Atlanta Braves First, Baseball Always – It’s Awards Time!
By Dan Horton
How About Some Hardware, Folks?
Anyone associated with Tomahawk Take is an Atlanta Braves fan, first and foremost, there’s no doubt about that. However, I would venture to say that even though we’re all Braves fans, we are also, just as much baseball fans. I love the end of the year voting period!
I’m a lifetime member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA). The proverbial red-headed stepchild the BBWAA (the ‘old guard’ for voting on anything baseball related) wishes not to acknowledge. Anyway, I digress.
As a member of the IBWAA, we are given the opportunity to vote on the end of the year awards, with voting closing on Sunday, 4 October. We’re also given a ballot for Hall of Fame voting in December.
Since we’re all baseball fans, I wanted to share my ballot for the end of the year winners I chose. It’s important to bear in mind, that these votes aren’t combined with the official votes counted for these awards. Though, we are pushing to be recognized as an entity equal to the BBWAA whose votes should be included with the senior organization. Most publishing is done via the Internet anyway now, so what’s the big deal, right?
The Envelope, Please!
Anyway, here are my votes for each leagues MVP, Cy Young, ROY, Manager, and Reliever of the year. Albeit without controversy, I’m sure. I’ll start in the Junior Circuit, AKA the American League.
- AL MVP: Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays
- AL Cy Young: David Price, Blue Jays
- AL ROY: Carlos Correa, Astros
- AL Manager: John Gibbons, Blue Jays
- AL Reliever: Cody Allen, Indians
In the NL, this is how my selections lineup.
- NL MVP: Bryce Harper, Nationals
- NL Cy Young: Jake Arrieta, Cubs
- NL ROY: Kris Bryant, Cubs
- NL Manager: Terry Collins, Mets (this was a tough choice. I had Matheny from St. Louis but changed)
- NL Reliever: Trevor Rosenthal, Cardinals (another tough one. Either Melancon (PIT) or Familia (NYM) could have gone here.)
For my first ever attempt at voting for these awards, I felt pretty good about it. But it was by no means easy. I always thought it would be, and used to ridicule those who voted for such awards. It’s a different ballgame when you’re the one actually voting. Some of these were no-brainers. Others, not so much.
Please keep in mind, again, these do not count toward the actual votes for these awards, and are my opinion based on my review of the season for each. Once the official results are announced, the IBWAA will compare to see where we ended up as a whole.
From a fan’s perspective, this was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to fill one out. I can’t wait to see how the vote shakes down. From a writers stand point, especially one who covers the Atlanta Braves, a lot of the NL choices were as close to sacrilege as you can get. Maintaining an objective approach was easier said than done!
My Ballot for the end of the year awards for 2015
Just so you can see, here is how my full ballot turned out. Here is where the debate starts; and that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. This sort of thing is not an easy task. You may agree, you may not.
The IBWAA
For those of you interested or curious about the Internet Baseball Writers Association, you can find out more at IBWAA.com. There is no wait to join, no hoops to jump through, and no requirement to have been a writer of baseball for 10 years or more. However, you do need to be able to produce personal pieces about baseball, in case you are asked to. It’s a great organization with esteemed writers from blogging, website, local, and national coverage.
Keep On Chopin’ Braves Country!