MVP: Buster Posey
Along with taking home the hardware for comeback player of the year, he also capped off his return to the field with the ultimate player award, the MVP. With 20 first place votes and 422 total, Buster ran away from the rest of the pack. Buster's 7.2 bWAR (Baseball-reference Wins Above Replacement) paced the Senior Circuit and giving a small victory to stat-geeks everywhere. Ryan Braun followed up his 2011 MVP season with a second place finish in 2012. Rumor is he is appealing to the court of baseball claiming that the proper chain-of-command was not followed from the ballot box to the announcement. We all know how this turned out last year. Stay tuned.
Andrew McCutcheon fell victim to the Pittsburgh Pirates doing Pittsburgh Pirates things despite his 7.0 WAR season and winning a batting title. My man Kris Medlen got a little MVP love, walking away with eight points. Jay Bruce and his 1.4 bWAR got 31 more points than Clayton Kershaw and his 6.6 bWAR. Remember when I said "small victory?" Even Hunter Pence got a vote, now go buy a razor.
Cy Young: RA Dickey
Dickey was another runaway winner, tallying 27 first place votes during his "Where the hell did this come from season." 20 wins, check. ERA below three, check, 200+ strikeouts, check. He wasn't quite as Clayton Kershaw was, but sometimes the underdog just deserves to have his moment in the sun. He also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and trained with New York City firefighters. Renaissance Man, check.
Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman were stupid good this year and came in at fifth and eighth respectively. Poor Gio Gonzales led the NL in wins and could only amass one measly first place vote finishing third. You only pitched 199 innings Gio, it's your own fault.
Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper
Bryce Harper brought his fashion mohawk and swagger to the majors on the same day that Mike Trout did, and that is probably going to be what he gets remembered for. He put up a 5.0 bWAR in his rookie season at the clown age of 19. Impressive. The only "not runaway" voting in the NL as he edged out Wade Miley in first place votes 16-12, and total points at 112-105. What I really wanna know, is how Wade Miley came in second with his .169/.194/.200 slash line? Oh, he's a pitcher. Well that explains why he went 16-11 with a 1.182 WHIP. Wade? Babe Ruth is not impressed.
Todd Frazier did his best to spoil Harper's rookie season with a .273/.331/.498 slash line and for capably filling in for Joey Votto when he went down mid season. Sorry Todd, hype just can't be beat. But at least you didn't finish behind Jordan Pacheco and his -0.7 bWAR. Yeah he got a vote. Nice Writer's association, nice.
Manager of the Year: Davey Johnson
Davey Johnson is old, like, really old. Davey Johnson is so old that if he acted his age, he'd die. With 23 first place votes, Old Man River was another runaway winner in this year's voting, and to be honest, he should have been the only one on the ballot. After all, Johnson had to deal with the stigma that he was managing the Washington Nationals. No one ever expects anything from the Washington Nationals. Although it was nice to see Bud Black get a nod. Hey Bud, any chance we can get you to come back to Anaheim? None. Damnit.
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