Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics and Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins(fooled you with the picture, huh?). Bailey had a great year for the A's, going 26 for 30 in saves with a 1.84 ERA. He also recorded an impressive 0.88 WHIP as well. However, I am a little disappointed that Beckham did not win it. He finished fifth! Jeff Niemann (Tampa Bay), Rick Porcello (Detroit) and Elvis Andrus (Texas) all finished ahead of Beckham. With the exception of Rick Porcello, how could you say that any of those guys had a better year than Beckham? He hit 14 home runs and drove in 63 over the course of just 103 games, to go along with 28 doubles. You also have to take into account that Beckham learned a new position (third base) to go along with all of the numbers. He fielded the new position admirably, and he should be a mainstay in the Sox infield for years to come.
Even though he could not win the Rookie of the Year award given out by the writers, he still was able to take home the Sporting News' Rookie of the Year award (voted on by the players and some coaches/managers) as well as the Players' Choice Rookie of the Year award (also voted on by the players). And hey, Beckham should not feel too bad that he didn't get the writers' award. Not all Rookie of the Year award winners go on to have great careers. Besides, for every Albert Pujols who wins the award (like he did in 2001), you have a plethora of no-name players who took home the hardware (like Angel Berroa, Ben Grieve, Pat Listach, Joe Charboneau, Bob Hamelin, etc.). None of those guys I listed became anything special. Beckham not winning the American League Rookie of the Year will not define him. Instead, I'm looking at this as the start of a truly special career for "Bacon."
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