Roll
Out The Red Carpet
I have this vision of the FJBL Awards. You see, we all show up at Radio City Music
Hall riding in limos and wearing tuxedos with, if we have any luck at all,
Jennifer Love Hewitt on our arms.
We arrive about 5PM so the press can take our photos
and ask inane questions like, Who does your hair, Ryan? and Jack, whats
your next big trade? Stupid crap like
that.
Then were ushered inside for dinner and the big
show. Dan Patrick hosts the big show
or, if hes busy, then Danny Devito.
The lights get turned down, Shania Twain and Faith
Hill come out and sing a duet, and then the big shin-dig really gets started.
Ryan is trashed before Madonna and Jerry Seinfeld
step up to make the first presentation.
Kurt gets called to a three-alarm fire.
Nev is awaken by dreams of the new twins. CJ is up past curfew.
And, by the time, I win my Commissioner of the Year
Award (a little after midnight) and begin to thank everyone who has ever been a
part of my life, well, none of you are even there.
Ah well, its just a vision. The real awards are a bit less majestic in
their arrival, but just as interesting.
Ill post my acceptance speech on the Message Board later for those who
cant wait to hear (read) it.
12
first place votes, 72 of 80 pts
Kansas Citys Jason Giambi gave this a run, but it
was impossible for owners to overlook Sosas 68 home runs and 172 RBIs -
particularly for a team that won the AL West Championship.
I voted for Sosa also. Ichiro Suzuki and Chipper Jones finished tied and a very distant
third. Other vote getters were Manny
Ramirez, Rich Aurillia, Maglio Ordonez, and Moises Alou.
NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP BARRY BONDS (ARIZONA)
16
first place votes, 78 of 80 pts
Just about as close to a no brainer as
possible. Only Ryan Reynolds, in
desperate need of anger management classes, didnt vote Bonds as the
winner. Carlos Delgado finished second
with 24 points, but Bonds who hammered 80 home runs for Dmitrys Diamondbacks
was an obvious winner. Rafael
Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez finished tied for third with 11 points.
AMERICAN
LEAGUE CY YOUNG ROGER CLEMENS (CHICAGO)
10
first place votes, 65 of 80 pts
Clemens finished 17-7 with a 3.23 ERA and won easily
over surprise starter Miguel Batista.
Batista went 16-3 with a 3.12 ERA but didnt throw as many innings as
Clemens. Still, it would be easy to
argue Batista deserved the award more than Clemens, leading the Athletics to a
Western Division Championship over the Sox.
John Burkett finished third in the voting.
I selected Clemens, as well.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CY YOUNG RANDY JOHNSON (MILWAUKEE)
10
first place votes, 60 of 80 pts
What were you guys thinking? Oh, the Big Unit deserved the award alright
in fact, he was as much a no-brainer as Bonds. Johnson won the NL pitching triple crown going 20-7 with a 2.63
ERA and striking out 340. Whats a guy
got to do? The irony here is he didnt
even appear on two of your ballots!
Most of you who didnt opt for Johnson, went for
Rick Reed who was stellar for the Cardinals.
Reed finished with 43 points in one of the closest races in the award
balloting. Kerry Wood finished third by
virtue of receiving three first place votes.
Unfortunately, no one else voted for Wood at all.
Without Johnson, Milwaukee is never even in the NL
West race. With him they were one of
the surprise teams last year. Johnson,
I say, deserved this award.
AMERICAN LEAGUE FIREMAN MARIANO RIVERA (CLEVELAND)
9
first place votes, 55 of 80 pts
Rivera edged Jason Isringhausen by a scant seven
points. Isringhausen had three more
saves but his ERA was a half run higher than Riveras anorexic-like 1.83. Izzy also blew two more saves, but the
decision was a close one as Izzy got six first place votes. I voted for my man Rivera. Octavio Dotel finished third.
NATIONAL LEAGUE FIREMAN JEFF ZIMMERMAN (ST LOUIS)
10
first place votes, 62 of 80 pts
Not as many first place votes as I would have
guessed, but Zimmerman outdistanced Keith Foulke who finished second and got
two first place votes. Ugueth Urbina
finished third and received one first place vote. Again, I agree with Zimmerman, who had an FJBL best 42 saves in
closing for the FJBLs best team all season.
AMERICAN LEAGUE RELIEVER JUSTIN SPEIER (CLEVELAND)
2 first place
votes, 27 of 80 pts
The objective of including a reliever award along
with the fireman award was to recognize relievers who were not closers. However, this award seemed to simply confuse
voters in the AL who lacked the clear-cut solution available in the NL. Speier, who managed only two first place
tallies, nipped teammate Mariano Rivera by just two points by appearing on
numerous ballots. Rivera garnered five
first place tallies, but did not appear on any other ballots. Other first place votes went to third-place
finisher Ricardo Rincon, Randy Wolfe, Octavio Dotel, Jeff Nelson, and Kyle
Farnsworth. Farnsworth actually managed
two first place votes and finished fourth in the voting.
I selected Rincon.
NATIONAL LEAGUE RELIEVER JOEL PINEIRO (ST LOUIS)
10
first place votes, 50 of 80 pts
Again, I thought this should have been a
no-brainer. Pineiro was 19-3 with a
1.14 ERA phenomenal numbers. Somehow,
though, Pineiro wasnt even on five owners ballots. Second place went to Steve Kline, who didnt get any of those
other five top votes. Other first-place
votes did go to John Smoltz, Jeff Zimmerman, John Riedling, Ugueth Urbina, and
Francisco Rodriguez.
I voted for the obvious choice Pineiro.
AMERICAN LEAGUE OWNER/MANAGER KC DONAHUE (TORONTO)
9
first place votes, 54 of 80 pts
Okay, Im a bit taken back by this selection. Dont get me wrong, KC deserves an
incredible amount of credit for winning the FJBL Championship. His post-season skills were impressive. But, I think most of you took the easy way
out. KC didnt take over the Blue Jays
until we were into the season and, even then, his squad finished with only the
third best mark in the AL and squandered a division lead.
I voted (no, not for myself), but for Dan Stupp who,
I thought, was outstanding in running a team that I would have given little
chance prior to the season. Stupp lost by just five points to KC despite
getting half as many first place tallies.
Still, KC was an honorable selection and has an FJBL
title to his belt. Not many of you can
say that.
12 first place votes, 62 of 80 pts
Ryan made no mistakes in his National League
effort. He put together an aging, but
outstanding team coaxed incredible performances from unlikely places such as
Pineiro and dominated a division that should have been nip and tuck. In the post-season, he rolled through an
Arizona team I thought would finally beat him.
His only slip-up came in the championship when he sent out his team bats
for a set of toothpicks and substituted TANG for the Creatine his players had
been taking all year.
Dmitry finished second in the voting (losing to Ryan
AGAIN) and got two first place votes.
Kurt Bohlmann finished third in his outstanding rookie campaign. Steven Myers got a first-place vote and
appeared on two ballots for running the lights out of his team in the first
half of the season. Damn those playing
time restrictions, eh Nev?
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to
all for voting. Sixteen owners and
assistant owners voted the best we have EVER had and Im very pleased by
that.
I wish you all the best of luck next year in
defending your respective crowns.
Final Voting:
Sammy Sosa 72
Jason Giambi 49
Ichiro Suzuki 7
Chipper Jones 7
Manny Ramirez 5
Rich Aurillia 3
Maglio Ordonez 1
Moises Alou 1
Barry Bonds 78
Carlos Delgado 24
Rafael Palmeiro 11
Luis Gonzalez 11
Albert Pujols 10
Alex Rodriguez 4
Rondell White 3
Lance Berkman 2
Joel Pineiro 1
Roger Clemens 65
Miguel Batista 37
John Burkett 14
Russ Ortiz 12
Roy Oswalt 11
CC Sabathia 2
Mike Mussina 1
Mariano Rivera 1
Freddy Garcia 1
Randy Johnson 60
Rick Reed 43
Kerry Wood 15
Mark Buehrle 11
Joel Pineiro 6
Matt Morris 4
Aaron Sele 3
Curt Schilling 1
Javier Vazquez 1
Mariano Rivera 55
Jason Isringhausen 48
Octavio Dotel 21
Troy Percival 15
Jason Marquis 3
Robb Nen 2
Jeff Zimmerman 62
Keith Foulke 45
Ugueth Urbina 13
Billy Wagner 9
Felix Rodriguez 4
John Smoltz 2
AL RELIEVER
Justin Speier 27
Mariano Rivera 25
Ricardo Rincon 18
Kyle Farnsworth 16
Octavio Dotel 9
Jason Isringhausen 7
Byun Hyung Kim 7
Randy Wolf 5
Jeff Nelson 5
Troy Percival 4
Mike DeJean 4
Dan Plesac 3
Jason Christensen 3
Robb Nen 1
Jack Cressend 1
Joel Pineiro 50
Steven Kline 16
John Smoltz 12
Bob Wickman 11
Keith Foulke 9
Felix Rodriguez 7
Eddie Guardado 7
Ugueth Urbina 6
John Riedling 6
Jeff Zimmerman - 6
Billy Wagner 3
Jason Grimsley 1
Paul Shuey 1
KC Donahue 54
Dan Stupp 49
Dave Myers 29
Todd Bohlmann 3
Ryan Reynolds 62
Dmitry Epshteyn 35
Kurt Bohlmann 16
Jack Burnham 10
Josh Sherlock 6
Steven Myers 6