Time for this season's baseball awards

Ken Davidoff

2:02 PM EDT, October 2, 2008

One day into the postseason, let's take one last look back at the regular season.

The envelopes, please:

National League Most Valuable Player: Albert Pujols, St. Louis.

Whether you're a stats geek or an old-school scout, you can't deny this man his due. All of the evidence supports him, in an extremely strong field. No, his team didn't make the playoffs, but without Pujols -- the major-league leader with an 1.114 OPS -- would the Cardinals have even sniffed contention?

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NL Least Valuable Player: Andruw Jones, Dodgers. That he was coming off a bad 2007 made him a relative bargain at two years and $36.2 million. But three homers in 209 at-bats? Unfathomable.

American League MVP: Dustin Pedroia, Boston. Among a weak field, he's the best candidate, contributing power and spirit from a crucial position.

AL LVP: Robinson Cano, Yankees. And there you have it, the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox: Their second basemen.

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco. Thanks to the wonders of the Web, I can change my mind. Lincecum wins a tight race with the Mets' Johan Santana.

NL Sean Young Award: Tom Gorzelanny, Pittsburgh. It's usually more fun to pick on a more established guy, but no one else fit the dishonor. Gorzelanny began the season as the Pirates' nominal ace and finished with a 6.66 ERA.

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee, Cleveland. To think that this guy didn't even pitch for the Indians in last year's postseason. What an incredible rebound.

AL Sean Young: Dontrelle Willis, Detroit. An all-time yeesh.

The likeable lefty signed a three-year, $29-million extension with the Tigers after arriving via trade with Miguel Cabrera. Then he put up a 9.38 ERA in eight appearances, spending much of the season trying to refine his mechanics in the minor leagues.

NL Manager of the Year: Joe Torre, Dodgers. Yes, Manny Ramirez changed everything with his Aug. 1 arrival, yet a team doesn't follow an eight-game losing streak in August with an eight-game winning streak unless the manager is staying calm and keeping his players engaged.

NL Mismanager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Cincinnati. Perhaps the team would've scored more runs if Baker hadn't played his old Cubs pal Corey Patterson so much.

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay. True, he had impressive talent in his clubhouse. But someone had to make sure the whole thing worked.

AL Mismanager of the Year: Jim Leyland, Detroit. Maybe no one could've stopped the Tigers' meltdown. Leyland, however, is the one who gets paid well to figure it out. And he couldn't.

NL Rookie of the Year: Geovany Soto, Cubs. We got a glimpse of him last year, and exposure didn't hurt his game at all.

AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay. Despite starting the year in the minor leagues, he delivered on his promise.

NL Executive of the Year: Pat Gillick, Philadelphia. He needed a frontline starting pitcher, so he switched his 2007 closer Brett Myers back to the rotation -- Myers wound up getting demoted to the minors in the first half before rediscovering himself -- and traded for Brad Lidge. An inspired move for baseball's oldest GM.

NL Isiah Thomas Award: Kevin Towers, San Diego. The normally excellent Towers had a rough year, as he traded for Jim Edmonds, released him in early May and saw Edmonds shine with the Cubs.

AL Executive of the Year: Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay. It helped that all of those last-place finishes produced high draft picks. But the Rays largely did well on those picks, as well as the trade of Delmon Young for Matt Garza.

AL Isiah Thomas Award: The fired Bill Bavasi of Seattle, and Dave Dombrowski. Both men spent over nine figures and couldn't get close to a winning record.

Cash's Changes?

First on tap for Brian Cashman, armed with a new, three-year contract, could be some renovations to the player development setup in Tampa. While Hal Steinbrenner backs Cashman's vision of building from within, the Steinbrenner family would like to see a higher return on their investment and will allow Cashman to hire and fire if he so desires. Mark Newman has headed the Tampa baseball operations for most of the last 13 years.