Soto, Longoria Named Top Rookies
No surprises on the first day of awards season, as Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto and Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria were landslide winners of the National League and American League rookie of the year awards, respectively. Longoria won unanimously, while Soto missed by only one first-place vote.
Soto, 25, hit .285 with 23 homers and 86 RBI for the NL Central-champion Cubs, and becomes the first catcher to win a rookie of the year award in either league since Mike Piazza in 1993. The only other first place vote in the NL went to Cincinnati's Joey Votto, who finished second in overall balloting.
Longoria, 23, helped lead the upstart Rays to the World Series, despite starting the season in Class AAA and missing another month of the season with a wrist injury. He led all major league rookies with 27 homers and a .531 slugging percentage. Longoria received all 28 first-place votes, making him the first unanimous pick since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997, and easily outpacing Chicago's Alexis Ramirez and Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury in the balloting.
Next up: NL Cy Young on Tuesday.
By
Dave Sheinin
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November 10, 2008; 2:00 PM ET
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Posted by: BobLHead | November 10, 2008 2:40 PM | Report abuse
Depends on what Beane gave up for him and if he has a subsequent team to flip him to for something else.
Posted by: Brian_ | November 10, 2008 2:51 PM | Report abuse
Fair point, although RosenRosen says they don't plan to flip him.
Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street are supposed to be the players going to Colorado from the A's, although Brett Anderson and Ryan Sweeney have also been mentioned and there seems to be some uncertainty over whether this is a done deal or not.
Posted by: BobLHead | November 10, 2008 4:48 PM | Report abuse
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SI is reporting that Matt Holliday has been traded to the As. Not exactly the typical Billy Beane move.