First Half Awards

I know the first half of the season isn't technically over until Sunday, but since I'll be busy at FanFest all weekend, I decided that I'll hand out my First Half Awards a little early.  Some of them are fairly straightforward.  In fact, several of these awards are so obvious, they would most likely be unanimous at this point.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera-It's close between Miggy and Chris Davis, but I've gotta go with Cabrera.  He's running away with the AL batting title right now and has a 10-RBI lead on Davis.  Davis has three more home runs, but if Cabrera catches him, which I think he will, we have the potential for an unprecedented second straight Triple Crown.  If that happens, there won't be a discussion at the end of the season.  Another thing to keep in mind that gives a slight edge to Cabrera...he won the Triple Crown last year.  Everybody knows what he's capable of, and he's doing it anyway.  For a first place team.  Davis has been impressive for sure, but he kind of came out of nowhere in a lot of people's eyes.  What Robinson Cano has done can't be overlooked, either.

AL Cy Young: Max Scherzer-Um, yeah.  He's 13-0!  And don't give me that "wins are overvalued" nonsense.  How many other starters are undefeated in July?  Scherzer's also second in the AL in strikeouts and his WHIP is under 1.  He's the best pitcher on a team that includes Justin Verlander.  Even if Jim Leyland wasn't his manager, he'd be a lock to start for the AL on Tuesday night.

AL Rookie: Dan Straily-This was the toughest one for me, mostly because it's a wide open race.  Unlike last year with Mike Trout, who was obviously going to win by the All-Star break, there are no standout rookies in the American League.  That's why I'm going with Straily, who's stepped right into that Oakland rotation and has a 6-2 record for an A's team that's currently in first place.  Still plenty of time for others to emerge, though.

AL Comeback Player: Mariano Rivera-Duh.  I think they've already started engraving the award.

AL Manager: Joe Girardi-I was having a conversation about AL Manager of the Year the other day with a Red Sox fan who was looking through his red-colored glasses and said there's no question John Farrell has to win.  My response was, "Are you kidding?"  The Yankees are in playoff contention despite having already used as many players this year as they did all season in 2012, and doing so without all of their big names.  If they make the playoffs, Girardi wins hands down.  Even if they don't he still might.

NL MVP: Yadier Molina-Another tough one with plenty of legitimate candidates, but I think Yadier deserves his due.  He doesn't have the gaudy power numbers, but he leads the National League in hitting and is one double shy of the league lead (for good measure, he's also tied for fifth in hits).  Most importantly, he's a Gold Glove catcher and brilliantly handles that pitching staff.  They haven't missed a beat in the two seasons since Albert left, and Yadier Molina's the main reason why.

NL Cy Young: Adam Wainwright-I could give you a list of names of NL pitchers (probably everybody that pitches on Tuesday night), ask you to pick who you think is going to win the Cy Young, and get five different answers, none of which would be wrong.  But my choice would be Wainwright.  He's the best pitcher on the best team in baseball.  Wainwright leads the NL in wins, is third in ERA, fifth in strikeouts and has allowed just five home runs in 140.2 innings (the most in the National League).

NL Rookie: Yasiel Piug-I'm thrilled that enough people didn't get swept up in Puigmania and he was rightfully kept off the All-Star team.  But while I don't believe he deserved to be an All-Star, his numbers do blow away the rest of the NL rookie class.  He's this year's Harper and Trout rolled into one.  And Puig will almost certainly be the most recent Dodgers rookie sensation to win NL Rookie of the Year honors.  If he continues to put up numbers at the same pace, he'll probably get a bunch of MVP votes, too.

NL Comeback Player: Matt Garza-Of course, this is all dependent on him not getting traded to an AL team before the end of the season, but Garza has certainly had a nice bounce-back year after missing the second half of last year with an elbow injury.  He didn't make his 2013 debut until mid-May, but has been solid since.  He's 5-1 in 10 starts and has boosted that trade value right back up.  My guess is he ends the season on a team other than the Cubs and somebody else gets NL Comeback Player of the Year as a result.

NL Manager: Clint Hurdle-With all due respect to Kirk Gibson and Walt Weiss, who's clearly the top rookie manager in the majors, there's no question that the Pirates having the second-best record in baseball is one of the best stories of the first half.  This is a team that's endured 19 consecutive losing seasons!  We've gotten excited about the Pirates before, only to see them fizzle out in August and not even crack 80 wins, but this year does feel different.  Even if they fall short of the playoffs, snapping that losing-seasons streak locks up the award for Clint Hurdle.