The All-Star Break approaches. Though this season has seemed to go on forever, it’s somehow just over half finished. Ah, the joys of cheering for a (checks notes) 24-59 baseball team.
Jake & Scott over at Bird’s Eye View are soldiering on though, bringing us the SIXTH annual BEVy Awards show. We’re happy to do our small part here at ESR, so please vote on the categories below!
Our categories have been the same since 2013 – The Forgotten Man Award and the “Why Are You Breaking My Heart Like This, Just Let Me Love You!” Award.
Our previous winners:
Forgotten Man
Remember these guys? Probably not! That’s kinda the idea.
2013 – Alex Burnett
2014 – Ramon Ramirez
2015 – Cesar Cabral
2016 – Francisco Pena
2017 – David Washington
“Why Are You Breaking My Heart Like This, Just Let Me Love You!”
Some of these players have turned things around – either in the season they won the award or the one after. Others – looking at you, Chrises – have…not.
2013 – Jim Johnson
2014 – Chris Davis
2015 – Chris Tillman
2016 – Kevin Gausman
2017 – Manny Machado
We always name this year’s award after the previous winner. With that in mind, your nominees are…
David Washington Memorial Forgotten Man Award
In a year that’s gone off the rails as far as this one, there should be no dearth of eligible candidates for this award. However, the Birds have seemed to be a bit less DFA-happy than they were in recent years. Still, the following players fit the bill nicely.
Corban Joseph – Caleb’s little brother was called up on June 15, had a neat/gimmicky little historical footnote when he and Caleb became the only non-Ripken siblings to appear in the same game for the Birds, was optioned on June 20, DFA’d on June 29, and cleared waivers and was sent back to Bowie July 1.
Andrew Susac – Speaking of Caleb, as he wasn’t really getting it done, the O’s gave Andrew Susac a chance. He was called up on May 17, hit .115/.115/.154 in nine games, then was sent back down on June 2. Seems doubtful, barring injury, we’ll see him on the big club again.
Engelb Vielma – The utility infielder hit .143/.250/.143 in six games (just seven plate appearances), then was optioned on May 8. Two days later, he had a very unfortunate crash chasing a ball in Durham then was scheduled for surgery to repair a fractured kneecap sustained in the fall. Twitter isn’t sure if he ever had the surgery though…this is the last update:
Engelb Vielma was scheduled to have knee surgery today but postponed to allow for more healing #orioles
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) May 15, 2018
Ominous…
Nestor Cortes – One of the Birds’ THREE Rule V picks on the Opening Day roster, Cortes pitched 4.2 innings out of the ‘pen, posting a 7.71 ERA (4 ER, 10 H) and looking quite overwhelmed before being DFA’d on April 10 and returned to the Yankees on April 13.
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The Manny Machado “Why Are You Breaking My Heart Like This, Just Let Me Love You!” Award
Yup, Manny Machado actually won this award last year (remember his awful first half?), so it’s fitting that one of this season’s nominees is his bestie. This honor, remember, is for the player who is good (or who we think/hope is good, anyway – Chris Davis has won this award before, which doesn’t make him ineligible. Instead, he’s ineligible because we’ve given up all hope that he’s good any more), but who is having a dreadful first few months of the season. This year, the trouble was narrowing it down to just three or four. Good times.
Jonathan Schoop – What can you even say about Schoop? The 2017 MVO is following up his All-Star .293/.338/.503 32 HR/105 RBI 2017 campaign with a dreadful .202/.245/.350 effort so far, and just eight home runs. Not dope.
Trey Mancini – Boom Boom or Bust Bust? Trey put up 2.2 bWAR in 2017. So far this season? He’s at -1.2. He hasn’t looked the same at the dish since running into the wall at OPACY on April 20, and while his defense was passable last year, it’s been a bit rougher out in LF this season.
Alex Cobb – Ugh. The guy who was supposed to be the Birds’ missing piece, who would launch them into being a true wild-card contender instead looks like the second coming of Ubaldo Jimenez. At this rate, the Orioles will seriously never sign another free agent pitcher again. Cobb is just 2-10, but on this team we can’t really hold that against him. What we CAN hold against him is his 4.98 FIP, 12.0 H/9, and career-worst 6.1 K/9. Every time he looks to be turning the corner, he blows up the next time out.
Mychal Givens – “Untouchable” in trade talks a year ago, Givens has fallen back to earth in 2018. His FIP suggests some bad luck when compared to his ERA (2.89 vs. 4.81), but his career-high 4.8 BB/9 are getting him in trouble. Givens hasn’t been THAT awful, but he’s given up some runs on a team where a run or two is usually enough to result in a loss, as evidenced by his 0-6 record.
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Thanks for voting! Be sure to tune into the BEVys over the All-Star break on BirdsEyeViewBaltimore.com.
