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Award season: Who takes home the trophies

Ted Berg   | Paste BN Sports

Before the postseason began, Paste BN Sports' panel of 10 writers and editors voted on their choices for Major League Baseball's awards, the winners of which will be announced this week, starting Monday. Here are our choices:

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American League MVP

- Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels: For the third consecutive season, the Angels' wunderkind center fielder led all major league position players in wins above replacement (WAR). Trout, 23, finished second to Miguel Cabrera in AL MVP voting in his first two seasons.

But Trout became our panel's unanimous choice for the 2014 hardware after his Angels finished with the sport's best record during the regular season.

Trout led the league in runs for the third consecutive year. He led in RBI despite batting second in the Angels lineup in all but two of his 157 games. He ranked among the game's best in numerous offensive categories to bother listing, covered plenty of ground in center and ran well on the bases despite a career-low 16 steals.

In short, he remained the best player in baseball and looks likely to win the MVP Award, even though 2014 arguably was Trout's worst season in the majors to date. Trout's batting average dropped nearly 40 points, and he set a career high with 184 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, advanced defensive metrics -- fluky though they can be -- suggest he did not field quite as well as he did in 2012 and 2013.

It speaks to Trout's ability, of course, that he remained so good despite all that.

The Detroit Tigers' Victor Martinez enjoyed a career year at age 35, smacking 32 homers and leading the league in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS), to finish second in our voting.

Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley somewhat quietly turned in an outstanding all-around season to come in third.

Voting was tabulated with 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third, seven for fourth, etc.:

Player, team (first-place votes) / Points

  1. Mike Trout, Angels (10) / 140
  2. Victor Martinez, Tigers / 82
  3. Michael Brantley, Indians / 75
  4. Robinson Cano, Mariners / 63
  5. Nelson Cruz, Orioles / 50
  6. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays / 43
  7. Josh Donaldson, Athletics / 34
  8. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers / 30
  9. Jose Abreu, White Sox / 28
  10. Alex Gordon, Royals / 14

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National League MVP

- Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: The ace received seven of 10 first-place votes. Kershaw's position likely worked against him in the voting, as many think pitchers -- already honored annually with the Cy Young Award -- do not factor in enough of their teams' games to merit MVP awards. And Kershaw missed all of April because of a back strain and made 27 starts on the season.

The vast majority of those 27 were incredible. Kershaw led all major league starters in ERA for the fourth consecutive season with a career-low 1.77 mark. He appeared to rein in his already impeccable command, allowing him to throw breaking balls more often and induce more swings and less contact than before.

Kershaw narrowly beat out Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen in our voting. McCutchen, the 2013 NL MVP, not only led the NL in OPS but also played through a late-season rib injury to lead Pittsburgh back to the postseason. Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton is expected to make a full recovery after taking a fastball to the face Sept.11, but the injury likely cost him the shot he had at the award.

Voting on a 14-9-8-7, etc. basis:

  1. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (7) / 120
  2. Andrew McCutchen, Pirates (3) / 104
  3. Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins / 79
  4. Anthony Rendon, Nationals / 65
  5. Buster Posey, Giants / 63
  6. Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers / 39
  7. Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers / 30
  8. Josh Harrison, Pirates / 20
  9. Yasiel Puig, Dodgers / 17
  10. Jayson Werth, Nationals / 11

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AL Cy Young Award

- Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners; Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians: The Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians aces share our honors after they turned in outstanding seasons.

Hernandez enjoyed arguably the best season of his already stellar big-league career, leading the AL in ERA and WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) as he earned his fifth All-Star nod, helping the Mariners to an unlikely (if ultimately failed) postseason chase. He threw 236 innings at 28.

Kluber led all major league pitchers -- Kershaw included -- in WAR. With a sinking two-seam fastball and a devastating curveball, the right-hander went 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA in 2014, striking out 269 batters in 235 2/3 innings.

A late-April muscle strain cost Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale about six starts and his chance at his first Cy Young.

Voting on a 7-4-3-2-1 basis:

  1. Felix Hernandez, Mariners (5) / 55
  2. Corey Kluber, Indians (5) / 55
  3. Chris Sale, White Sox / 23
  4. Max Scherzer, Tigers / 19
  5. Jon Lester, Athletics / 10

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NL Cy Young Award

- Kershaw: Kershaw might not quite be a lock for the NL MVP, but he'll run away with the Cy Young Award. The 26-year-old's career year in 2014 should net him his third in the last four seasons.

Only eight pitchers before Kershaw have won three or more Cy Young awards. Five are Hall of Famers, two aren't eligible yet and one is Roger Clemens.

Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto earned nine of 10 second-place votes in our survey after a stellar 20-9 season that saw him yield a 2.24 ERA despite pitching his home games in cozy Great American Ball Park.

Voting on a 7-4-3-2-1 basis:

  1. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (10) / 70
  2. Johnny Cueto, Reds / 39
  3. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals / 31
  4. Madison Bumgarner, Giants / 14
  5. Jordan Zimmerman, Nationals / 9

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AL Rookie of the Year

- Jose Abreu, White Sox: The AL's rookie class was so loaded young Kansas City Royals fireballer Yordano Ventura got one third-place vote despite emerging as one of the very best starters on a postseason team. Abreu, who joined the White Sox on a six-year, $68 million free agent contract last offseason after defecting from Cuba, swept our first-place votes thanks to a sensational debut that saw him finish in the AL's top five in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs and RBI.

Angels right-handed pitcher Matt Shoemaker, a 28-year-old undrafted free agent, finished second in our voting after a stunning late-season run of success after his team lost starters Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards to injuries.

Dellin Betances struck out 135 batters in 90 innings out of the New Yankees bullpen and notched a 1.40 ERA to place third.

Voting on a 5-3-1 basis:

  1. Jose Abreu, White Sox (10) / 50
  2. Matt Shoemaker, Angels / 15
  3. Dellin Betances, Yankees / 13

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NL Rookie of the Year

- Jacob deGrom, New York Mets: In a category that looked like it belonged to Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton for most of the season, deGrom wound up with eight of 10 first-place votes after proving dominant down the stretch. The 26-year-old right-hander, who was pitching in Class A advanced ball at the start of the 2014 season, got off to a 0-4 start after his May promotion but went 9-2 with a 1.99 ERA over his last 15 starts. He finished with a 2.69 ERA and a strikeout rate (9.2 per nine innings) better than he ever posted in the minors.

Hamilton, perhaps the game's fastest player, developed into an elite defensive center fielder in his second season at the position after transitioning from shortstop. Although Hamilton stole 53 bases in his rookie campaign, he led the majors with 23 times caught stealing. And Hamilton's baserunning exploits were slowed in the second half because of his struggles to reach base: The 24-year-old hit .200 with a .254 on-base percentage after the All-Star break.

Voting on a 5-3-1 basis:

  1. Jacob deGrom, Mets (8) / 46
  2. Billy Hamilton, Reds / 34
  3. Kyle Hendricks, Cubs / 6

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AL Manager of the Year

- Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles: Showalter piloted the Orioles to the AL East pennant despite season-ending injuries to Manny Machado and Matt Wieters and the offensive collapse and amphetamines suspension of 2013 breakout star Chris Davis. Showalter is known as one of the majors' best bullpen managers, and in 2014 he coaxed excellent performances out of a slew of key relievers without seeing any land among the top 10 in the league in appearances.

Mike Scioscia finished second in our voting after guiding the Angels to the league's best record. Ned Yost landed in third after leading the Royals back to the postseason for the first time in 29 years.

Voting on a 5-3-1 basis:

  1. Buck Showalter, Orioles (10) / 50
  2. Mike Scioscia, Angels / 20
  3. Ned Yost, Royals / 14

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NL Manager of the Year

- Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh Pirates: Hurdle's Pirates finished the season 24-12 to secure a spot in the NL wild-card game, their second postseason appearance in two years. He repeated in our voting in 2014 for establishing Pittsburgh as more than a one-year fluke.

Matt Williams, in his first season managing the Washington Nationals, helped the club recover from a disappointing and injury-prone 2013 campaign to win the NL East and finished second.

Voting on a 5-3-1 basis:

  1. Clint Hurdle, Pirates (7) / 42
  2. Matt Williams, Nationals / 31

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