To all you Tigers fans out there, I know you might feel Rick Porcello got hosed out of winning the Rookie of the Year, I get that.  He had an awesome year.  But being an A’s fan, I’m pumped that Andrew Bailey is taking home the hardware for Rookie of the Year.  He may not have pitched his team to the brink of the playoffs, but he had a fantastic year for his club.

He was the only rookie in the All-Star game, and looking at his stats, only Mariano Rivera had a better statistical season in the closer role.  Entering the season, the A’s were going to have Brad Ziegler take care of most of the closing duties, with Bailey filling in, but after Ziegler battled some health problems, Bailey took over.  Bailey is a guy who was turned into a reliever in the minors, but got really comfortable in that role this year in the big leagues.

Hopefully with the A’s history of ripping ROY Awards off in chunks, this is a sign for good things to come.  They had Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, and Walt Weiss, from ’86- ’88.  And another ROY chunk with Bobby Crosby and Houston Street in ’04 -’05, with Ben Grieve thrown in there in ’98.  

We know the A’s are awesome at evaluating and developing young talent, but they need to fix market inequalities.  Time and time again, it’s so frustrating to see these young players fly out the door once the time comes around to paying them.  Like the Expos of the early 90’s, we don’t want to be a farm team for the teams with holes in their line-ups and in their pockets.

Until the A’s prove they have what it takes to keep their young stars, I’ll put off buying any jerseys with their names on it.

In the National League, Chris Coghlan won the NL ROY in another tight race.  J.A. Happ had a pretty good year, and the Braves wouldn’t have been in the race in September without Tommy Hanson.

There were so many outstanding rookies this season, and it really made it a cool race.  In years past it seemed like some rookies won almost by default, but with great breakout seasons by Elvis Andrus, Andrew McCutchen, and Gordon Beckham, there was a lot to discuss around the water cooler today.

Tune in at 6 to Hot Stove because we’re going to be hearing from Chris Coghlan who will join us from Tampa, and Andrew Bailey is going to call in, so you know what, it’s time I break out the Andrew Bailey T-shirt poster.  After a rough season, it’s time the A’s got some love. – Matt Vasgersian

Click here to watch the interview with Chris Coghlan from Monday night.