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Shocker: Randy Wells isn't NL ROY | Print |  E-mail
Written by Greg Mitchell   
Monday, 16 November 2009 15:59

And the winner is...

.

None of the above.

Chris Coghlan, the guy who seemingly got the least amount of press among the actual contenders, won the NL ROY today. Coghlan didn't get anywhere close to the attention that J.A. Happ or Tommy Hanson got, but you can't argue with him as the winner. He was about as good as you can hope a rookie can be as a leadoff hitter (.321/.390, 9 HR's, 31 2B's), and the Marlins thought enough of him to ship off productive outfielder Jeremy Hermida to the Red Sox last week.

Talking about this award can't help but remind me of the fall from grace of Geovany Soto, who last year on this day was considered one of the best young catchers in baseball. A year of weight-gain, strikeouts and too much fun back in Puerto Rico may have stripped him of that title, but 2010 should be a bounce back year for him, as Justin said when was talking about the CHONE projections.

Randy Wells, despite his uber-contributions, only garnered 3 points (1 second place vote), but beat out 5 others who received votes, among them Garrett Jones and Colby Rasmus (whose fire seemed to burn out towards the end of the year). Wells might have been the Cubs MVP this year had Derrek Lee not had such a great season. The writing was on the wall, however, when he slipped a little bit in the final month and a half. Wells age (27) may have hurt him too in the voting. Still, a first year guy throwing 165 innings with a 3.05 ERA is great. I don't think he'll hit those numbers next year, but even with a little drop off he is still extremely useful. Wells essentially claimed the rotation spot left vacant by the mysterious control problems of Rich Hill, and because of that Jim Hendry can rest just a little easier this winter.

Who are we kidding the thought of Milton Bradley keeps him up all night, every night. I just had to work Milton into this post somehow.

Along with Wells, McCutchen, Jones and Rasmus, ex-Cub Casey McGehee received votes, giving the NL Central five rookie vote-getters. Jones, Wells and McGehee are unconventional late 20's rookies, but still, the talent pool in the division definitely went up following last season. Had Jake Fox gotten 50 or so more AB's, I'd bet he would have received a few votes too.

Photos courtey flashdeportivo.mlblogs.com, allaroundphilly.com, rotorob.com and pitchbypitch.com.



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