Continuing the BBLVPAs after an unfortunate delay, today we are proud to bring you the Allan Travers Awards. As we said in the opener, if you don't know why these awards (the BBLVPA version of the Cy Young Awards), a glance at the entries for Al Travers on Baseball-Reference or the Baseball Library should clue you in.
Batter's Box 2003 Least Valuable Player Awards
2003 BBLVPAs : Mismanagers of the Year
2003 BBLVPAs : The Batter's Box Schadenfreude Awards
We are please to announce that the 2003 Batter's Box Allan Travers Award winners are Jeff Weaver in the American League, and Shawn Estes in the National League. Weaver won a close decision over Texas Rangers Chan Ho Park (it has been suggested that the award be renamed after the redoubtable Chan Ho) and Colby Lewis. Estes took the NL race by the closest possible margin (one point) over Glendon Rusch of the Brewers. When people judge you to be a worse pitcher than a guy who went 1-12 with a 6.42 ERA, you've accomplished something truly magnificent.
Jeff Weaver - New York Yankees
It was a noteworthy year for Jeff Weaver of the New York Yankees, culminating in being added to the Yankees' playoff roster for the World Series... and losing Game 4 on a 12th-inning sayonara home run by Alex Gonzalez.
Heck, that performance - since it had included a three-up, three-down 11th inning - was a good one for Weaver in 2003. A struggle from start to finish, Weaver managed to punch in with final numbers of 7-9 and a 5.99 ERA in 32 games (24 starts).
Finally, the regular season ended with Weaver accepting a demotion to the minor leagues. But not to AAA Columbus. Or to AA Trenton. No, Weaver was sent all the way down to A-ball, to Tampa of the Florida State League, a level Weaver has never actually played at (after being a first-round draft pick out of Fresno State in 1998, Weaver went to the NYP league and then the low-A Midwest League, before vaulting straight into AA for one start in 1999 - then it was straight to the bigs).
Weaver, of course, is well-known as a bad actor... accusations of drug use on the Tigers' team plane, a harrassment case against an airline hostess, a memorable punch-up with Mike Sweeney after Weaver called him an unpleasant name (following a request to move the rosin bag off the front of the mound), and a reputation as a horrible teammate with a tendency to show up teammates on the field. There was more than a little pleasure, I think, in watching Weaver fail so disastrously in the high-pressure New York environment.
Jeff Weaver's Seven Greatest Hits
April 27 versus Texas - 4.0 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. The Yanks lost the game 10-7.
May 9 versus Oakland - 7.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. The Yanks lost the game 7-2.
May 20 versus Boston - 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. The Yanks lost the game 10-7.
May 25 versus Toronto - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. The Yanks lost the game 5-3.
June 17 versus Tampa Bay - 5.0 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. The Yanks lost the game 11-2.
July 21 versus Toronto - 4.1 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. The Yanks lost the game 8-0.
August 13 versus KC - 6.1 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. The Yanks lost the game 11-0.
Shawn Estes - Chicago Cubs
Without the protective, nurturing embrace of Dusty Baker, Shawn Estes might never have made it to clam the 2003 NL Allan Travers Award. It takes a considerable amount of gumption to give a regular rotation place to a pitcher who winds up with final numbers of 8-11 and a 5.73 ERA (allowing a nifty 6.68 runs per nine innings).
Estes eventually repaid Dusty's faith by posting a magnificent complete-game, four-hit shutout of the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, his ERA in 27 starts before that Sept. 24 game was 6.09... so it wasn't exactly triumph after triumph. Estes doesn't have the bad-boy rep of Jeff Weaver (anyone gets a pass from me for throwing behind Roger Clemens's Giant White Ass, especially when he homered off Clemens later in that strangely memorable game), so it's harder to gloat at his failures, but trotting him out time after time in the thick of a summer pennant race has to count as a bizarre sort of obsessive-compulsive behaviour by a manager who does great things with veteran players, but couldn't work any magic with Estes in 2003.
Jay Mariotti may be an idiot, but the veteran columnist and unabashed Cubs rooter said it best in August...
"Shawn Estes scares me more than Division Street at 3:30 a.m."
Shawn Estes's Eight Greatest Hits
April 4 versus Cincinnati - 4.0 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. The Cubs lost the game 10-9.
April 20 versus Pittsburgh - 3.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. The Cubs lost the game 8-2.
April 26 versus Colorado - 2.0 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. The Cubs lost the game 13-2
May 30 versus Houston - 4.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K. The Cubs lost the game 9-1.
June 20 versus the White Sox - 1.0 IP, 2 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 0 K. The Cubs lost the game 12-3.
July 10 versus Atlanta - 6.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. The Cubs lost the game 13-3.
August 23 versus Arizona - 4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. The Cubs lost the game 13-2.
August 30 versus Milwaukee - 2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. The Cubs lost the game 9-5.
Allan Travers Voting
Only the top 7 in each league are shown here. Nine votes were received; each voter was asked to rank three choices, points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis.
American 1 2 3 Total
Jeff Weaver 3 0 0 15
Chan Ho Park 2 1 0 13
Colby Lewis 2 1 0 13
Mike Maroth 1 0 1 6
Cory Lidle 0 1 2 5
Chris George 1 0 0 5
Billy Koch 0 1 1 4
National 1 2 3 Total
Shawn Estes 3 1 0 18
Glendon Rusch 1 4 0 17
Ryan Dempster 1 1 1 9
Jimmy Haynes 1 0 2 7
Tom Glavine 1 0 0 5
Jose Mesa 1 0 0 5
Denny Neagle 1 0 0 5
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