Whether Arizona locks up the division, or even the wildcard, Bob Melvin is a near lock for National League Manager of the Year(MotY). A more interesting question is whether he deserves it or not, but first let’s support the notion the hardware is his.

First, your team doesnt have to have the best record, or even make the playoffs, to win the MotY. Tony Pena won in 2003 with Kansas City, after missing the postseason, as did Nathanial Showalter the following year with Texas. In 2006, Joe Girardi proved not even a winning record is required. Baseball writers, especially recently, appear to be weighing underlying considerations more heavily than in the past.

Like how well you’ve fared against preseason expectations. Has your team raised eyebrows with their performance and by how much? Not internal expectations, or those of a few sabermetricians – but the expecations of sportswriters and the general public. Another consideration is whether a manager has overcome debilitating in season obstacles, like injuries or unusual off field distractions.

With that in mind, let’s look at Melvin’s competition. Tony LaRussa has dealt with the most jarring off field issues, as well as the loss of Chris Carpenter, and may indeed be the league’s best manager. But he’s won the award several times and his Card’s really havent exceeded preseason expectations – not his fault, being defending World Champs and all – they just havent. And other NL contenders are rife with injured aces (Pedro, Unit, Schmidt, Sheets – do we even mention Prior and Wood anymore?).

The Mets, Phils, Cubs and Padres all expected to do well this year back in March – even Ned Yost’s Brewers were a sexier preseason pick than the Diamondbacks. Arizona was a consensus middle of the division selection.  Yet, with four weeks remaining, no NL team has more wins. And it’s not just that. It’s the way they’re winning.

They’ve won starting half a dozen first or second year players, who for the most part, escaped national radar (see Joe Girardi, above). They’ve won despite the absence of even a remotely ‘superstar’ position player. Melvin’s unremarkable bench leads all MLB in pinch hit home runs.  Most eye opening is the inexplicably huge gap between Arizona’s actual W/L record and the "Expected" W/L (derived from actual runs scored and yielded). 

While this provokes lusty disagreement as to whether the gap is primarily due to strategy or luck, there’s a growing perception that Melvin has taken a not terribly good team and helped mold it into a pesky, solid bunch a year or two before its time. No one in the NL has more wins. No one. Steering an unusually young team that wasnt supposed to be that good and leading the league in wins?  Joe Girardi didnt do that. No other manager has done that. Not this year. Not in the National League.

Often and rightfully regarded as this generation’s most overrated player, Derek Jeter may also be, paradoxically, this year’s most valuable in the American League. Clearly unworthy of the recent, lesser awards on his mantle, Jeter’s broad based skills could conceivably land him the most coveted individual trophy of all.      

He had no business seriously vying for, let alone winning, the Hank Aaron Award, established in 1999 to honor each league’s best hitter. It was a slugger’s trophy ( initially a statistical count of hits, HRs and RBIs, later evolving to a media vote), until recently enfranchised fans ignorantly tabbed the 14 homer heartthrob as the first HAA winner ever with less than twenty home runs. Well, thirty, actually. Oh, let’s cut the bull – he’s the first HAA winner ever with less than forty home runs and his selection is preposterous. MLB apparently thought so too, as just prior to last month’s awards ceremony, they coyly redefined Aaron Award criterion from best hitter to best offensive player, deftly deflecting some of the criticism sure to come from the announcement.   

The gold glove wasnt warranted either. Michael Young, Jhonny Peralta and others each fielded about 100 more balls than the Yankee captain. That’s a ton of balls to explain away with A-Rod’s range or the NY staff’s propensity for K’s and fly outs – which is league average anyway. Interpreting fielding stats is tricky, but hardly discourages Diamondhacks from likening Derek to Cinderella: frightfully late to the ball.

Even if Jeter clearly isnt the AL’s best hitter, it’s evident that, this season, he was in the top dozen or so. The 97 RBIs are not as remarkable as is often reported, given how many baserunners he’s had on, but it’s still very good, and only Sizemore tallied more AL runs. If the Kalamazoo Kid wasn’t the best, or second best, or third best shortstop, he still provided extra value by hitting .340 while adequately manning a very challenging position. And he is an uncanny, nearly transcendent baserunner, whose seasonal value in that vein exceeds the 30 bags.

Finally, copious intangibles famously ooze from the Kalamazoo Kid like droplets of Driven – furthering his MVP candidacy – and perhaps the need for a clean towel.   

To Dye, Ortiz and Morneau, this just plain smells.

To Cinderella, just maybe this smells like…victory.

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