The USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award is an award that exists, and Michael Pineda might win it! Or he might not. It is apparently at least in part up to you - the fan - to vote early, and on time, and late for the winner. This always goes well.
Anyway, go vote for Pineda. These awards may not mean a whole hell of a lot to us as fans, but I assure you they mean a lot to the players, and I, for one, would love to keep Pineda as happy as possible.
Or, if you're going to be an objective dick about it, here's the competition, from which you can make your choice:
The winner will be announced some time in early September. I don't know that Pineda is the best candidate of the five, but he is the most Mariner, a point which hasn't been getting enough attention.
The first and only Mariner to win this award in its 22-year history was Tino Martinez in 1990, when he...slugged .499 with Calgary? What was that all about? Slow year.
0 recs | 41 comments
Methinks a Braves Blog got there first...
Freddy Freeman is a very weak candidate out of this list, and is currently in front by a wide margin.
If I were voting with my non-homer camp it would be either Brown or Hellickson for sure, but Pineda’s good too.
slamcactus - August 24, 2010
cap*
slamcactus - August 24, 2010
I'd be inclined to give it to Moustakas but this is really tough
Jeff Sullivan - August 24, 2010
Vote Pineda!
Jeff Sullivan - August 24, 2010
You just like him because his name sounds like moustache
pdb - August 24, 2010
Freeman is not a "very weak" candidate. Not even in the context of the other three hitters
Matthew - August 24, 2010
We should Corco this one up a bit.
JY - August 24, 2010
Tino also batted .320 with 74 walks to 37 strikeouts that year!
chaney - August 24, 2010
Last place :(
Griffin Cooper - August 24, 2010
With the 1990 exchange rate Tino only slugged .430.
Sec 108 - August 24, 2010
Factor in that the Canadian dollar was worth .70 at the time, and he slugged like .290
But, seriously – I’m from Calgary, and went to like 40 Cannons games that year. Tino was really good. I’d rank him as the 3rd best Cannon ever after Edgar and Danny Tartabull. And Erik Hanson had a nice little 12 game winning streak his last season there, including a no hitter that I had to leave in the 6th inning to pick my mother up at the airport.
ICANHIT - August 24, 2010
Foothills Stadium is at altitude. I'd expect more power there.
I’m also from Calgary, and I’m on record stating that Calgary is a terrible place to play baseball. Altitude + wind + erratic weather.
Llewdor - August 24, 2010
It'd be hard not to favor Hellickson over Pineda
but TB has had enough accolades lately, and the Ms not nearly enough. Time to flex LLs internet-mob muscles.
Bearskin Rugburn - August 24, 2010
Age difference!
Jeff Sullivan - August 24, 2010
Is it hard because of league?
I don’t get that because Pineda is younger and has struck out one more in fewer innings, walked fewer in what looks like a lower BB/9 rate (I don’t feel like checking for sure). Hellickson has lower ERA and more innings but he is also older. I think it’s a tossup between the two if you’re trying to be objective.
Kirk - August 24, 2010
Um, yeah.
Nearly identical counting stats in AA/AAA is nowhere near as impressive as AAA/MLB
Matthew - August 24, 2010
Yeah but the age thing.
Kirk - August 24, 2010
But then again we're not evaluating these guys as prospects so the age thing shouldn't matter.
Never mind my above comment. I’m stupid.
Kirk - August 24, 2010
No, age matters
but really, why would you pick Pineda over Hellickson? Succeeding in MLB trumps a two year age difference. Especially for pitchers who don’t age like hitters.
Matthew - August 24, 2010
HititHere's point below may be pertinent -
Not sure how much we should care about big league performance for the MiLB POY. But then, Hellickson was still better.
Jeff Sullivan - August 24, 2010
That shouldn't be subjective. USA Today needs to state one way or another whether MLB performance can factor in.
I think it should, provided the player spent the majority of time in the minors. I see a case for it not.
Matthew - August 24, 2010
You are so right. All the good baseball awards are objective.
Oh shit.
HititHere - August 24, 2010
I fail to see the point of this comment
Matthew - August 24, 2010
Merely pointing out that your comment really does make sense
And what doesn’t make sense is that so many other, more “important” awards are just as subjective, if not more so.
HititHere - August 24, 2010
And that's a problem
Jeff Sullivan - August 24, 2010
Hellickson is pretty boring to watch in my opinion.
Kirk - August 24, 2010
Boring in that Halladay/Lee type of way?
Fuckmikereilly - August 24, 2010
I don't think MLB stats/performance should count towards the "Minor League Player of the Year" award.
HititHere - August 24, 2010
It's gonna come down to Hellickson and Pineda.
Marinerfanjake - August 24, 2010
I don't know, there's a lot of hype around Brown
But he did kind of fall on his face in the majors…
chaney - August 24, 2010
I find it quite interesting...
that as I am placing multiple votes for Pineda the total vote counter goes from 2353 back down to 2233. Do I see some collusion going on here?
jbpalm - August 24, 2010
Not that I would accuse anybody of doing anything shady with the results. But
It just did it again this time it rest from 2314 back to 2275.
jbpalm - August 24, 2010
I think John Lamb (Royals) had a shot to win this award about a month ago
Until he entered the AA stadium that allowed Moustakas to post unbelievable numbers
Boots 58 - August 24, 2010
Yeah, .499 in Calgary is like a slap-hitter
nathaniel dawson - August 24, 2010
How did A-Rod lose to Andruw Jones in 1995?
Double06 - August 24, 2010
Of course Pineda's in last place
Like we are supposed to be impressed with that? Greg Halman probably averages a strikeout and inning each game.
scotthawk - August 24, 2010
Tartabull should have won it in '85
I don’t even know if these numbers can possibly be correct:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=tartab001dan
Not the .615 SLG. But how could he hit 43HR with only 14 doubles? That’s mind boggling.
ICANHIT - August 24, 2010
Dang.
you can only vote once.
msb - August 25, 2010
Which makes it even more retarded that the article itself says "vote early and often."
It’s essentially saying “vote once, then give us empty page hits to help our bottom line.”
HititHere - August 25, 2010
One work, one home.
msb - August 25, 2010
As of this writing
Pineda’s in second, with 21% of 3039 votes
Jeff Sullivan - August 25, 2010
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