My 2012 IBWAA awards ballot: Trout, Braun, Hernandez, Kershaw and more

Now that award season is officially over, it's time to reveal my ballots for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.

American League

Most Valuable Player
1. Mike Trout, Anaheim
2. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit
3. Adrian Beltre, Texas
4. Josh Hamilton, Texas
5. Robinson Cano, New York
6. Austin Jackson, Detroit
7. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay
8. Adam Jones, Baltimore
9. Justin Verlander, Detroit
10. Alex Gordon, Kansas City
- Only two players were truly worthy, but I chose Trout over Cabrera in this situation. Despite Cabrera's fantastic season, Trout's season was just as amazing, plus he has the clear edge in baserunning and defense.

Cy Young
1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle
2. Justin Verlander, Detroit
3. David Price, Tampa Bay
4. Chris Sale, Chicago
5. Jered Weaver, Anaheim
- I'm surprised Hernandez got such little play for the award. He led the American League in shutouts and home runs per nine innings. I have no problem with Price winning it, as all three were deserving.

Rookie of the Year
1. Mike Trout, Anaheim
2. Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland
3. Yu Darvish, Texas
- This was a no-brainer. If not, it would have been an interesting race between Cespedes and Darvish.

Manager of the Year
1. Buck Showalter, Baltimore
2. Bob Melvin, Oakland
3. Robin Ventura, Chicago
- This one I almost literally flipped a coin. While the IBWAA chose Showalter, the BBWA chose Melvin.

National League

Most Valuable Player
1. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee
2. Buster Posey, San Francisco
3. Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh
4. Yadier Molina, St. Louis
5. Chase Headley, San Diego
6. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington
7. David Wright, New York
8. Aaron Hill, Arizona
9. Ian Desmond, Washington
10. Jason Heyward, Atlanta
- Braun was better in a lot of categories this season than he was last season when he beat out Matt Kemp for the award. While Posey had a fantastic season, Braun's pure numbers gave him the edge in my book.

Cy Young
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles
2. Gio Gonzalez, Washington
3. R.A. Dickey, New York
4. Stephen Strasburg, Washington
5. Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati
- I knew Kershaw wouldn't win, but I felt he was the best pitcher in the NL all season. I think I overlooked Dickey's amazing season and voted Gonzalez ahead of him. But Gonzalez had a great season as well.

Rookie of the Year
1. Wade Miley, Arizona
2. Bryce Harper, Washington
3. Mike Fiers, Milwaukee
- Harper had the hype and finished the season on a strong note, but I voted for Miley because he was consistently good up until a rough September.

Manager of the Year
1. Davey Johnson, Washington
2. Mike Matheny, St. Louis
3. Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh
- A lot of folks jumped on the Nats' bandwagon last year as the "breakout" team. It turned out they were a year too early. Johnson did a good job managing the team and it should be a power for years to come.

Photo credits

Trout: Keith Allison, Flickr

Kershaw: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Clayton Kershaw finishes second to R.A. Dickey in NL Cy Young voting

Clayton Kershaw fell well short of winning his second consecutive Cy Young Award on Wednesday as the Mets' R.A. Dickey was voted as the winner by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Dickey collected 27 of the 32 first-place votes. Kershaw garnered just two of those votes -- and two writers inexplicably left him off their ballots completely.

I'm surprised at Dickey's margin of victory, but he was definitely a worthy winner.

Dickey, who seemingly came out of nowhere to establish himself as an elite starting pitcher, ended the season with a 20-6 record, 2.73 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 4.26 K/BB and a 3.27 FIP. He led the NL in innings pitched (233 2/3), complete games (five), shutouts (three) and strikeouts (233).

Kershaw's season was in doubt at one point, as he missed a start with a hip issue. I said he should have been shut down, but he came back and looked like the Kershaw of 2011, finishing his final three starts with a 3-0 record, a 0.86 ERA, .183 BAA and 23 strikeouts in 21 innings.

He led the majors in ERA (2.53) for the second straight season. He also led the majors in hits per nine innings (6.7). He was tops in the National League in WHIP (1.02) and fWAR (5.5).

This was also the fourth consecutive season Kershaw has averaged more than a strikeout per inning.

Gio Gonzalez was the only other true contender for the award. He finished third.

The award could have gone to any of the three and it'd be hard to argue otherwise.

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Podcast: 'Dugout Blues' episode 12 - Dodgers, Ryu, Greinke, Kuroda, McGwire, AFL

On this episode of  "Dugout Blues," Jared Massey (L.A. Dugout) and I talk about the Hyun-Jin Ryu winning bid. We discuss his potential and what it might take to get him under contract. We also touch on free agent starting pitchers -- namely Zack Greinke and Hiroki Kuroda. It's safe to say, we're on the same page regarding these two. The Mark McGwire hiring is discussed, as well as a winter ball update, including Onelki Garcia, Joc Pederson and Chris Reed.

Libsyn link
Direct link
iTunes link

Look for new episodes of "Dugout Blues" every Wednesday at 12 p.m.

Dodgers' rededication to international scouting something to be excited about

The Dodgers' ownership group promised to refocus and make international scouting a big part of its new regime -- and it has yet to disappoint.

The Dodgers made a huge splash in July by signing Yasiel Puig to a record-breaking contract. They drafted Cuban left-handers Onelki Garcia (third round) and Alfredo Unzue (32nd round). Garcia has a lot of potential. They also nabbed a handful of players during the new international signing period -- most notably 16-year-old Mexican left-hander Julio Urias.

They've been linked to Japanese right-hander Shohei Otani, whose situation won't likely be resolved until the spring. And they just landed the rights to sign Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu after a $25.7 million posting fee this past weekend.

It's obvious the Dodgers are ramping up the scouting and player acquisition in this department -- and that couldn't be better.

Now that they seemingly have more money than God, it just makes things easier.

Oh, and all this was done before bolstering their international scouting staff, which happened on Monday.

"Two weeks ago the Dodgers hired Bob Engle as vice president of international scouting and Monday they brought on six of his Mariners staff -- Pedro Avila, Gene Grimaldi, Patrick Guerrero, Pat Kelly, Jamey Storvick and Mike Tosar."

For a self-proclaimed prospector, this is extremely exciting news. The Dodgers' farm system, since the likes of Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley all graduated, hasn't been anywhere near that good. They've had a bottom-third farm system for the last few years (save one year) and with the recent additions, they're pushing Top-20 territory. That's really saying something, as they've added some quality international prospects.

My hope is the Dodgers will reassert themselves in the Dominican Republic. Roughly 11 percent of players in Major League Baseball are from the Dominican. That doesn't even include minor-leaguers who have yet to debut in the majors. Venezuela would be another great place to scout heavy, as about 7.7 percent of MLBers hail from the country, including the game's best hitter (Miguel Cabrera) and one of its best right-handed pitchers (Felix Hernandez).

The Dodgers have also been trailblazers in East Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan), and making international scouting a priority rather than an afterthought could not mean better things for the Dodgers -- now and in the future.

Image credit: CIA World Factbook

Graphic by: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue