World Series Rookies Buster Posey and Neftali Feliz win ROYs

NEW YORK -- San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz met again Monday when they were voted the Rookies of the Year.

Posey, who hit several key home runs and helped the Giants win the World Series for the first time since 1954, easily outdistanced Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward for the National League award.

Posey was picked first on 20 of 32 ballots in voting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

(snip)

Feliz, the rocket-armed righty from the Dominican Republic who set a rookie record with 40 saves as Texas reached the World Series for the first time, finished far ahead of Detroit Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson for the AL honor.

Feliz was chosen first on 20 of the 28 ballots. He drew seven seconds and one third.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5808278

Posey's influence on the Giants couldn't be more obvious..

Giants

Before Buster: 25-22
With Buster: 67-48
After Molina trade: 49-32

Catching

Molina: 28-27
Whiteside: 18-14
Buster: 46-29


One guy actually left Posey off his ballot entirely.... Yasushi Kikuchi of the Kyodo News, LA-Anaheim Chapter. Whatever in the heck that is.

Some guy breathing too much LA smog.

Yeah, he helped in the line-up, but the bigger contribution came from behind the plate.

Is this an indicator that teams with lower payrolls need to have some young guys step up something fierce to have a shot in any single season?

Stars continuously get older, so yeah, if you want to be successful, you need to find the young guys who can step up and take over as the older stars decline.

But if you don't have the budget to compete with the biggies, you have get lucky enough to have a couple of serious young stars start to shine at the exact time the rest of your team is at a peak.