Fantasy Baseball Awards, Week Three

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This season, the FBA’s will undertake a statistical experiment. Instead of waiting until seasons’ end to tally final figures and declare winners, we will track contenders from day one to see when trends unfold, and when incumbents step up to compete in their respective category. From the first week of the season through to now, here are our leaders for each of the various Fantasy Baseball Awards, as we track leaders each week:

National League

1. Fantasy MVP in 2008: Derek Lee
i. Runners-up: Chipper Jones, Pat Burrell, David Wright, Albert Pujols, and Chase Utley

2. Fantasy Cy Young in 2008 – Brandon Webb
i. Runners-up: Jake Peavy, Ben Sheets, Dan Haren, Johnny Cueto, and Johan Santana

3. Fantasy Rookie of the Year – Justin Upton
i. Runners-up: Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Kosuke Fukudome, Hiroki Kuroda, and Joey Votto

4. Fantasy Relief Man of the Year – Eric Gagne
i. Runners-up: Jason Isringhausen, Matt Capps, Kerry Wood, and Francisco Cordero

American League

1. Fantasy MVP in 2008: Manny Ramirez
i. Runners-up: Carlos Pena, Nick Markakis, B.J. Upton, Carlos Guillen, and Alexis Rios

2. Fantasy Cy Young in 2008 – Daisuke Matsuzaka
i. Runners-up: Cliff Lee, Chien-Ming Wong, Ervin Santana, Zack Greinke, and Javier Vazquez

3. Fantasy Rookie of the Year – Nick Blackburn
i. Runners-up: Joba Chamberlain, David Murphy, and Clay Buchholz

4. Fantasy Relief Man of the Year – Joe Nathan
i. Runners-up: Francisco Rodriguez, Jonathan Papelbon, George Sherrill, Joakim Soria, Mariano Rivera

This past week in the National League, the changes atop the leader board are obvious. Derek Lee pushed aside reigning NL fantasy MVP Hanley Ramirez to take the top spot with a major league leading 7 long-balls. Brandon Webb pushed aside Jake Peavy for the lead in NL fantasy Cy Young, while Juston Upton held strong to maintain his position atop all others for fantasy NL Rookie of the Year. The surprise of the week – a presumably substance-free Eric Gagne taking the top spot among contenders for NL fantasy Relief Man-of-the year.

In the American League, Manny Ramirez went on a rampage this past week to claim the top spot among AL contenders for fantasy MVP. Matsuzaka continued his sophomore dominance among all AL starters, and Joe Nathan topped AL closers to take the top spot among relief men. AL Rookie of the Year still remains wide open, so we expect more flip-flopping here than most other categories, but stay tuned for more as the season unfolds.