American League Cy Young Award

Felix Hernandez

Big King Felix took the Cy Young Award with five votes from our staff. In second was Justin Verlander with three and third was Chirs Sale with two. Jared Weaver, the imperfect Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, Josh Johnson all had one vote a piece.

American League MVP

Mike Trout

Mike Trout took home seven MMO votes to take our MVP award, and to think, he could have been a Met . Albert Pujols was second with three and the new Jay-Z client Robinson Cano was third with two.

AL Home Run Champ

Jose Bautista

Brief but former Met Jose Bautista received six votes to become our preseason home run king. Prince Fielder was second with three tallies.

AL Batting Champion

Mike Trout and Robinson Cano

We have a tie! At four votes a piece, Mike Trout and Robinson Cano were voted co-batting champs. Miguel Cabrera was behind them at three. Josh Hamilton and Joe Mauer had two.

AL Stolen Base Leader

Mike Trout

I’m starting to see a theme here, something seems a little fishy. Mike Trout leads the American League with five votes. Michael Bourn with his new Indians at four and former-met speedster Jose Reyes in third at two picks.

AL Rookie Of The Year

Wil Myers

Now Tampa Bay Rays prospect Wil Myers is our choice for ROY at seven votes. Trevor Bauer had three, and Jurickson Profar and Dylan Bundy nabbed two a piece.

AL Comeback Player Of The Year

Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera gets our nod for Comeback Player at five tallies. Jose Bautista had himself four votes. Lance Berkman, Jacoby Ellsbury took home two a piece, hell even Jason Bay got thrown a bone from Jessep!

So that’s our 2013 A.L. Award predictions, hope you enjoyed… We’ll have the National League posted later today. In the mean time, here is how our staff voted individually. Feel free to comment with your own AL predictions!

Joe D.

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez

AL MVP: Mike Trout

AL Homerun Champ: Prince Fielder

AL Batting Leader: Robinson Cano

AL Stolen Base Leader: Mike Trout

AL ROY: Trevor Bauer

AL Comeback Player: Jacoby Ellsbury

Paul Zinn

AL Cy Young – Felix Hernandez

AL MVP – Robinson Cano

AL Homerun Champ – Albert Pujols

AL Batting Leader – Miguel Cabrera

AL Stolen Base Leader – Jose Reyes

AL Rookie of the Year -Trevor Bauer

AL Comeback Player – Mariano Rivera

Clare Laferty

AL Cy Young – Felix Hernandez

AL MVP – Mike Trout

Michael Barrett

AL Cy Young – David Price

AL MVP – Mike Trout

AL Homerun Champ – Mark Trumbo

AL Batting Leader – Miguel Cabrera

AL Stolen Base Leader – Mike Trout

AL Rookie of the Year -Jurickson Profar

AL Comeback Player – Mariano Rivera

Vinny B.

AL Cy Young – Jered Weaver

AL MVP – Albert Pujols

AL HR Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader -Robinson Cano

AL Stolen Base Leader – Desmond Jennings

AL Rookie of the year – Will Myers

AL Comeback player of the year – Lance Berkman

Matt Balasis

AL Cy Young – David Price

AL MVP – Jose Bautista

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Joe Mauer

AL Stolen Base Leader – Jose Reyes

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Jose Bautista

Joe Spector

AL Cy Young – Justin Verlander

AL MVP – Albert Pujols

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Robinson Cano

AL Stolen Base Leader – Brett Gardner

AL Rookie of the Year – Dylan Bundy

AL Comeback Player – Jose Bautista

Jessep

AL Cy Young – Felix Hernandez

AL MVP – Prince Fielder

AL Homerun Champ – Prince Fielder

AL Batting Leader – Mike Trout

AL Stolen Base Leader – Jose Altuve

AL Rookie of the Year – Trevor Bauer

AL Comeback Player – Jason Bay

Rob (Tie Dyed)

AL Cy Young – Chris Sale

AL MVP – Mike Trout

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Billy Butler

AL Stolen Base Leader – Jose Reyes

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Jose Bautista

Connor

AL Cy Young – Justin Verlander

AL MVP – Miguel Cabrera

AL Homerun Champ – Adam Dunn

AL Batting Leader – Joe Mauer

AL Stolen Base Leader – Michael Bourn

AL Rookie of the Year – Dylan Bundy

AL Comeback Player – Eric Hosmer

Clayton Collier

AL Cy Young – Matt Harrison

AL MVP – Robinson Cano

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Miguel Cabrera

AL Stolen Base Leader – Michael Bourn

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Victor Martinez

Gerry Silverman

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez

AL MVP: Mike Trout

AL Homerun Champ: Prince Fielder

AL Batting Leader: Mike Trout

AL Stolen Base Leader: Mike Trout

AL ROY: Jurickson Profar

AL Comeback Player: Jacob Ellsbury

Adam Rossi

AL Cy Young – Yu Darvish

AL MVP – Mike Trout

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Mike Trout

AL Stolen Base Leader – Mike Trout

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Jose Bautista

Dan Valis

AL Cy Young – David Price

AL MVP – Jose Bautista

AL Homerun Champ – Jose Bautista

AL Batting Leader – Josh Hamilton

AL Stolen Base Leader – Michael Bourn

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Mariano Rivera

XtreemIcon

AL Cy Young – Justin Verlander

AL MVP – Evan Longoria

AL Homerun Champ – Josh Hamilton

AL Batting Leader – Josh Hamilton

AL Stolen Base Leader – Emilio Bonafacio

AL Rookie of the Year – Wil Myers

AL Comeback Player – Mariano Rivera

Gregg Hopps

AL Cy Young -Josh Johnson

AL Batting Leader -Mike Trout

AL Comeback Player -Mariano Rivera

Jim Mancari

AL Cy Young – Chris Sale

AL MVP – Albert Pujols

AL Homerun Champ – Albert Pujols

AL Batting Leader – Robinson Cano

AL Stolen Base Leader – Michael Bourn

AL Rookie of the Year – Jurickson Profar

AL Comeback Player – Lance Berkman

The 2013 All-World Baseball Classic team was announced Wednesday, and the squad is riddled with Mets both current and former alike.

Of course “Captain America” aka David Wright, who’s .438 batting average and 10 RBIs earned him the nickname made the team. Wright was also the only American to make the cut.

From the reigning champion Dominican Republic, former Met spark plug and current Blue Jay Jose Reyes made the team as did former Mets prospect Nelson Cruz.

Finally hailing from Puerto Rico, Angel Pagan and former swingman Nelson Figueroa were also selected, playing integral roles in bringing Puerto Rico to the finals.

Fans and media combined to pick the team sponsored by MetLife. Fernando Rodney, Yadier Molina, and Robinson Cano were among some of the others chosen.

To view the full roster selected to the All-WBC team, you can do so by clicking here.

I laughed out loud when I read one of the teams should be the Mets. Seriously, how could anybody write that and have the readers keep a straight face?

Regardless of Fred Wilpon’s desire to spend money next year, it won’t be on Cano for four significant reasons.

First, the Mets won’t bring in anybody for more than the $138 million package they gave David Wright. He’s a homegrown franchise player and nobody will beat that amount, at least not in the next year. Five years from now, maybe. But, not in 2014.

Secondly, the Yankees would never let them be beaten out by the Mets for a player they both sought. The Mets can’t go toe-to-toe with the Yankees financially regardless of how much money Wilpon wants to spend.

Both the Mets and Yankees wanted Carlos Beltran, but the Yankees cooled at the end. Even after getting his final offer from the Mets, Boras went back to the Yankees one last time. Boras wanted the Bronx, but for that price the Yankees were concerned about Beltran’s mental toughness in the New York market.

Third, if the opening figures are to be believed – $175 million over seven years from the Yankees and a $225 million demand over ten years from Boras – there’s no way the Mets could, or should, compete on that level.

Both numbers are excessive, and the Mets have too many holes that can be filled for that amount.

Which brings us to the final reason: As good as Cano is, he’s not enough to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the Mets. Cano will go to a team capable of winning in the present, not in two or three years. The only exception is Boston. The Red Sox are antagonistic enough to go after Cano in part to aggravate the Yankees, but also know losing him hurts the Yankees. That’s what they did with Bernie Williams andAndy Pettitte, and it is easy to see that happening with Cano.

Cano is a marvelous talent, even if he doesn’t always run out ground balls or work the count, but he’s not worth that much money. Hell, the Yankees would be smart if they told Boras their offer is of the take-it-or-leave-it variety.

Considering how they are being burned by the Alex Rodriguez contract, and the rebuilding they have to do when Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, C.C. Sabathia and Pettitte are gone, they’d be smart to spread those dollars around and let Cano go, even if it meant Boston.

It seems that there is a portion of the fan base that still doesn’t think that Daniel Murphy is the second baseman of the future for the New York Mets. Maybe it’s because it looks as if Murphy is an extra outfielder at times, based on where he positions himself (short right field), but I can assure you he does play second base. And yes Mets fans, he has done enough in 2012 to be considered the everyday second baseman.

I wrote a piece about a month ago regarding how well Murphy has done this year at second base for the Mets (you can refer to it here). I will be the first to admit, I didn’t think Murphy was going to be able to adjust to second base. I thought it was a joke… another Met player playing out of position…this will never work…yadda yadda yadda.

Defensively, he still has some work to do. But offensively, he is a prototypical second baseman. He ranked in the top ten in almost every major offensive category for second baseman – in some categories he was in the top five. So why are there still some Mets fans that are not happy with Murphy? Is it his power? Is it his below average defensive skills? What is it?

I know what it is. There are Mets fans out there that won’t be happy no matter who is playing second base. They made up their mind two years ago that they didn’t like Murphy. How well he plays won’t make a difference. Fans don’t like admitting that they’re wrong. It doesn’t matter that he was one of the most consistent offensive players for the Mets this year. It doesn’t matter that this guy has worked his butt off to try and learn a new position in order to try and turn the Mets into a winning team. No, these fans won’t be happy unless there is a superstar at every position. The problem with that thinking is that it isn’t logical.

I’ve heard the argument that the Mets should trade Murphy. I reply to that question with another question – why would you trade him? What do you expect to get back in return? You aren’t going to lure any top prospects from other organizations in the league, and in the process, you are giving away a very good ball player. Stop the madness, and be happy that Murphy has progressed defensively to the point where he could actually become one of the top second baseman in the game based on his offensive output. Yes, I went there – and I believe it. I didn’t think that pre-2012, but I believe it now.

Everyone wants Robinson Cano at second base, but players of his caliber don’t come around very often. No matter what some people believe, at this point, there is no better option for the Mets at second base. In fact, offensively we will be downgrading at the position if they shift away from Murphy. Murphy will never hit 20 homeruns, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t be one of the more productive offensive second baseman in the game. He was ranked third amongst second baseman in batting average in 2012, and ranked in the top five in doubles. That is outstanding offensive production from a guy hitting in the two- hole. Again, I ask the Mets fans that are Murphy doubters – what more do you want from your second baseman?

Murphy will continue to progress defensively, and before long, everyone will forget that we had these discussions questioning whether or not Murphy can be an everyday second baseman. Because the truth of the matter is, he already is an everyday second baseman. If the nay-sayers would take off their blinders, accept that statement, and reflect on the season Murphy had in 2012, they will see that the future is pretty bright with Murphy at second base.

You can Follow Mitch Petanick on Twitter for more New York Mets and baseball insights by clicking here.

Without further ado, I present the first ever FPM All-Stars… 

Catcher – Yadier Molina

Yadier narrowly edged out Buster Posey simply because only 37 players were successful when stealing bases with Molina behind the plate in 2012. He threw out a ridiculous 47% of runners attempting to nab a base. Did I mention he put up some dynamite offensive numbers as well? He’s hitting .321, to go along with 20 HR and a .888 OPS. His WAR, for you sabermetric fans, is currently a 6.8.

First Base – Prince Fielder

Every team deserves a prince. Fielder put up very solid offensive numbers again this year hitting .304, to go along with 27 HR and 101 RBI. Any guy that swings the bat with the intensity of a kid trying to knock the candy out of a piñata will always have a spot on the FPMASs. With that monster swing, he only struck out 77 times in 537 AB this year – awesome.

Second Base – Robinson Cano

Is there any question regarding who would be the second baseman on this team? No need to go through the stats, but he’s hitting .299 with 30 HR this year. There’s always next year Aaron Hill.

Shortstop – Derek Jeter

Does this guy get old? He’s having one of the finest offensive seasons of his career, to go along with his solid defense at the all-important position of shortstop. Jeet is currently hitting .323, to go along with 30 2B and 15 HR. I love that his uniform is always dirty, and there’s always room on the FPMASs for future Hall of Famers.

Third Base – Miguel Cabrera

Can you say Triple Crown? Barring some sort of ridiculous slump we will have our first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. He is currently hitting .333, with 41 HR and 130 RBI. Triple Crown winners can play whatever position they want on FMPASs, but Miguel will be a third base. 

Left Field – Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton is the best player in baseball – period. I don’t care if he’s listed as a center fielder, he’s playing left field for the FPMASs. Ryan Braun might be upset with me, but nobody can argue with a stat line of .287/42/123. Josh Hamilton will retire from this game as a legend, and legends are always welcome on the FPMASs.

Center Field – Mike Trout

I really had a hard time with this one. My heart was yelling Andrew McCutchen, but my brain kept whispering Trout. They both play a ridiculous center field. They both hit for average and power. It really came down to the stolen bases. Mike Trout was simply the better all-around player this year. For a rookie to put a team on his shoulders, when Albert Pujols is on the team, says enough. For you sabermetric fans, Trout leads the league with a 10.1 WAR.

Right Field – Giancarlo Stanton

The player formerly known as Mike. This guy hits moon shots. I watched him at batting practice down at Citi Field in early August, and his upper deck blasts were jaw dropping. I would love to see how many homeruns this kid could hit in a season if he could stay healthy. Only three right fielders had a higher WAR than Stanton this year, and Jay Bruce may play on a better team, but Stanton is a better player.

Designated Hitter – Edwin Encarnacion

Who can argue with 40 HR, 120 RBI, and a .280 batting average from your DH position? ‘Nuff said.

Starting Pitcher – R.A. Dickey

Come on…you knew I was getting a New York Met on this team somewhere. Dickey has been one of the very few reasons Mets fans have had to smile all year. With 18 wins, 205 Ks, 2.67 ERA, and in the discussion for a Cy Young award – Dickey is the clear choice as the FPMASs starting pitcher. Now we gotta get Molina one of those crazy big catcher’s mitts for when Dickey throws his “Dancing Destroyer.”

Closer – Fernando Rodney

This guy is lights out and wears his hat cockily tilted to the side. Love it. With 43 saves, a ridiculously minuscule 0.66 ERA, and 68K in 68 innings pitched – I will be tapping my right arm as I walk out to the mound in the ninth inning to replace Dickey.

* * * * * * * *

So there it is, the first ever FirstPitchMitch All-Star Team. The baseball gods are happy with my choices, but what about the readers? Use the comment section below if you have any conflicting player choices you would like to share.

Jose Bautista and Matt Kemp Win Hank Aaron Award.

Both Kemp and Bautista were honored this past week with the Hank Aaron Award. This award was first given to players in 1999 to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Aaron breaking Ruth’s career home run mark and is intended for the player in each league with the most impressive offensive performance. The MLB-sanctioned award is voted on by the fans and select Hall of Famers. Bautista was awarded with this honor for the second year in a row. He had an impressive year with a career-best .302 average, 43 home runs, and 103 RBI. He is the first American Leaguer since Babe Ruth in 1930 to hit 40 home runs, walk 130 times, and steal nine bags. Matt Kemp had a career year for the Dodgers, hitting .324 with 39 home runs, and 126 RBI. Kemp competed for the Triple Crown, finishing third in the batting race, and leading the league in home runs, RBI, runs scored, and total bases. He also finished in the top-ten in seven other offensive categories.

Oswalt and Lidge Get 2012 Options Declined By Philadelphia.

The two former teammates for the Houston Astros both had their 2012 options declined by the Philadelphia Phillies, but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has stated that the organization will think about resigning both of the pitchers. Instead of paying a combined $28.5 million for their services next season, the front office spent $3.5 million total on their buyout clauses. Since being acquired from the Astros on July 29, 2010, Oswalt has racked up 16 wins and a 2.96 ERA with the Phillies, but he had an uneven year at best, going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA in 23 starts. Lidge has been struggling since he was perfect during Philadelphia’s run to the 2008 World Series, going 0-2 with one save and a 1.40 ERA in only 25 appearances this year. I will be interested to see what Philly does with these two players as they try and bounce back from their early exit in the playoffs this year. For Mets fans, there has been a nice trend since the Phillies have taken ownership of the NL East; as the organization spends more money, their exit in the playoffs become sooner and sooner. So, we’ll see what happens in 2012.

Scott Boras Makes the Yankees Sweat.

Already with GM Brian Cashman and the Yankees wanting to make sure that they will be able to keep CC Sabathia as the ace of their rotation for years to come, they had to deal with Scott Boras making “jokes” about getting a contract extension for 2^nd baseman Robinson Cano. By far the best hitter in the New York line-up, Cano has two options left in his contract, next year’s for $14 million and a $15 million option in 2013. With Boras trying to see if New York would be willing to drop the options in favor of an extension, it just proves once again that he is greedy and why MLB organizations hate dealing with him every off-season. Brian Cashman is making the smart move right now to keep Cano’s contract the way it is because he’s starting to see that handing out big money and a lot of years doesn’t pay off in the end (i.e. Alex Rodriguez).

Cardinals Come Back From 3-2 Series Deficit To Win 11^th Title.

Well, the team of destiny now has their championship. Going back to St. Louis down 3-2 to the Rangers, the Cardinals stared adversity right in the eyes and won their 11^th World Championship, second in the last five years. After one of the most exciting games ever played in Game 6, the first Game 7 since 2002 was back and forth for the first half, but Chris Carpenter gave a gutsy performance on three days’ rest and St. Louis pulled away to celebrate their championship at home. The series clincher was the most watched MLB game since the Red Sox ended their curse against the Cardinals in 2004. St. Louis 3^rd baseman David Freese received MVP honors, hitting .348, with one home run, seven RBI, and some of the biggest hits in World Series history. Congratulations to the Cardinals, and bring on the Hot Stove!

Free Agent Frenzy To Commence.

Now that the World Series has come to a close and the offseason is officially upon us, the frenzy to sign free agents for 2012 and beyond will soon begin. Some analysts have said that the market is thin this year in certain positions, but it doesn’t lack big names; with names like CJ Wilson, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Nathan, Jose Reyes, maybe CC Sabathia, and others, it proves to be an interesting winter. Here’s to hoping that it goes quickly and Valentine’s Day comes so pitchers and catchers can report!