Awards – the Addison Recorder

Thoughts from the Dugout: AwardsWatch 2014

November 7, 2014 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Well, that was a fun 2014 baseball season. Time to move on to the next phase of baseball magic: the offseason.

During baseball’s offseason, many interesting things happen. Unusual contracts are signed, granting mediocre players obscene amounts of money that cripple your franchise’s pitching staff for years (sorry, I’m still bitter about Homer Bailey). Odd choices are awarded for fielding awards, using subjective rather than objective criteria (fortunately, nobody awarded anything to Brandon Philips this year). And random-ass Hall of Fame elections happen, resulting in as much head-scratching as they do in triumphant celebration (seriously, who the fuck voted for Jacque Jones??).

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MLB Awards 2013: Meet the (New) Boss; Plus a Brief Look at the Veteran’s Hall of Fame Ballot

November 9, 2013 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Honestly, after seeing 12 Years A Slave last night, everything else seems trivial. This was something we talked about last night, about how everything else seemed less. But here’s the thing: an hour later, we were all laughing about Air Bud: 7th Inning Fetch. Because humor is important, too. It makes us human, makes life enjoyable. Baseball isn’t quite humor, but it accentuates life rather than detracts from it. (Unless you’re an Indians fan. Whee!)

With that in mind, a brief mailbag, followed by my picks for the major MLB awards, and an (oh-so) brief discussion of this year’s Modern Era Ballot from the Veteran’s Committee on the Hall of Fame.

Let’s begin.

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