The early-season runner away CY Young leader, Brandon Webb, was roughed up by the Oakland A's last night to the tune of seven earned runs in 3 and a third innings of work.  This was his second poor start in a row with the previous one raising red flags when he was pulled after 58 pitches.  Following up that effort with a five walk affair last night gets the flag waving more briskly.

The question is whether there is anything more to this than a couple of unusual starts in a row.  I am cautious but not necessarily panicking.  I have had the opportunity to deal Webb over the past week and have agreed to do so once and decided against it in another.

The deal I accepted was in a shallow mixed-league where Webb's 11 Wins kept me close to second-to-last place in the category.  I accepted 2B Dan Uggla and full-time OF Juan Pierre.  The offer I turned down in an NL-Only.  It was SS Ryan Theriot, OF Chris B. Young and closer Francisco Cordero for Webb.

My motivation to deal Webb had more to do with roster needs than possible performance concerns - although that is a bonus if it turns out to be true.  I do wonder if I took too little in the shallowed mixed-league trade though.  I had been unable to deal Webb a couple weeks ago for Ryan Howard straight-up.

Now about Aaron Harang who got rung-up again this afternoon....

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?

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.

Pittsburgh Pirates CF Nate McLouth went 1-3 with three walks, his 11th HR and a stolen base.  How much of a fluke McLouth is right now is hard to determine, but since last year August, he has had 330 ABs and hit 21 HRs.  That extends McLouth's excellent first seven weeks by another eight.  He looks legitimate, no? 

Arizona Diamondback ace Brandon Webb moved to 9-0 on the season and now is the unanimous plus one choice for the NL Cy Young.  However, his 9th victory didn't exactly come against the "A" team of the Colorado Rockies.  Ryan Spillborghs in CF, Clint Barmes at SS, Jeff Baker at 3B and Javier Herrera at 2B is the kind of line-up that would even allow Justin Verlander to get a 2nd victory on the season.

The Yankees recalled SP Ian Kennedy to replace the awful Kei Igawa after just one start.  Kennedy allowed five runs in five innings yo increase his season ERA from 8.37 to 8.48.  Will this be the season the now-last-place Yankees do not rebound from a mediocre start?  At least their #3 hitter, Derek Jeter, collected a couple more singles.

Cleveland Indians reliever Rafeal Betancourt started the 9th inning to protect a 4-1 lead and proceeded to load the bases.  He was replaced by Masahide Kobayashi after loading the bases.  The closing failure in the Summer of '06 lloks to be more real than fluke for Betancourt.  Add him to the list of relievers who can't pitch effectively without the comfort of knowing their team will have a additional ABs to make-up for any mistakes made on the mound.

Philadelphia Phillies' 1B Ryan Howard hit his 9th HR last night.  In his last five plate appearances, he has homered twice and walked.  The chance to get Howard for 5th or 6th round value is quickly passing.

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!