We all knew this was coming. Coco clearly didn’t like being second-fiddle to the Mormon from Oregon, and rightfully so, he had too much talent to be a fourth outfielder. Sadly, Coco never lived up to the ridiculously high expectations that everybody set for him when he came in to replace the very large shoes left behind by “Judas” Damon. Coco’s offensive numbers certainly were never an improvement over Damon’s from ‘02-’05, although he was an immediate upgrade for the Sox in IQ.

But rather than think about all the potential gone south (remember how he started his first five games in a Sox jersey with a .333BA, a double, a triple and 2SB before breaking his pinkie??), I’d rather just remember Coco for some of the good things. His ridiculous bases-loaded balls to the ground catch to rob David Wright in 2006. His near-Stephen King moment with the Mariner Moose’s ATV. His kamikaze catch going full-speed into the bullpen wall for the final out of the 2007 ALCS. (As Gabe Kapler said, “If it was a one run game, it goes down as one of the greatest catches in postseason history.”) His minor scuffle with the Devil Rays. His 10 pitch single in the 8th inning of game five the 2008 ALCS to bring the Sox all the way back from being down 0-7 to tie the game. That’s what I’ll remember from Coco. Oh, and that his ‘fro does get soggy in milk.

So long Coco, I hope you finally reach your potential…as long as it’s not in pinstripes.

Congratulations to Dustin Pedroia for winning his first Most Valuable Fucking Player award. Or, at least, that’s probably what he thinks it really stands for. I, personally, would have voted for Youks. Better offensive numbers, played gold-glove defense at not one, but two positions, and bat all over the lineup. But a .326 BA with 17HR and 54 2B’s aint bad.

In honor of Bull Durham and this link from the BBC, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Pedroia’s first draft of his acceptance speech:

It’s a big honor, but, let’s be honest, I deserved it. You know, I actually give 110% every day, which to anybody else would be like 242%…I calculated it. And let’s face it, the fact of the matter is that very few talk the talk and walk the walk. Actually, I run the mother fucking run..and a whole lot faster than Youks. To be fair, how can he run with that dead ferret around his mouth? Haha, you got 3rd, bitch! So, going forward, I’m sure that another MVP award is in the pipeline for me next year, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. Any questions?

Congrats Pedey, hope you have a drink, or 20, on Dirty Watah. (Why am I afraid I’m going to get emailed a $300 bill for booze now?)

The Baseball Writers Association of America has handed out it’s awards for the season, which of course means that 1,433 sports radio hosts and 40,293 bloggers all get to scream about how they got this award wrong or that award wrong. Well, not this blogger (so far). The BWAA has announced the winners for seven of their eight awards so far, and I’ve got to say, they’ve nailed it. That’s not to say I won’t have a few interesting comments though. Looking at the awards one by one…

Evan Longoria, AL ROY
No Red Sox fan should be arguing against this. The guy was money all season long, and again in the playoffs, which I know don’t count towards the voting. The only other viable option was Alexi Ramierz, but it’s hard to give an award to a toothpick.

Geovany Soto, NL ROY
I know as a Sox fan my views are a little skewed right now, but what’s not to like about a young, good hitting, solid defensive catcher. Did I mention he’s young? What we wouldn’t do to get him in a Sox uniform right about now.

Joe Maddon, AL Manager of the Year
66-96 to 97-65 with basically the same set of players? And yet the MFY fans are probably still saying that Joe Giradi should get the award.

“Sweet” Lou Pinella, NL Manager of the Year
Pinella did guide his team to the best record in the NL, and with no other clear-cut winner, it’s probably the right call. But to play devil’s advocate here, I’ll bring up two other possibilities. That manager in LA who guided his team to the NL West title could have won it. I think the MFY fans can remember his name. The other option is to just give Maddon the award twice. If you think about it, Pinella managed in Tampa for three seasons and could never get more than 70 wins. So who’s really the better manager here?

Cliff Lee, AL Cy Young
22-3 with a 2.54 ERA? Yeah, those are Cy Young numbers right there. Ironically, his last start of the season was not only a loss, but to the Sox when they got to clinch a wild card berth. So that means that the past two Cy Young award winners have not only been from Cleveland, but have lost their final games of the year to the Sox.

Tim Lincecum, NL Cy Young
Living in the Bay Area, this was certainly the highlight of the season for both teams. I got to watch Lincecum pitch on a number of occations at Pacbell AT&T SBC Park, and his stuff is flat-out nasty. He was in the zone this season where he could tell you what he was going to throw and you couldn’t hit it. OK, maybe not you in particular, but a major league hitter. And in case my finely tuned scouting report isn’t enough to get the award, here are some numbers: 18-5 (normally not a good stat, but the 18 wins were 25% of the victories for the Giants), 2.62 ERA and 265 K’s!

Albert Pujols, NL MVP
Proof that being a well-rounded hitter is better than just hitting long balls. Sure, he had nine fewer homers than Ryan Howard, but he hit over 10% better, got on base 12% more often and struck out 145 fewer times! If you think about that, it’s almost one fewer strike out per game. And even with the home runs, Pujols still had a better slugging percentage.

Of course, the award the Sox fans care about the most comes out tomorrow. The jockey has already won the gold-glove and silver slugger for second basemen, officially making him the best one in the AL. Let’s see if the BWAA can get one more award correct before coming up with ridiculously stupid trade rumors (Julio Lugo for Albert Pujols!) during the offseason.

Well, by now, you probably already know that the Red Sox reign as World Series Champions has come to a close. The Phillies played well when it mattered the most, avoided countless mishaps by the umpiring crew, and did what the Red Sox could not: finally reminded the Rays that they are supposed to lose four out of every five games they play. Even if the last game took 50 hours to complete, the Phighting Phillies are World Series Phucking Champions. At least the Red Sox get to keep their trophy from 2007 and don’t have to give it back a la the Stanley Cup.

Of course, another reign came to an end recently when a Chicago White Sox fan was elected president. Thank G-d it’s not Ozzie Guillen. (At least the White Sox won the World Series, when was the last time the Rangers were even in the playoffs?) I was attending the Sharks game when the election results were coming in, and had an extremely odd experience. I’ve been to enough sporting events in my life that I don’t pay attention to the National Anthem anymore. If I do pay attention, that’s a bad sign, because it means it’s an absolutely terrible rendition. So I was as shocked as anyone that in light of the election the national anthem actually made me feel somewhat connected as an American citizen. I guess once every four years I have to be moved by the song to make up for the hundreds of snide remarks I make during those random April and June games.

On a PSA level, the schedule for the hot-stove season will be to post once a week, usually on Mondays. If anything big comes up (like the first ever jockey being awarded the MVP award), I’ll obviously break the cycle. Speaking of which, how did a midget win the gold glove at second base? Just kidding, congrats are in order to Dustin “El Caballito” Pedroia for winning his first gold glove award. Hopefully when he got the news, he did the same thing I did: slapped my glove and screamed “fuck yeah!”