St. Louis Cardinals: Academy Awards

Tonight, February 28, is the big night for films: the Academy Awards.  What if these same awards were awarded (with some creative liberty) to our very own St. Louis Cardinals?

While there is no red carpet for these awards, I thought it might be an interesting exercise if we played around with the idea of the Academy Awards for the 2016 Cardinals.  In other words, let me use this slide show to make some predictions for the season using the convention of the Academy Awards as backdrop.

To help me with these awards, I will use no real stats but will flood each post with my own prognostications.  I hope to later return to this slideshow to see just how right or wrong I was as we move through the season.

First up: Award for Best Original Song

Award for Best Original Song OR Award for Best Walk-up Song

We all know that baseball players are paid to hit and field, not write original songs.  With this in mind, I’ve changed this category to Best Walk-up Song.  And the 2016 nominees are…

Randal Grichuk– Here Comes the Boom (Nelly)

Matt Holliday– WWE: Crank it Up (Big Show) Feat. Brand New Slim (Jim Johnston)

Adam Wainwright– Song of the South (Alabama)

and

Brayan Pena– All I Do is Win (DJ Khaled)

What a motley mix, no?  Okay, I chose this category with complete tongue-in-cheek but- really- I find baseball player’s selections of music to be hilarious.  What a better way or worse way to describe and present one’s self?

To award a winner here would be just plain blasphemy as, in my opinion, they all win and lose.  That said, I’m picking Pena because all I want is for the Cardinals to win!

Next: Award for Best Foreign Language Film

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

Award for Best Picture OR Award for Best Pitcher

I’m sure there were readers offended when no pitchers were listed in the previous slide as eligible for MVP awards.  Please take a deep breath; I do feel that the 2016 pitching staff has many eligible candidates for MVP status in 2016 but I held them out for this category.

The 2016 nominees are…

Adam Wainwright- RHP

Carlos Martinez- RHP

Mike Leake– RHP

and

Jamie Garcia– LHP

Wow, what a list, right?  Every opposing team should take immediate pause when thinking of facing any of these listed here.  Having said that, Wainwright and Martinez and Garcia each must wrestle their demons with injury.  Should the avoid the disabled list then any of these three could post MVP numbers.

This isn’t meant to discount Leake who has been a faithful pitcher and who will immediately take the place of the absent John Lackey.  Many writers have already noted that Leake is almost exactly the work horse pitcher that is Lackey just in a much younger body.  Yet again, another great pick up by Mozeliak.

In looking at these names, I feel that 2016 will be a continuation of the amazing pitching performance that was witnessed by Jaime Garcia in 2015 with one massive change: I feel that the 2016 squad will provide him run support that he failed to receive in 2015.  This said, Jaime is the winner of best pitcher in 2016.

Next: Summation

Summation

As a recap, the following players were awarded this year’s prognosticated Cardinals Academy Awards:

• Best Walk-up Song: Brayan Pena- All I Do is Win
• Best Foreign Language Player: Seung-hwan Oh- RP
• Best Relief Pitcher: Tyler Lyons- LHP
• Most Valuable Player: Randal Grichuk- CF
• Best Pitcher: Jaime Garcia- LHP

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

Cardinal fans are year-after-year spoiled rotten with talent.  2016 shows to be no different.  With the weakened NL-Central divison (with the obvious exception of the Cubs), the 2016 Cardinals should find themselves battling on only one front.

This is not to say that the ever-resourceful Pittsburgh Pirates under the great Clint Hurdle will not cause or create a challenge to the birds on the bat but 2016, with the winners above, should present a great season for Cardinal fans.

Next: St. Louis Cardinals: Center field riding the center line?

I hope you enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek look at the 2016 Cardinals team playing with the idea of tonight’s Oscars.  Follow me on Twitter and let’s discuss each Academy Award and we can also discuss these awards as the season progresses.  Now, can we please start some baseball games?!