Pedroia Named AL MVP

The awards keep coming for former Sea Dogs players, as SeaBlog fave Dustin Pedroia followed up his Rookie of the Year campaign by being named Most Valuable Player in the American League. The hard-hitting second baseman led the league in runs, hits and doubles, was second in batting average and 7th in extra base hits, all while turning in Gold Glove defense at the keystone.

Pedroia's final stat line was 326/376/493-17-83. He had 213 hits, 54 doubles, 118 runs scored and 20 steals. He was the third-most difficult player to strike out in the AL, recording just 52 K's in 653 at bats (726 plate appearances). He appeared in 157 games, and his get-your-uniform-dirty style of play, gritty determination and team-first mentality have already made him a leader on the team.

Pedroia beat out Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau for the award, while teammate (and former Sea Dog) Kevin Youkilis finished third in the balloting. Underappreciated Twins catcher and AL batting champ Joe Mauer came in fourth.

I think that Pedroia took advantage of a weak field to win this year. Make no mistake, he had a great season, but not one on parallel with most MVP winners. He definitely benefitted from injuries to White Sox LF Carlos Quentin (36 HR, 100 RBI before missing the final month of the season) and Texas 2B Ian Kinsler, who had similar numbers to Pedroia but with more power before he got hurt and missed the final month and a half of the season. Morneau, who won the 2006 MVP under similar circumstances, was not quite as good, nor was his team, which probably doomed his chances. Perennial candidate Alex Rodriguez was again terrific - but not by Alex Rodriguez standards. ARod wasn't helped by the fact that the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

I thought Pedroia's stiffest competition came from Youkilis (312/390/569-29-115), who stepped up his power numbers this year and demonstrated his value by playing 36 games at third base in place of the injured Mike Lowell. Youk's case was undone because he missed a few games with injury, and his numbers weren't outrageously good for a guy on the corner. Mauer is an interesting case. He hits for a high average, posts great OBP skills, and is a Gold Glover behind the plate. Considering the dearth of good-hitting catchers, he had a strong case as the best player in the league, but he was doomed by his lack of power. 9 home runs just isn't a sexy number, particularly when it's half the number hit by the diminutive second baseman in Boston.

With a Rookie of the Year Award, Gold Glove, All Star game appearance, Silver Slugger and now MVP, Pedroia is on the fast track to being the greatest second baseman in Boston Red Sox history. Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr is probably the only guy ahead of him right now, but Pedrioa definitely has a chance to catch him one of these years. Perhaps I'll expand on that in a future post.

Dustin Pedroia wasn't the only member of the 2005 Sea Dogs to have a great season. SS Hanley Ramirez, now with the Marlins, put up a line of 301/400/540-33-67 with 125 runs scored and 35 steals. That was good enough to place 11th in the NL MVP vote. Boston pitchers Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon also had stellar seasons. Lester had a 16-6 record, 3.21 ERA and threw a no hitter, while Papelbon recorded 41 saves and a 2.34 ERA while making the All Star team. OF David Murphy and P Kason Gabbard were starters for the Rangers before each of their seasons was derailed by injury. And OF Brandon Moss became a starter in Pittsburgh after he was traded in the Manny Ramirez/Jason Bay deal.

One final congratulations to Dustin Pedrioa, and here's to another shot at it next season!