Andrew at Defensive Indifference lists the 10 sports figures he blogged about most in 2007, as requested by the incomparable Jamie Mottram. As I did last year, I’m again participating in this project (thanks, Jamie!). Following Andrew’s lead, here is my list, in alphabetical order:

Barry Bonds. His stories pretty much write themselves.
Miguel Cabrera. Anyone who gets scolded by Ozzie Guillen for being too fat is okay in my book.
Fausto Carmona. One of the biggest surprises of 2007.
Daisuke Matsuzaka. Not as good as the hype, but still pretty good.
Gil Meche. Irresponsible spending almost got the Royals out of last place.
Jake Peavy. …read more

San Diego Padres right-hander Jake Peavy has won the 2007 National League Cy Young Award. As someone who has been watching him pitch since he wore #22 for the Lake Elsinore Storm, I couldn’t be happier. Congratulations!
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Nate Silver ran a piece the other day at Baseball Prospectus re-examining his earlier look at the 50 most valuable long-term commodities in baseball. He offers thoughts on biggest risers (including Justin Upton, about whom he correctly notes that “age is everything, and for a 19-year-old to come this far this fast is very special”), biggest fallers (comparing Jason Bay’s career path to that of Bobby Higginson), and his “very preliminary, off-the-cuff, subject-to-change, pre-PECOTA Top 20″ for next year.
Read the full article for all the details, but here are Silver’s projected top pitchers for 2008-2013. See if you can figure …read more

Okay, I promise this is the last I’ll say on the subject. In case you somehow missed it, we’ve been running polls on all of MLB’s major postseason awards. Here is a list of links to all of our polls and who is leading as of this writing.

Award
Current Leader

AL MVP
Alex Rodriguez

NL MVP
Jimmy Rollins Matt Holliday

AL Cy Young
Josh Beckett

NL Cy Young
Jake Peavy

AL Rookie
Dustin Pedroia

NL Rookie
Troy Tulowitzki

AL Manager of the Year
Eric Wedge

NL Manager of the Year
Clint Hurdle

I’m not going to tell you which ones I think are wrong, but I will say that their names rhyme with Mimmy Mollins Ratt Rolliday and …read more

{democracy:22}

We’re getting crazy with the postseason awards polls (NL MVP, AL MVP, AL Cy Young so far). Did I say crazy? Okay, would you believe mildly enthusiastic?
My preseason pick was Houston’s Roy Oswalt. He had a nice season, but by my estimation he’s a borderline top 5 guy and has no chance whatsoever at winning the award. Still, I think he’s a good guess most years, even if San Diego’s Jake Peavy gets my vote for ‘07.
But enough about me. Who would you choose, and why?

Welcome to the baseball equivalent of purgatory. Or perhaps you prefer Schroedinger’s Cat (maybe we should call it Schroedinger’s Bat)? Is it a playoff team or not? How will we ever know if they don’t play the game?
Jake Peavy and Josh Fogg at Coors Field. Updates throughout the evening…

The regular season is done save for one final, originally unscheduled game in Denver on Monday afternoon (4:37 p.m. PT first pitch; TBS, XM 183). Thanks to the Colorado Rockies’ 13-1 finish, they’ll host the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff to determine which team advances to the postseason as the NL wild card.
On paper, Jake Peavy vs Josh Fogg looks lopsided in favor of the Padres. The games, however, are not played on paper. With three studs in the lineup (Matt Holliday, Todd Helton, Brad Hawpe), a strong supporting cast, and a home crowd that hasn’t seen meaningful …read more

We touched on the Cy Young award last week — specifically Rich at Baseball Analysts’ take on the leading candidates. Now another heavy hitter — ESPN’s Jayson Stark — weighs in with his thoughts.
Like everyone else, Stark has San Diego’s Jake Peavy and Arizona’s Brandon Webb in the top two slots in the National League. Nice to see Stark also recognize what Aaron Harang is accomplishing on a very bad Cincinnati team.
I still think Dodgers closer Takashi Saito belongs in the discussion. Lefties are hitting just .194/.239/.311 against him this year. They are the lucky ones: right-handers are batting — …read more

There aren’t any real compelling story lines in the American League on Tuesday. I guess you could watch the Angels beat up on Baltimore, or hope for a good outing from Philip Hughes against the Blue Jays. Maybe Alex Rodriguez will hit another homer or three.
Moving to the league that isn’t afraid to let its pitchers hit…
National League

Rockies at Phillies, 4:05 p.m. PT — Both teams are fighting for a wild card berth, although Colorado remains a long shot. Franklin Morales and his 6.23 ERA go up against Adam Eaton, MLB’s worst pitcher this year, so if too many runs …read more

Well, technically Jake Peavy and Andy Pettitte have been named Pitchers of the Month for August. It’s just that they get a sweet high-definition TV for their efforts. Like I always say: If there’s one thing a millionaire needs, it’s someone handing them a high-definition TV that they couldn’t possibly afford on their own.
Oops, sorry ’bout that; we’re congratulating the players, not mocking the system. My bad.
Peavy, who has never received a single Cy Young award vote, appears to be the National League’s leading candidate this year. No matter how you break down his numbers, there just aren’t any weaknesses. …read more