The American League Comeback Player of the Year for 2006
Leading off our AL Comeback Player of the Year candidates is the “Big Hurt”, Frank Thomas, who is having a relatively healthy 2006 for Oakland. His AL Comeback Player of the Year platform is based on his ability to drive the ball out of the park and knock in runs for the anemic A’s offense, after missing much of the past few seasons as a member of the White Sox with foot and ankle problems. Thomas already has as many at-bats in 2006 with the A’s as he had in his last two Chisox seasons combined, and has belted 28 homers and added 78 runs batted in. He is a good bet for the Hall of Fame as well as the AL Comeback Player of the Year for 2006, since he is closing in on 500 home runs and has accumulated more than 1,540 runs batted in over his sixteen plus campaigns. Thomas needs just 26 more round trippers to achieve 500, and his current AL Comeback Player of the Year worthy season should leave him less than a score short as he heads into 2007.In 2005, Frank got a little over 100 at-bats because of injuries, and had 12 homers and 26 RBI. An AL Comeback Player of the Year Award would go nicely with his pair of AL MVP Awards and his ten 100 RBI seasons.
Curt Schilling propelled the Boston Red Sox to their first title since 1918 in 2004, but he would rather forget 2005. Schilling’s bad ankle was not fully stable, and he went just 8-8 with 9 saves, setting himself up for a crack at the 2006 AL Comeback Player of the Year. He seesawed from the role of closer back to the rotation last year, but lacked the velocity of previous seasons. In 2006, Schilling, a three time 20 game winner, is 14-6 and leads Boston in strikeouts. However, a lack of run support has seen his AL Comeback Player of the Year bid stall perhaps, as he was at one time 13-3 but has gained just one more win in his last six outings. Schilling won The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year honors in 2001 and 2002, and would love to add the AL Comeback Player of the Year to that resume. Curt has said he plans to hang up his spikes after next season, and adding on to his current 206-134 record, plus pitching Boston to their improbable championship, might garner him Hall of Fame support when he retires.
Jim Thome was hurt in 2005 as well, and played in but 59 games for the Phillies. The emergence of Ryan Howard at first base caused Philly to send Thome to the White Sox in November, and now he seems the favorite to win the AL Comeback Player of the Year hardware. Another slugger who is on his way to 500 home runs and the likely Hall of Fame ticket that accompanies such numbers, Jim now stands at 476 and counting, along with over 1,200 runs batted in. His AL Comeback of the Year stats are impressive, as he has belted 36 homers and has 91 run batted in for his new team, in stark contrast to his 2005 numbers, limited because of season ending elbow surgery. In the top ten all-time in strikeouts, Thome has not cut down on his swing any as he still takes aim at the fences. This strategy will enable the generous Thome to send all ten of his nieces and nephews through college eventually, and makes him my pick as the AL Comeback Player of the Year.
There are three other viable picks for the AL Comeback Player of the Year, however. One of them is the Mariner’s set-up man Rafael Soriano, who missed most of the last two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery for his ailing elbow. Soriano was on track to become the Seattle closer after his wonderful 2003 season, which saw him pitch to a lights out 1.53 ERA in 53 innings. The injury limited him to less than 11 frames of work in 2004 and 2005, but this year he has made his case to be the AL Comeback Player of the Year by striking out 64 in less than 60 innings so far and allowing just 43 base hits to go with his 2.11 ERA. The Mariners’ low profile may hurt Rafael in his AL Comeback Player of the Year chances, but this makes him no less deserving, having persevered through what could have been a career ending plight. Soriano will also make Seattle have to choose between himself and J.J. Putz as their closer of the future.
Corey Patterson was booed out of Chicago’s Wrigley Field as an outfielder for the Cubs, but his 2006 season with the Orioles’ makes him AL Comeback Player of the Year eligible. Patterson’s game was supposed to be predicated on speed, but the old saying that you cannot steal first base applied to Corey. He batted just .215 with the Cubs in 2005, stole only 15 bases, and struck out well over 100 times for the third time in his five full seasons there. With Baltimore, Patterson is hitting .274 with 39 stolen bases in 46 attempts. However, he is the least likely of this group to be named AL Comeback Player of the Year, as his team has made a dismal showing in the AL East despite his improvement. And his career has never really seen him have a season in which you can say he is coming back to that level, which to me is a key factor in the AL Comeback Player of the Year voting.
The last, but not least, of our AL Comeback Player of the Year contenders is Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez, a frequent visitor to the disabled list in recent years. A hernia ended his 2005 baseball season, and he only contributed 46 runs batted in over 82 games to the Tiger efforts. Finally healthy again in 2006, Magglio is batting .288 with 17 homers and 84 RBI, and is a big part of the Bengal renaissance, as they try to hold off the Twins and White Sox down the stretch in the AL Central. If they do, and Ordonez plays a big part with a good month of September, he may just be named the AL Comeback Player of the year for 2006.
