Kimbrel and Hellickson are ROYs

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7234241/atlanta-braves-craig-kimbrel-tampa-bay-rays-jeremy-hellickson-named-rookies-year

I'm a little surprised in the AL. Thought it would be Trumbo. Can't go wrong either way, though. Wonder if Trumbo and Hosmer split the hitter vote.

 

Trumbo was robbed.

 

He would have won if it wasn't for the national media and their Rays bias.

 

Maybe if Trumbo reached base more often than Adam Dunn he'd have a case.

 

Beat me to it. Trumbo had a .291 OBP.

He's the kind of guy who would have won in a landslide 20 years ago, but voters look beyond Triple Crown stats nowadays.

 

Fine, look beyond the Triple Crown stats to the fact the Angels were within 2.5 games on Sept. 7 solely due to Trumbo's offensive performance.

 

If you're going to play that game, the Rays went 4-1 in Hellickson's September starts. They won the wild card by one game.

 

He wasn't even the best first baseman eligible.

Trumbo -- 29 HR, 87 RBI, 65 R, 9 SB, .254/.291/.477/.768
Hosmer -- 19 HR, 78 RBI, 66 R, 11 SB, .293/.334/.465/.799

And keep in mind Hosmer played in 128 games compared to 149 for Trumbo. Hellickson's a good choice.

 

My ballot...

1. Hellickson
2. Nova
3. Hosmer

 

Really? Trumbo was all the Angels had offensively?

His OPS was three points ahead of both Torii Hunter and Peter Burjos, behind Howie Kendrick by about 40 points, and about 25 points ahead of Erick Aybar. So he was actually about the same as all the Angels' offensive leaders.

 

If Mark Trumbo wasn't a rookie fill-in, we'd be calling him a mediocre-at-best first baseman. Jeremy Hellickson was just a damned good pitcher.

Trumbo's "rise" was surprising, but Hellickson's predicted excellence was greater.

 

Hellickson > Hosmer > Nova > Trumbo