Look Again
Behind every great team on the diamond, lurking in the shadow of baseball superstars, live the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort.
That's the credo for MLB/Holiday Inn's Look Again Player of the Year Award. Independent sports blogs are having fun with the fact that, other than the Mets Jose Valentin (and 
possibly one other player?), the balance of thirty underappreciated team contributors all appear to be white. Is this coincidence, or are racial stereotypes(ie white players work harder, or are more selfless, than black or Latino players) inappropriately reinforced by these selections?
At the moment, Diamondhacks is too lazy to examine every roster for more colorful alternatives, but just our local nominee caused us to 'look again'. What exactly are Eric Byrnes's qualifications for this particular award ?
He's no superstar, yet to characterize Byrnes as lurking in the shadows or "unrecognized" by fans(as opposed to Bob Melvin) is quite a reach. Byrnsie, who emerged as the darling of Dbacks broadcasters and was the subject of the team's best received promotion(The Eric Byrnes 'Dirty' T-Shirt), couldnt lurk in a shadow if you put him in a box and closed the lid. Since his highly visible postseason gigs on ESPN and FOX, the continued claim that Byrnes is under fans' radar has become a contradiction in terms. Johnny Estrada was just as valuable at his position, with considerably less fanfare.
Who better exemplifies this award's composite virtues than Orlando Hudson, 
who is arguably more valuable than Byrnes, and exudes similar heart and positive attitude sans Eric's signature flamboyance? Hudson had more sacrifice flies and sacrifice hits than his blonde haired Anglo counterpart, who often swings from the heels and rarely gives himself up at the plate. Byrnes famously 'sacrifices' his body, whether circumstances warrant it or not, which bolsters his gung ho image more than his effectiveness.
In short, Hudson is as valuable and team oriented as is Byrnes, decidedly less theatrical, and would seem to be a more apt candidate for this particular recognition. What aspect of Hudson's player profile possibly makes him take a back seat to Byrnes here, given the award's alleged criteria?
Holiday Inn Look Again Player of the Year nominations
Ah yes, the promotion. Before the season even began the team had scheduled promotions for Estrada and Hudson. The commercials at the beginning of the season starred Tracy, Estrada and Hudson; Byrnes had one line at the very end of Hudson's commercial. The team had few expectations of Byrnes. He was definitely under management's radar.
But, you can't keep Eric Byrnes down and you can't ignore him. He forced DBacks management to acknowledge him. He did and will do much for this team. He deserves the votes of the DBacks fans.
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Pat,
Thx for your comment.
The paradox of Look Again is that it requires fans to 'recognize' those who by their less than superstar performance, circumstances or very nature, often go "unrecognized". What constitutes 'unrecognized' is subjective and, as you point out, the award's spunky, under the radar profile defines much of Eric's career, up through early 2006.
But sometime this year,in my view, Byrnes crossed the threshold from being that underappreciated role player to being a visible, popular star on the rise, among fans and media.
The idea that your leading HR hitter and ubiquitous national TV analyst is 'lurking in the shadows', at this point, is demonstrably false.
I like Eric - quite a lot actually. I just dont think his current status embodies what this particular award claims to be about, at least not as well as one of his teammates.
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"What aspect of Hudson's player profile possibly makes him take a back seat to Byrnes here, given the award's alleged criteria?"
Hudson's status as a recent Gold Glove Award winner for one.
As for Hudson being argueably more valuable than Byrnes, the stats to which you link show that it's basically a toss up. Hudson bested Byrnes in certain categories and vice-versa. I have been told that they are the two nominees for team MVP.
As for Byrnes going unrecognized, yes. The D'Backs started the year by signing Brandon Webb to a multi-year contract to be their ace and he turned in a year that made him a legit CYA candidate. The face of the team was Gonzo, with Chad Tracy, also signed to a multi-year deal, being groomed to assume that role.
Byrnesie was brought in to be the CF placewarmer for Chris Young and, along with Orlando "O-Dawg" Hudson, to be a high-energy presence in the clubhouse.
He accomplished way more than they expected--I think in part because he got some extra opportunities because of the injuries to Hairston in June and DaVanon in August-even BoMel eventually admitted that he exceeded expectations-and he did it in a way that made him popular. But there is no way that he was considered really top tier on the team. And I still don't trust BoMel to not try a defacto platoon with DaVanon next year. He loves lefties too much not to do it. Will Byrnesie ever get 600 AB?
Ideally, the Comeback Player of the Year award would be two awards, one for medical comebacks and one for comebacks from awful years not brought on my illness/injury and Byrnes would have been nominated for the latter.
But as the world of baseball awards stands now, he should have some recognition for going 26/25 as a rent-a-centerfielder while attention was paid to Webb, Gonzo, Tracy and the F.O. expectations for Young and even Justin Upton.
I think Hudson is cemented into the longer range plans of the DBacks. (That 2009 team I think the F.O. will seriously want to reach the World Series). I don't think that's the case for Byrnes.
Most people in the nation have had to indeed "look again" for Byrnes, past Webb, Gonzo, Tracy, Hudson's Gold Glove, Green's salary, BoMel's preference for the "profile" of DaVanon as the kind of hitter they like in AZ, the potential of Chris Young and Justin Upton, and the shadow of Eric's abysmal, aberrant 2005.
Kellia
Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes
http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com
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I've based my argument on fan/media recognition,however a case can be made, as you have done forcefully all year, that Byrnes lacked appropriate recognition from his manager and FO. That's fair and I've agreed with this since mid May or so. The FO recently thought enough of Byrnes(& Young), however, to jettison the 'face of the franchise'. I'd say that's significant in-house recognition.
I agree that the FO sees Hudson as more of a long term fix than Eric, but that's more a function of their ages and relative skillsets than it is Byrnes being undervalued. They pull in almost identical salaries. Eric was platooned early; when Hudson slumped early, he was bounced to the back of the order for four months.
Byrnes had a very nice year, a surprisingly good year, but with the homers and steals, and frankly, the theatrics, it was more loud and showy than genuinely great. He had,as you know, a lower OPS than Hudson, considerably lower after accounting for their respective defensive slots. I dont agree that their respective value to the team was a 'toss up', but it was close enough to consider other factors for the Look Again award.
Factors like name recognition and fan support. For the past several months, Byrnes has been far more recognized and glorified than has Hudson, despite the fact Hudson A) has a terrific personality and B) totally outplayed Byrnes since July. To suggest that the bigger than life image of Byrnsie, his wild hair and dirty shirt with two buttons undone, is some kind of unappreciated wallflower toiling in the shadows of Oh-Dawg's blindingly shiny Gold Glove is simply not rational, IMO.
This is really a side issue of the more interesting debate about the almost all white nominees. It is a rather motley crew of All Stars(McCann, Crede), almost All Stars(Byrnsie)and total non impact guys like Shouse, and begs the question, "What do these guys genuinely have in common, besides race" and whatever those commonalities are, "Are there other teammates that better exemplify them?"
Thanks, as always, for your comment.
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"What do these guys genuinely have in common, besides race"
Well, here is another perspective on the race issue. What if the white guys are nominated for this award because the black and Latino players are currently the big stars in baseball. Byrnesie said a couple of years ago that the best players were Latinos because they worked at it all year round with winter ball.
Kellia
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...what if...the black and Latino players are currently the big stars in baseball."
Interesting, but I dont think it's true. Depends, of course, on how you measure "big star". For example, a quick sort of each league's top 20 hitters (Total Bases) and pitchers (Wins) indicates that white guys (as opposed to blacks, asians or players of Latin background regardless of skin tone) comprise more than 60% of these "stars". MLB rosters are approx. 60% white overall. Based on this quick and dirty, the notion stars are disproportionately Latino or black is likely an illusion.
Truth is, MLB is chock full of under the radar Latinos (and African Americans to a lesser extent) who quietly make big team contributions. Think of all the middle infielders and short relief guys who rather quietly impact their teams. There's a ton of those guys out there, yet NONE(besides Valentin) were nominated for this unappreciated sparkplug award!
I dont know why - I dont even know who made the nominations. I suspect these lily white selections reflect some racial stereotyping (ie attributing white success more to certain character virtues vs attributing non-white success more to assumed physical superiority).
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Fully half of the finalists for this year's "Hutch" Award are of color. Hudson is included.
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061028&content_id=1726780&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Kellia
Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes
http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com
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