Chris Coghlan wins NL Rookie of the Year, Gerardo Parra mentioned

"Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan was elected the National League Rookie of the Year Award by the BBWAA. Although not on seven of the 32 ballots, Coghlan out-pointed Philadelphia Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ, the only player named on all ballots. Coghlan was listed first on 17 ballots compared to 10 for Happ and finished with 105 points, based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system. Coghlan placed second on six ballots and third on two while Happ had 11 seconds and 11 thirds to total 94 points."

Gerardo Parra got a 3rd-place vote, to finish equal-8th, and A's closer Andrew Bailey won the AL award. A thought strikes me: with the closure of the Tribune at the end of the year, who's gonna be the second writer from Phoenix in 2010? Will they give two votes to the Republic? Or will it be Steve Gilbert? Because, as far as I can tell, there's only one paper covering the team in Phoenix now.

2 months ago Jim McLennan 12 comments 0 recs |

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SUPER stoked for Bailey!!!

Waaaay excited for him. Last place team, he did really well.

Exciting to see Parra got a 3rd place vote!

Interesting question about the voting, for sure….

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 16, 2009 4:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dug into the BBWAA thing a bit further

Here’s the relevant sections from their site on eligible members:

Section 2: Active membership in this Association shall be reserved to persons who meet the following qualifications:

      A: Members, as restricted below, of the staff of a daily newspaper which covers, by staff reporter at home and by a staff reporter or special correspondent on the road, 75 percent of the scheduled games of the Major League teams in its area. In the case of a chapter in which two or more Major League teams are based, it shall be sufficient for a paper to cover, by staff reports, 75 percent of the home games of those teams.

            1. On such papers, the sports editor shall submit to the Chapter Chair a list of applicants. That paper shall be entitled to membership in the Association for one sports editor, all full-time general sports columnists who regularly cover baseball, and as many reporters as are primarily assigned to cover baseball.

      G. The Association shall also admit full-time members of internet sites under the following procedure:

            1. The National Board of Directors each year prior to the national meeting at the World Series shall obtain a list of internet sites issued credentials by Major League Baseball for that year’s World Series. Employees of MLB.com shall not be eligible.
            2. Active members attending the Annual Meeting at the World Series shall vote to accept or amend the MLB list of credentialed sites for the purposes of Association membership. A simple majority is needed to accept a site for membership.
            3. The Association shall then accept membership applications from full-time employees of those sites whose primary job responsibility is to write about baseball.

So it seems the Republic can have more than one member, but poor Steve Gilbert is not entitled to membership. Have to say it’s a pretty screwed-up system where he’s denied a ballot but we could see Dan Bickley – one of the “general sports columnists who regularly cover baseball” – getting to vote for the Cy Young next year. If there’s a ballot consisting entirely of Cubs, we know who to blame…

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Nov 16, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Who’s got the vote for the Republic now?

"Spam headline: 'YOU ARE CHOSEN!' Oh, Morpheus, you're getting pretty lazy."
"Or they are informing you you are Jewish in a very lame conversion campaign."
"In either case, sending me spam is not the way to invite me to Zion."

by kishi on Nov 16, 2009 8:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Each city gets two votes

I’m sure Nick Piecoro has the one now, he’s THE baseball guy there. The Tribune used to have, ohIforgethisname, covering baseball full time but they cut back. So maybe that’s who Jim’s referring to as having the other vote this year but not next?

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 16, 2009 8:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jack Magruder?

However, thinking about it, the Tribune stopped being daily earlier this year, so they probably wouldn’t have qualified this season. Yeah, I assume Nick P has one vote, but I don’t know who has the other.

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Nov 16, 2009 9:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, Jack! And that's what I was thinking too

They didn’t cover baseball directly at all this season. Someone else at the Republic probably has the second vote.

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 16, 2009 10:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Piecoro currently chairs

Arizona’s BBWAA delegation (replacing Magruder). Not certain if that means Nick votes, but seems like a good assumption. Many in AZ’s delegation dont write for The Republic, however, so I wouldnt assume both votes necessarily belong to that publication. Greg Hansen (Arizona Daily Star) and a number of reporters elsewhere in the state are members.

poor Steve Gilbert is not entitled to membership. Have to say it’s a pretty screwed-up system where he’s denied a ballot but we could see Dan Bickley

It’s quite possible Gilbert could come up with a fair ballot, but he’s not close to being an independent reporter by trade. His job is to promote the Diamondbacks, which presents a classic conflict of interest. Columnists like Bickley or Biovin, both BBWAA members, lend more institutional integrity to the process.

If the FO is the focus of anything, something is seriously wrong with the picture ! - unnamedDBacksfan 2/20/09

by Diamondhacks on Nov 16, 2009 11:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I can understand why

MLB writers don’t get votes. Not that Steve doesn’t have critical pieces (though they’re much more subtle), and he is employed by MLB.com and not by the club, but I can see why they wouldn’t want sport-payed employees to be able to vote for these types of awards.

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 17, 2009 2:42 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting stuff

Though I wonder, does the Star cover “by staff reporter at home and by a staff reporter or special correspondent on the road, 75 percent of” Diamondbacks games? I tended to think they mostly used AP wire reports, but I can’t say it’s a paper I check on a regular basis.

See what you mean about Gilbert – I wonder what happened when the Republic owners were shareholders in the Diamondbacks? That’d seem potentially/arguably an even more egregious conflict [since Gilbert is at least employed by mlb.com, rather than a specific team]. There have likely been a bunch of other similar conflicts at some point – didn’t the Cubs and Chicago Tribune have the same owner?

It’s the broad remit of membership on daily papers – " general sports columnists who regularly cover baseball"? – that bothers me somewhat. I would probably have more faith in Gilbert’s integrity than Bickley’s knowledge. But I appreciate no line drawn is going to be perfect as far as obtaining the most well-qualified electorate.

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Nov 17, 2009 10:22 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A surprise

I’m pretty surprised Coghlan won it. As I stated elsewhere, I’d have voted for Happ, but I kind of like the award going to a position player, and I’m definitely glad to see it come from a small market. Congrats Coghlan.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8

by njjohn on Nov 16, 2009 10:33 PM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

Both winners are small market winners :)

I was surprised to see that this ties the Oakland A’s with the Yankees for most RotY awards in AL history!! (Long way to go to catch the Dodgers though.) Well, nobody’s ever said Beane doesn’t know how to grow ‘em, he just can’t keep them in the nest long enough to win much…

Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco

by snakecharmer on Nov 17, 2009 2:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs