TPSG Mid Season Baseball Awards

Since baseball has hit it's All-Star break I think it's an appropriate time for me to hand out my mid season baseball awards.  Congratulations to all the winners.

MVP
AL - this comes down to 2 players IMO, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and I'm going to give it to Cabrera, he leads the AL in average, slugging percentage, RBI & OPS, he's second in HR's and OBP.  He's just flat out having a fantastic season.

NL - this is a much tougher call, do you go with a pitcher or a position player.  Normally, I would argue that you need to go with an everyday player as MVP over an once every five day pitcher but in this year of the pitcher you can make a strong case for either Josh Johnson of the Marlins or Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies.  Of the non pitchers I think it comes down to Joey Votto of the Reds & Albert Pujols of the Cardinals.  I'm going to stick with my philosophy of giving this award to everyday players and give this award to Joey Votto, he leads the NL in OPS, slugging percentage, OBP & HR's and is in the top 6 in batting average & RBI.

CY YOUNG
AL - lots of good choices to pick from here, David Price of the Rays has been very good, Cliff Lee pitched well for a bad team (although he has just been traded to the first place Rangers) & Andy Pettitte has pitched very well for the Yankee's.  I'm going to go with David Price as he leads the AL in wins & ERA. 

NL - I mentioned Josh Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez in the MVP section, either of those are the obvious choice here.  Others deserve some mention too though, Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals has been very good, Roy Halladay is having another stellar season as is Tim Hudson of the Braves and Mat Latos of the Padres is an under the radar guy to keep an eye on.  The choice really does come down to Johnson and Jimenez though and despite Josh Johnson leading the NL in ERA & WHIP it's really hard to overlook the 15-1 start by Jimenez so he's my pick.


Manager
AL - I think the choice here comes down to Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox and Ron Washington of the Rangers, both have overcome lots of distractions to keep their teams in contention.  I'm going to go give the edge to Washington just for the fact that the Rangers are in first place and have a better record.

NL - tougher call in the NL, Bobby Cox has the Braves in first place yet again, Bud Black has the Padres playing much better than I had anticipated as has Dusty Baker of the Reds. I'm going the sentimental choice of Bobby Cox here in his last season at the helm of the Braves. 

ROOKIE
AL-this is a 2 player race at this point between a couple of Tigers, Brennan Boesch and Austin Jackson.  The choice has to be Boesch though, he leads all AL rookies in batting average, slugging percentage, HR's & RBI.

NL-Stephen Strasburg seems to be the popular choice here but he didn't get called up until early June so he's not my pick (although he will probably win in by seasons end after all is said and done).  Other strong rookies?  Buster Posey of the Giants, Gaby Sanchez of the Marlins, Jason Heyward of the the Braves, Mike Leake of the Reds & Jamie Garcia of the Cardinals.  I'm going with Jamie Garcia, he's 8-4 with a 2.17 ERA.