Many apologies for the long period of time between posts...I am lazy, I procrastinate and I have been extremely busy as of late -- that is the perfect storm for neglecting Hacks with Haggs. I hope there's still a person or two still coming by and waiting for the next interview with the colorful Pat Murphy.

The Big Schill spoke yesterday and revealed his choices for the Player's Choice Awards. I'm not a player and I don't play one on TV, but here would be my picks with quick explanations for each.

Player of the Year: I agree with the Big Schill...it's got to be A-Rod. Matt Holliday has been great in Colorado and there's a whole group of NL players having big years, but A-Rod has earned himself a $30 mill a year contract next season even if Mark Cuban isn't signing the checks.

Rookie if the Year: Dustin Pedroia. He's been incredibly consistent, he's played near Gold Glove defense and his batting average hasn't been below .311 since June 1. Delmon Young has had an oustanding year, but I'm voting for Pedro.

Comeback Player of the Year: Carlos Pena. He's an outstanding human being as anyone who has interviewed him knows, and he's had an unbelievable year on many levels. One of the best baseball stories this entire season.

Pitcher of the Year: Josh Beckett. Nobody managed to win 20 games last season and Beckett has done it while still not even hitting 200 innings pitched -- becoming only the third pitcher ever to do that. People say wins are an overrated or misleading stat, but you have to pitch well and be consistent for an extended period of time in this day and age to do it.

Catcher: Jorge Posada.
First Base: Carlos Pena
Second Base: Placido Polanco
Shortstop: Derek Jeter
Third Base: A-Rod
Outfield: Magglio Ordonez, Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter.

Now for the Big Schill

Yesterday we had the opportunity to vote on another set of awards. This time it was the Sporting News Players Choice awards. Rules were that we could vote for players in the AL only and no one on your own team.

Player of the Year- Alex Rodriguez (I don’t think this race, if you truly look at the year, is even a race. Some guys had fantastic years but his year is still way beyond anything anyone else has done)

Rookie of the Year- Delmon Young (He’s going to drive in close to 100 runs and hit close to 300, not sure there are many guys outside of Dustin who can challenge that. Dustin, imo with a lot of obvious bias, deserves to win it. He’s had a phenomenal season on both sides of the ball)

Comeback Player of the Year- Carlos Pena (Another accolade for an outstanding season by an outstanding person)

Pitcher of the Year- CC Sabathia (A few guys, along with Josh, certainly had great seasons, but CC’s numbers, when you dive into them even a little bit, are awesome. Hopefully he’ll begin to get the recognition he aptly deserves as an ace and one of the 3-4 best pitchers in baseball. The little bit I got to know him at the 2002 AS game made me think the world of him. Great kid who has an immense amount of respect for his craft and the sport)

Catcher- Jorge Posada (Pretty incredible that he’s having maybe his best offensive year ever and tasked with handling an immense amount of pitchers on a playoff team in that environment)

1st Base- Carlos Pena

2nd Base-Placido Polanco (As a pitcher he makes that Detroit lineup incredibly different when he’s in the lineup. He doesn’t swing and miss, plays small ball when it’s appropriate and does every single thing the way it’s supposed to be done. Mark Ellis has also had an awesome season but being in Oakland I don’t think I’ve seen him more than once or twice when we weren’t playing them. I know he’s had a great year against us.

Short Stop-Orlando Cabrera (I think his season has flown as under the radar as it possibly could. I’ll admit immense bias here since I had the privilege of playing with him, but he’s as good a SS as anyone short of Alex Gonzalez that I’ve ever played with, including Cal. I would guess Derek could just as easily win it with the season he put together, again, this year. Being a pitcher though defense is as big a deal to me as offense and Orlando is head and shoulders above most other SS in the game imo, much less the AL.

3rd Base-Alex Rodriguez

Outfield- This is always a tough one because much like the all star team there are more than three deserving guys of recognition. My three this year were Maglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson and Ichiro Suzuki. All three had fantastic seasons. There are about 10 more guys you could rightfully vote for here, from Vlad to Carl Crawford, Markakais, Hunter, Sizemore. There have been some outstanding seasons by a lot of guys this year.