Every November, I have fun when baseball awards season comes around and the debates are settled. But those awards go to the best players in baseball during the season. There are plenty of players and teams on the other end of the spectrum, though. And I feel it's time to honor them, as well. So, here we go with the first-ever MLB Anti-Superlatives.
I'm only including opposite awards for three of the four major awards--LVP, Cy Old and Mis-Manager. No rookie because it's rare that a struggling rookie will be left in the Majors long enough without getting sent to Triple A. Sure, Byron Buxton would almost certainly qualify...except he was in his fourth year with the Twins this season!
Don't worry, though. I do have a fourth "award" planned. It goes to the the executive/organization that screwed itself up the most through its offseason moves. Couldn't really think of a good name for that one, though. Actually, wait a second, I just did! Disorganization of the Year!
The inaugural winner of the National League Disorganization of the Year is none other than the Washington Nationals. Maybe firing Dusty Baker wasn't the best idea! Because clearly Dusty wasn't the problem. A team this good on paper should've run away with the NL East. Instead they were an absolute mess and found themselves as sellers in August. So, despite all the talent in Washington over the past few seasons, they don't have a single playoff series win to show for it. And it may all be over if Harper decides to leave as a free agent (which I don't think he will). If he does leave, talk about wasting Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer in their primes!
There are plenty of candidates in the AL, but two of the three 100-loss teams were supposed to be that bad, so you can't really blame mismanagement. There is one team that expected to be at least competitive and wasn't, though, which is why the American League Disorganization of the Year goes to the Minnesota Twins. They were a playoff team last year. This year they finished second in the AL Central. But finishing 13 games back in the worst division in baseball with a record of 78-84 isn't exactly a successful season. Then you throw in all the drama with Miguel Sano and Buxton both getting sent to the Minors during the year, and the 2018 season was just a mess in Minnesota.
My National League Mis-Manager of the Year is the Phillies' Gabe Kapler. Kapler gave us the first indication that he was in over his head early in the season, when he called for a reliever who wasn't even warming up to come into the game. Then the Phillies were surprisingly in contention throughout July and August. Then September came. And Philadelphia went 8-20, including an eight-game road trip where they got swept to knock them from contending for the NL East title to not even in the wild card discussion.
It's a little unfair to do this to him, but the American League Mis-Manager of the Year goes to Buck Showalter, formerly of the Orioles. Everyone knew Baltimore was going to be bad. But I don't think anybody expected them to be as awful as they were. Granted, they didn't give Buck much to work with, especially after the only two players on the team worth anything got traded to the NLCS participants. But how many of the 47 games they did win were because of shrewd managerial decisions?
One clarification about the Cy Old Award. It has nothing to do with the pitcher's age. So, the fact that Bartolo Colon pitched against the actual Cy Young is irrelevant for this discussion. No, it's an "award' for the worst pitcher in each league. In the AL, it's easy. But the NL required some real thinking. I even solicited candidates.
Ultimately, I decided to go with Homer Bailey of the Reds as the recipient of the National League Cy Old. For all the talk about how wins don't matter with Jacob de Grom, would you like to know how many wins Bailey finished with? One! And if you thought his 1-14 record was bad enough, it gets worse. Opponents hit .313 against him, he had a WHIP of 1.64 and his ERA was 6.09! Yet somehow he managed to make 20 starts for Cincinnati, a number that almost certainly would've been higher had he not spent six weeks on the DL. The Reds' record in those 20 games? 1-19.
Meanwhile, the American League Cy Old is the easiest of these eight awards to decide. It actually helped inspire tonight's post. And considering the Yankees' Sonny Gray didn't win much during the season, it's only fitting that he "wins" this. Incredibly, Gray lasted until the end of July in the rotation until the Yankees finally gave up on him. Even more remarkably, he ended the season with a winning record. But watching Sonny Gray was painful all year long. The likelihood of him making the Yankees' playoff roster was about as good as the likelihood of my making it.
Now on to the ultimate dishonor. The Least Valuable Player. And my National League LVP is the Padres' Eric Hosmer. Don't get me wrong. I love Eric Hosmer. I think he's one of the best first basemen in baseball. His first year in San Diego just didn't go that well. Maybe it was the new league. Maybe it was signing late. Maybe it was the contract. Whatever it was, things didn't quite work out for him in 2018. After seven brilliant years in Kansas City, he hit just .253 with 18 homers and 69 RBIs in 157 games during his first season with the Padres. Not horrible numbers. But not numbers that are worth $144 million over eight years, either. It's only been one year, but the Padres haven't gotten the same return on investment from Hosmer as the Red Sox have gotten from last winter's other big free agent signee, J.D. Martinez.
Finally, we've got the American League LVP, which is another easy one. There's only one person it could possibly go to. And that, of course, is Chris Davis of the Orioles. While Oakland's Khris Davis, Mr. .247 himself, emerged as an MVP candidate, the Baltimore version continued to steal the Orioles' money. Because if you thought his 2017 numbers (.215/26/61/195 K's) were bad, his 2018 was worse. Davis hit .168, the lowest among all American League qualifiers (lower than even Gary Sanchez), with just 16 home runs and 49 RBIs. He struck out more than 40 percent of the time (192 in 470 at bats) and somehow managed to slug under .300. And he's supposed to be a power hitter, mind you. By the way, there's still four years left on that seven-year/$161 million contract that gets worse by the year. Especially on a 115-loss team badly in need of a rebuild.
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