Cubs

The NL ROY voting remains unchanged.  I gave consideration to Atlanta Braves pitcher Jair Jurrjens, but decided Fukudome's OBP is a more integral part of his team's 1st place standings than Jurrjens efforts are for his team's 4th place standings.  Unlike Berkman and the Astros, the Braves would still be ahead of the Nationals even if Jurrjens never pitched for them.

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 NL voting should be available later today/early tomorrow.  Here are the results from last week's AL voting . 

Here is the way I voted.  My biases for voting in the Cy Young and MVP awards lean towards those hitters and pitchers playing on contending teams.  ROY determination is not tied are strongly to his team's record, but good rookies on expected paly-off contenders will get additional consideration.

NL Cy Young:
1. Brandon Webb Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Edinson Volquez Cincinnati Reds
3. Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants

I sat down ready to switch my 1st place vote from Webb to Volquez.  This meant ignoring Webb's 11 Wins for a 1st place team, but a closer look kept me from doing it.  Webb has pitched 15 more innings and more than half the walks.  Brandon Webb is the better pitcher.

NL MVP:
1.  Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies
2.  Lance Berkman Houston Astros
3.  Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals

This was an easy choice.  Chase Utley plays for a 1st place team and the more challenging defensive position.  I don't think it is even close right now.

NL ROY:
1.  Geovanny Soto Chicago Cubs
2.  Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds
3.  Kosuke Fukudome Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs, like the Tamp Bay Rays last week, get their 1st place in the standings props from the voters in Rookie-OF-The-Year.  Fukudome's OBP contribution keeps in ahead of starting pitchers like Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta, John Lannnan in Washington and Hiroki Kuroda in Los Angeles. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Reds' 1B Joey Votto out-produce all NL rookies by season's end.  Will it be enough to take the award from Geovanny Soto though?

The 2008 baseball season is one third finished.  Here is a list of players that have had fantasy players pounding their fists in frustration for either passing on these guys in their drafts, auctions and free agent pools only to see them help their competitors rise above them in the standings.  And stubbornly refuse to return to the levels expected of them!

This is appropriately called the All-WTF Team.

C  Miguel Olivo:  Victor Martinez - zero HRs.  Joe Mauer - zero HRs.  Jorge Posada - on the D.L. with one HR.  Miguel Olivo?  6 HRs and a .303 AVG with 22 RBIs
Honorable mention: Mike Napoli - leading all catchers with 10 HRs and three SBs to boot!

1B  Lance Berkman - How does a second/early third round pick surprise?  The .381 AVG and 16 HRs don't raise eyebrows but 10 SBs?  No frickin' way anyone thought that was possible.  Previous season-high?  9 in 2004.
Honorable mention: Kevin Youkilis - Who was drafted earlier, Justin Morneau or The Greek God of Walks?  Both have 9 HRs and are hitting .306-ish.  Morneau has five more ribbies but Youkilis' two more SBs gives him the edge.

2B  Ian Kinsler:   A .294 AVG and 15 SBs?  Yeah sure.  You predicted that. Honorable mention: Dan Uggla - The power has always been there but a .307 AVG?  Right.  After he hit .245 last year.

SS  Jerry Hairston, Jr. - The inspiration for the WTF Team.  Most baseball pundits complained about Corey Patterson's OBP, but at least he had been productive over the past three seasons.  Hairston? He hit .206 in 2006 and an even worse .189 last season.  Now the 32-year-old is the starting SS with a a .345 AVG and 9 SBs?  WTF! Honorable mention: Christian Guzman:  Guzman hasn't hit 5 HRs in a full season since he clubbed eight in 2004.  Raise your hand if you took Guzman before Khalil Greene?  Both have 5 HRs.

3B  Blake DeWitt - Andy LaRoche has got to be pulling his hair out.  Nomar Garciaparra is officially wash-ed up.  Every other weak-hitting utility infielder Ned Colletti can find is hurt or no longer a viable 25th man, and DeWitt rises from a third of a AA season to hit .293/.366/.463.
Honorable mention: Jorge Cantu - Evan Longoria has seven HRs and a .252 AVG.  Cantu has seven HRs and a .268 AVG.  Is there anyone who didn't think Cantu's 2005 season wasn't a fluke that coincidentally never came close to re-appearing after MLB began PED testing and suspending?

OF  Ryan Ludwick - A 28-year-old righty hitter who had a career AVG of .218 versus lefties does not all of sudden turn into a 13 HR/ 39 RBI/.327 hitter after six seasons of journeyman status. Honorable mention: Nate McLouth
OF  Jayson Werth - similar to Ludwick in that he is a 29-year-old who has spent six years being a part-time playe.  With 9 HRs and seven SBs, he had a full-time job until he got huirt.  Again.
OF  Eric Hinske - Someone else who was written off as incapable of producing in the post-PED ERA.  The 31-year-old Hinske has 10 bombs and has made the Rays one of the best teams in the American League with a versatility that recalls the days of 20+ HR utility man Tony Phillips.
Honorable mentions: Xavier Nady - The 29-year-old Nady set career highs in ABs, HRs and RBIs last year with 431, 20 and 72 respectively.  Now he's hitting .321 with 9 HRs and 42 RBIs.
Nate McLouth - He spent his first three seasons bouncing from a .257 AVg to .233 back to .258.  Yeah, you thought he'd be hitting .311 right now with 12 HRs.
Carlos Quentin - A sleeper for many given the weak OF options the White Sox have used over the past couple seasons, but no one thought he'd be a leading candidate for the AL MVP.  Certainly not Arizona Diamondbacks' GM Josh Byrnes who gave a 31-year-old Eric Byrnes a three-year contract to play Quentin's position and then dealt him for a Low A 1B this past winter 

Here are my votes in Baseball Happenings'  Rotojunkie  in-season NL voting for the Big Three Awards.  The total votes should be available later this week.

NL CY Young:
1. Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati Reds
3. Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

The third place vote was the hardest.  It came down to Zambrano or Tim Lincecum.  Lincecum has more strikeouts and a better ERA, but I went with Zambrano for three reasons. 1.) He has allowed just one more run in 10.2 more innings 2.) he has pitched more innings and 3.) The Cubs are in 1st place

NL MVP:
1. Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
2. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
3. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves

This strays from my general rule of selecting MVPs from play-off teams, but the leading hitters from the 1st place clubs pale in comparison to these top three.  Chase Utley, Hanley Ramirez and Derreck Lee just don't compare to the overall production of Berkman, Pujols and Jones.

NL ROY:
1. Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs
2. Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta Braves
3. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

The first two choices were easy.  Soto has an OPS of .970 at a demanding defensive position, and Jurrjens is 6th in ERA as a rookie.  The final spot came down to Joey Votto and Kosuke Fukudome.  I went with Votto because his OPS is 46 points higher than Fukudome's OPS.  While the .407 OBP that Kosuke has given the Cubs is exactly what the team needed, I couldn't look past the middle-infielder-esque .420 OPS from the right fielder.

There has certainly been an outage of offense in the American League this season. The questions of why and for how long remain unanswered. Here is a list of the Top 3 players by position using Baseball Prospectus' VORP statistic. Note how much difference there is just between the top player and the third-best one. This would lead me to believe a Stars & Scrubs versus a balance approach may be the best fantasy strategy. Agree?

Also, note how poorly the OF VORP leaders due relative to the other position players. The top VORP is lower. This supports the contention that the OF is "shallow" relative to the other positions. However, the drop-off is not as dramatic. There could be more depth in the OF relative to other positions. This supports a strategy that focuses on acquiring the top positions player at the expense of OFs. Agree?

Finally, look at the top three DHs. This helps epxlain the drop in AL production this season. That extra hitter has struggled mightily. I bet the answer to this question goes a ways to explaining the production outage in the AL.

Baseball Happenings dynamic feature 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 enters its 4th week.  The NL voting will be available here  . 

Here is the way I voted.  My biases for voting in the Cy Young and MVP awards lean towards those hitters and pitchers playing on contending teams.  ROY determination is not tied are strongly to his team's record, but good rookies on expected play-off contenders will get additional consideration.

NL Cy Young:

1.  Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
2.  Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati Reds
3.  Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

8-0 on a 1st place team is a lock.  Coming in second is the ERA and Strikeout leader, Edinson Volquez, and closing fast is Chicago Cubs' ace Carlos Zambrano.  I'd expect Zambrano to surpass Volquez shortly, but, until then, I'll just marvel at what Volquez has accomplished.

NL MVP:
1.  Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
2.  Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3.  Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins

Lance Berkman leads the NL with a 1.235 OPS.  Add sixe stolen bases and you get the best hitter in the NL.  Chase Utley offers a 1.089 OPS and an NL-leading 13 HRs.  He just noses out Florida Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez as a result of those HRs.  Albert Pujols just missed with his .500 OBP, bhut I can't get too excited because of the mere 7 HRs.

NL ROY:
1.  Geovanny Soto, Chicago Cubs
2.  Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs
3.  Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

Chicago Cubs' catcher Geovanny Soto takes over the top spot with a 1.003 OPS.  Teammate Kosuke Fukudome falls to second because Soto's postion and SLG outpace Kosuke's excellent .481 OBP.  Reds' 1B joey Votto noses out Braves' SP Jair Jurrjens thanks to history-making 3HR/1Sb day.  He is also drawing some walks which should serve to keep his OBP respectable.  In a weaker field, Dodgers' 3B Blake DeWitt would get more props with a slash stat line of 323/398/479 - after doing worse between Hi A & AA last season!