MVPs: Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter
-These seem to be the clear choices, even for blockhead voters. Pujols' biggest competition is Ryan Howard, who didn't "get his team to the playoffs," nor did he break the home run record, as many (including myself) posited he might. Jeter's competition lies in Travis Hafner and David Ortiz, both designated hitters, which, as we saw last year, takes a toll on your MVP votes. Plus, apparently no one seems to know who Travis Hafner even is, even though he has a career .297/.402/.583 (BA/OBP/SLG) line.

Cy Young: Johan Santana, Roy Oswalt
-Johan seems to be a shoo-in after his infuriating snub last season (Bartolo Colon? What?). His competition lies in Roy Halladay and Chien-Ming Wang. Oswalt deserves the award in the NL, but Carpenter will likely get it, even though he was just the third-best pitcher in the league this season, behind Oswalt and Brandon Webb. But Carpenter's team made the playoffs, and so obviously he pitched better this season than the other two. Hope for Oswalt lies in the fact that he and Carpenter had 15 "Wins" each, while Webb had just 16 (tied for the league lead). Really, the three had pretty comparable statistics, so I wouldn't mind any of them winning the award. But again, Carpenter's team made the playoffs, so he'll probably get the award.

Rookie of the Year: Hanley Ramirez, Francisco Liriano
-The NL race seems to be pretty clear, with Ramirez having absolutely no competition anywhere. Ramirez' VORP: 54.9. Closest competitor: Clay Hensley, 40.8. Liriano's VORP, on the other hand: 51.0. Closest competitors: Justin Verlander, 47.5, and Jered Weaver, 46.5. Any of these three would be a good choice, but I can't tell whom the voters will select - Liriano or Verlander. Weaver hasn't gotten quite the press that these two got this season, even though he pitched 123 innings to Liriano's 121.

Silver Slugger Award Winners, According to RARP (AL, NL):

C: Joe Mauer, Brian McCann
1B: Justin Morneau, Albert Pujols
2B: Robinson Cano, Chase Utley
SS: Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez
3B: Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera
LF: Manny Ramirez, Jason Bay
CF: Grady Sizemore, Carlos Beltran
RF: Jermaine Dye, J.D. Drew
P: Dontrelle Willis
DH: Travis Hafner (replaces Morneau if you consider DHs equivalent to 1Bmen)

Overall, I'm very happy with how the week went down. My losses were by a touchdown, a field goal, and a safety, and my wins were all monster blowouts. Hopefully Ryan's fantasy luck will translate into his blog picks, and I'll win out on the season.

Baltimore defeats New Orleans 35-22 (John)

Atlanta defeats Cincinnati 29-27 (Ryan)

Tennessee defeats Houston 28-22 (Neither)

Cleveland defeats New York 20-13 (Ryan)

Dallas defeats Carolina 35-14 (John)

New England defeats Minnesota 31-7 (John)

$ - Indianapolis defeats Denver 34-31 (Ryan +1)

Total: Ryan 4, John 3

From mlb.com...

"Having missed most of the season's final three months with an ailing right shoulder, Thomson has indicated that he'd be willing to return to Atlanta at a much lower cost and with the responsibility of serving as a reliever."

I don't see any reason why Atlanta wouldn't re-sign Thomson, given this situation. At worst, he'd have another injury-filled season, but the Braves wouldn't be paying much. At best, he'd return to his usual consistent ways and be a fill-in if one of our rotation members gets hurt.

Woo! Go Texans! Just so you know, "fans," we didn't collaborate on our picks; what you see are our individual opinions. Good thing we disagree, that makes for better blogvision.

Baltimore over New Orleans. The Ravens' O comes through seemingly for the first time all season big against the Saints' 19th-ranked D.

New England over Minnesota. Tom Brady faces a tough game against Minnesota's 3rd-ranked D, but comes out on top in a close one.

Dallas over Carolina. *winces* Sorry, boys, Dallas just looks better right now.

Cincinnati over Atlanta. The Falcons' anemic offense gets shut out in this one.

New York over Cleveland. Toss-up, but the Jets win by a field goal.

Houston over Tennessee. David Carr finds Andre Johnson and Eric Moulds all day while marching all over the Titans' D in a blowout win.

And the money pick...

Denver over Indianapolis. The home-field advantage the Broncos get is almost tangible as they win a slugfest over the Colts. "Art" Tatum Bell scores three touchdowns in the win.

Texans > Titans
would go with the Titans, but Pac-Man is sitting this one out so Carr throws for 250
Saints > Ravens
too good in the dome
Vikings > Pats
just a hunch, the pats aren't forcing enough TO's this year, and thats the only way to get to the vikes
Panthers > Cowgirls
keyshawn goes for 95 and 2 TD's
Falcons > Bengals
strength (Falcons Run O) v. weakness (Bengals Run D) here
Browns > Jets
does it show that i have no faith in the AFC East
Colts > Broncos
if only so i can FINALLY win a week of fantasy, and the AFC paper-rock-scissors

ok, here's the deal:

john and i will set down a gaunlet of 7 games to pick for the week, we each get 3 games (non-overlapping) and 1 agreed on "money pick" worth twice as much, for the hardest game of the week (as determined by the comments section over the week prior). the one qualifier is games must have a line of below 7 points, we don't cop out around here.

john selects the games:
Texans @ Titans, Ravens @ Saints, Patriots @ Vikings
ryan selects:
Cowboys @ Panthers, Falcons @ Bengals, Jets @ Browns
and the money pick of the week:
Colts @ Broncos

Bold prediction: Michigan-Auburn in the title game, thanks to Ryan's rationale on why it won't be OSU-Michigan.

Basically, baseball is the only sport I know a hill of beans about, so most of my posts will be in that regard. The two sites I get most of my information from are www.baseballprospectus.com and firejoemorgan.blogspot.com, so most of my posts will be tangents off articles from those sites. Look for hot stove commentary in the coming months, in addition to weekly NFL picks (ooh, maybe Ryan and I can have NFL pick-offs, provided we don't both go by footballoutsiders.com's DVOA rankings for our picks).

john: why won't the championship game be OSU/Michigan part two?

ryan: the TV networks will tinker with one of the computer formulas, or pressure voters, or both, so that the national championship game isn't A) a repeat of a game already played and B) a midwest only affair

besides, i think it will be the SEC championship game winner anyways, assuming they still have one loss, because of strength of schedule (Florida would have to beat Auburn or vice versa)

bold prediction: national championship game: OSU-Auburn (as much as i'd like to see Florida or Michigan, or both, in the game, i doubt it will happen)

humorous take on the "look again player of the year" award, presented by Holiday Inn from Fire Joe Morgan

this is a test post...