St. Louis Cardinals: Academy Awards

Award for Best Foreign Language Film OR Award for Best Foreign Language Player

Baseball is a sport filled with athletes coming from numerous countries and backgrounds.  The Cardinals have historically filled lineups with players of Latino, Hispanic, Caribbean, and American origins.  This year the Cardinals made a big splash in the Asian markets with the signing of Seung-hwan Oh.  This lead me to thinking of awarding a winner for the best 2016 Cardinal originating outside of the borders of the USA.

The 2016 nominees are…

Carlos Martinez– SP- Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Seung-hwan Oh– RP- Jeong-Eub Si, South Korea

Yadier Molina– C- Bayamon, Puerto Rico

and

Jhonny Peralta– SS- Santiago, Dominican Republic

This is a real tough one with the likes of these names.  Each player here could well blast things off in 2016.  I am very partial to Yadier but am concerned that his health will diminish his performance in 2016.  Martinez is an interesting wildcard that could easily go either way.  Peralta is, as I have noted before, a stalwart in the lineup and could well put together a great 2016.

With these all stated, I feel that Seung-hwan Oh will be the best on this list in 2016 and I predict that he might well be the closer by the trade deadline.

Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role OR Award for Best Relief Pitcher

A 100-win season was in the cards (see what I did there?) in 2015 and much of this can be attributed to the team’s outstanding bullpen.  With few of these players departing, I feel that 2016 will be much of the same.  Add to this the fact that Mozeliak has added Oh and bolstered the back end of the bullpen as well as the resurgence that recovering arms might lend and 2016 should stand as a great season.

The 2016 nominees for best relief pitcher are…

Tyler Lyons– LHP

Trevor Rosenthal– RHP

Kevin Siegrist– LHP

and

Seung-hwan Oh- RHP

Oh won the previous category and very likely rightfully so, but does that make him the best relief pitcher in 2016?  I do feel that he could well be considered for this award but with the health-in-question of the likes of Martinez, Wacha, and perhaps even Wainwright, my vote for the winner of the best relief pitcher in 2016 is going to Tyler Lyons.

Lyons will add much as the long man and I am worried (with some joy) that he will be needed in a greater number of games than expected thus winning this award.

Next: Award for Best Actor