A quick look at my IBA choices:

AL ROY

1. Ichiro Suzuki
2. C.C. Sabathia
3. Alfonso Soriano

Suzuki and Sabathia were easy. After that it was kind of dicey, with Soriano just nosing out Anaheim’s David Eckstein and Minnesota’s Luis Rivas for that last spot. Danys Baez also had a solid, if quiet, rookie campaign.

NL ROY

1. Albert Pujols
2. Roy Oswalt
3. Marcus Giles

This was even easier than the AL. Pujols had an epic season. I haven’t looked but I’d be surprised if there were any season in history in which his campaign didn’t earn him ROY honors in either league. Oswalt was a pretty easy second. After that it was a tossup between Giles, Adam Dunn, and Ben Sheets. Dunn probably had a little better season than Giles but the latter did it in a more meaningful context. This is more-or-less the same reasoning I used for choosing Soriano over his competition in the AL. Giles gave the Braves a real shot in the arm down the stretch, when they desperately needed one.

AL Cy Young

1. Freddy Garcia
2. Mark Mulder
3. Mike Mussina
4. Roger Clemens
5. Jamie Moyer

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Clemens is one of my least favorite ballplayers of all time. That said, I try not to let my feelings influence my vote. This was probably the single most difficult award this year, and although Clemens’ 20 – 3 record looks awfully nice, I’m not convinced he was the best pitcher on his own team let alone in the entire league. Those top three are very close in my mind, and on another day I might’ve chosen differently. But Garcia’s numbers were just too much to ignore. Guys who didn’t make my list include Paul Abbott, Tim Hudson, Sabathia, Aaron Sele, and Barry Zito. Hudson and Zito in particular were worthy candidates.

NL Cy Young

1. Randy Johnson
2. Curt Schilling
3. Matt Morris
4. Javier Vazquez
5. Greg Maddux

The two Diamondbacks were almost inseparable but Johnson was a little more dominant, so I went with him. Morris had an unbelievable season considering what he’s been through the past few years, and Vazquez really snuck up on the league, especially during the second half. Maddux was brilliant again, ho hum. Others I considered include Darryl Kile, Jon Lieber, Wade Miller, Russ Ortiz, Oswalt, and Woody Williams.

AL MVP

1. Roberto Alomar
2. Bret Boone
3. Alex Rodriguez
4. Jason Giambi
5. Bernie Williams
6. Jim Thome
7. Freddy Garcia
8. Mark Mulder
9. Mike Mussina
10. Roger Clemens

This was probably the second toughest vote. If the Rangers had done anything this year, I probably would have gone with A-Rod. I don’t have a problem with giving the award to a player on a non-contender but he has to have put up numbers significantly better than those of his competitors. A-Rod was close. Giambi was also tempting, and I suspect he’ll win the version handed out by the BBWAA again. But to me it came down to the two second basemen. And while Boone got all the attention because of Seattle’s historic season and because, well, frankly everyone was a bit shocked to see him putting up those kinds of numbers, Alomar was right there with him in the qualitative stats. He also committed only five errors all season long. There was a pretty good gap after those guys. The bottom four should look familiar. Ichiro is the notable omission here, though frankly I’m not sure he would have gotten my vote over teammate Mike Cameron. Don’t get me wrong; Ichiro had a brilliant season in its context. But he’s no MVP. Not even close.

NL MVP

1. Barry Bonds
2. Luis Gonzalez
3. Sammy Sosa
4. Randy Johnson
5. Albert Pujols
6. Curt Schilling
7. Rich Aurilia
8. Chipper Jones
9. Jim Edmonds
10. Todd Helton

This one was also very difficult, after the first four or five names. Anyone who votes for someone other than Bonds #1 needs to have their head examined or, at the very least, the game of baseball explained to them. Gonzalez and Sosa were nearly indistinguishable, with Gonzo starting strong and Sammy finishing strong. My guess is that the writers will reverse those two. Johnson for his dominance, Pujols because it’s not every day a kid out of A-ball leads a team to the NL playoffs in his first year in the bigs. After him, the picture became less clear. I stuck Aurilia in there because he’s so far ahead of the next shortstop in the NL. The last three were a crapshoot. Worthy candidates not listed include Bobby Abreu, Moises Alou, Lance Berkman, Brian Giles, Shawn Green, Vlad Guerrero, Ryan Klesko, Phil Nevin, Mike Piazza, Gary Sheffield, and Larry Walker among others whom I’m forgetting. Berkman, Green, Nevin, and Walker were particularly tough to leave off the list. Berkman and Edmonds were neck-and-neck but I went with Edmonds because of his defense and park; Green missed out because he plays a less premium position than Edmonds. Nevin lost out to Chipper, and Walker essentially lost out to Helton. Both put up monstrous numbers but Helton played 17 more games.