Mid season awards

AL MVP - Jose Bautista, with Gonzalez is a clear number 2 above the rest of the pack.

AL CY - Justin Verlander, although Shields or Weaver I wouldn't argue with.

NL MVP - Jose Reyes, with pardons to Berkman, Fielder, and the rest of them.

NL CY - Pick one from Halladay, Hamels, or Lee. Hanson is better than Jurrjens by a bit, and Kershaw is close behind the Philly Three.

Did CC get snubbed?

Here's the AL pitcher's on the All Star game roster

P Josh Beckett, BOS
P Aaron Crow, KC
P Gio Gonzalez, OAK
P Felix Hernandez, SEA
P Brandon League, SEA
P Chris Perez, CLE
P David Price, TB
P Mariano Rivera, NYY
P James Shields, TB
P Jose Valverde, DET
P Justin Verlander, DET
P Jered Weaver, LAA
P C.J. Wilson, TEX

We can eliminate Crow and Gonzalez since they are their teams only representative. The starting pitchers are

P Josh Beckett, BOS
P Felix Hernandez, SEA
P David Price, TB
P James Shields, TB
P Justin Verlander, DET
P Jered Weaver, LAA
P C.J. Wilson, TEX

Beckett, Price, Shields, Verlander, and Weaver clearly deserve appearances over CC, leaving Wilson and Hernandez as possible problems. But looking at Wilson, CC, and Hernandez without their names attached I have a hard time picking one over the others. So clearly he wasn't snubbed here.

The relievers are
P Brandon League, SEA
P Chris Perez, CLE
P Mariano Rivera, NYY
P Jose Valverde, DET

Rivera and League are excellent closers this year and deserve to be in the game. Perez and Valverde are question marks. The love of the closer is overshadowing some excellent relief pitching elsewhere in the AL. Koji Uehara (38IP,50K/8BB,WHIP 0.79) and Daniel Bard (41IP,40K/11BB,WHIP 0.83) have been great, and Kyle Farnsworth is a better closer than Perez and Valverde. Who thought that we'd ever say anything close to that about Kyle Farnsworth? Perez isn't even the best relief pitcher on his team, with Vinnie Pestano and Tony Sipp being more deserving of the all star game in my opinion.

CC certainly belongs over Perez and Valverde if you think only the best relievers should make the team, but does he deserve to get in over Uehara and Bard? That question I don't really have an answer to, but CC is certainly not as big a snub as everyone keeps saying. The question is "Is CC more deserving than the best setup men in the AL?". The answer is probably, but anyone blowing this out of proportion needs to understand good players get snubbed every year, looks like it's CC's turn.

King Felix wins Cy!

I would have no problem with Lee or Weaver winning it either. Anybody else that should have been in the conversation? Second tier for me was Marcum, Sabathia, Price, Lester, Verlander, Lewis, and some others depending on where you draw the line.

Uggla to Braves!

From USA Today

Uggla for Infante and Dunn. Good deal? How much better are the braves?

Free agent destinations: Derek Jeter

Question, is there anyplace Derek Jeter could play besides the Yankees? I have a few ideas. For one, he's a better hitter than people in WAS, KC, OAK, PIT, TB, CIN, TEX, LAA, MIL, BAL. Of those teams, I'd remove TEX, MIL, TB, WAS, and LAA because they seem to be betting on their young shortstops to develop. I'd remove KC, OAK, PIT for money reasons.

Of those that are left, only CIN and BAL would seem like teams who could afford a player of Jeter's stature. The Reds declined Cabrera's option, which almost makes me think they want to go young and cheap no matter how much they risk the offensive production. Baltimore seems to be rebuilding, and betting on an aging player may not be a move they would consider. SF has a hole if they don't like Uribe, but for some reason I can't see SF paying big bucks for a shortstop.

So how much do the Yankees end up paying Derek Jeter?

Rangers/Giants?

So, now that the league championships are settled, what are the opinions on Rangers/Giants?

I personally like Lee over Lincecum in Game 1. I like Hamilton, Murphy, and Moreland against Lincecum more than I like anybody against Lee. Lincecum should still pitch well against Texas, but seeing him give up 3 in 7 is not unlikely.

I like Cain over Wilson in game 2, but I may be higher on Cain than most. He should be susceptible to the Long ball in Arlington, but in San Fran I believe he can produce. Should be another good game.

Sanchez/Lewis in Game 3. Lewis is vulnerable to lefties, but outside of Huff, I think he can make a good matchup with the Giants lineup. If Sanchez can't strikeout this lineup, then I think Texas can get it done with Hamilton and Vlad and Cruz. Hamilton is not great against lefties, but he is protected by Vlad and Cruz, who can mash them.

Game 4, maybe nobody benefits from SF's lineup more than Tommy Hunter. He seems to struggle to get lefties out, and is vulnerable to the long ball from both sides. Keeping guys off base for the long balls give Texas a chance. Bumgardner has to figure out a way to get the righty heavy lineup of Texas to stay in the yard. Expect the difference in this game to be how many men are on base when the long balls fly.

I don't really want to call any game, but I like Texas, Giants, Texas, Texas. Not by much in any game though. Game 3 is tough to call, and Game 4 seems like a crapshoot.

Rangers/Yankee's chances

Looks like I made some mistakes in the rotations. Fixing that though, Rangers have a 3-1 lead. Do the Yankees really have a shot?

Game 5	Sabathia	Wilson	3/5
Day off
Game 6	Hughes	Lewis	1/2
Game 7	Pettite	Lee	1/5

So what am I taking into account? Well, first Tex is gone. Despite his 0-fer, I belive it is a slight downgrade in the Yankees offense. Swisher at first also produces a downgrade in their defense. Sabathia and Wilson with the Yankees at home makes me favor the Yankees slightly, but Wilson is underrated. Hughes/Lewis basically get the same odds as before. Lee versus Pettite played out as predicted. Pettite has to be perfect to beat him but will make a mistake or two, while Lee has a really good chance to only make one all night and a good chance to make none.

Yankees Win 4-3	3/50
Rangers Win 4-1	20/50
Rangers Win 4-2	15/50
Rangers Win 4-3	12/50

So there you go, I feel like the Yankees have a 6% chance to win this. Time to think about the NL.