…The Toronto Blue Jays have signed former pitcher Adam Loewen to a minor league deal on Friday while also claiming RHP Brian Bullington off of waivers. Loewen recently gave up pitching to take the Rick Ankiel route, and was with the Orioles. Even though it was tough leaving the Orioles, Loewen who’s Canadian looks forward to playing for the Jays. [Yahoo]

“I grew up watching the Blue Jays and was a huge fan all my life,” he said. “This is a great opportunity. I’m really excited to get going.”

…There were only 29 ejections for Game 2 of the World Series, according to the St. Pete Police Department which is a major step down from 41 in Game 1. They also issued 10 notices to appear in court to ticket scalpers who violated the city’s “clean zone” ordinance. And there were no arrests for selling bootleg merchandise. [The Heater]

…Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News talked with John Smoltz’s agent about the possibility of finishing his career in Atlanta among other things. If the Braves for some reason don’t resign Smoltz, his agent said he could be ready by June and then like Roger Clemens hire himself out to a contender. Make of that, what you will…. [NY Daily News]

…Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti says that reports coming out about how long and how much the Dodgers are planning to offer Manny Ramirez are works of fiction. According to Colletti they haven’t even discussed anything regarding length of contract or money where Manny is concerned. [LA Times]

“By the time we get through the weekend, there will be 15 more reports out there that I’ll be laughing at,” Colletti said.

…According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, the Brewers have finished up their managerial interviews and three remain in the running: Bob Brenly, Ken Macha and Willie Randolph. Brew Crew GM Doug Melvin is preparing to go over everything and make his recommendation to Brewers ownership. If all goes well the Brewers will announce their new Manager shortly after the end of the World Series. [MLB]

…The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Friday that Manager Joe Torre’s coaching staff will remain intact and will return for the 2009 season. Including former Seattle Mariners hitting coach Jeff Pentland who was hired in July and spent most of his time with the club working with Andruw Jones. [MLB]

…It seems that the Philadelphia Phillies are a bit miffed by the introductions of the players in Game 1 of the World Series. Only the starters were announced, though some think that everyone should have been recognized. [ESPN]

“It’s disappointing and some guys were extremely mad about it,” Stairs said early Friday evening after the team’s workout at Citizens Bank Park. “I think it’s bootleg when you have the World Series and guys are jogging out to the line and they don’t take the extra five minutes to introduce the players.”

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins is the union rep for the Phillies and the longest tenured player on the team. He felt bad when he talked with Matt Stairs (his first World Series in his career) and other players who were upset by it.

“As far as each player being announced, it should be,” Rollins said. “You worked this hard all year long and you’re the last two teams left.

“I thought it was kind of cheap those guys didn’t get the chance to get recognized. It took 25 players to get here, and each one of them should have been recognized. Bottom line.”

Everyone here had such a good time putting together our post season picks, we decided to put out heads together and figure out who we felt was deserving of the players awards. The National League saw an unanimous winner for the Rookie of the Year award while the American League came one vote shy of similar confirmation.

When asked to create an individuals ballot,  the writers were asked to put themselves in the shoes of a writer from the Baseball Writer’s Association of American and provide, for the Rookie of the Year, an ordered list of 3 nominee’s. Each first place vote would be worth 5 points, second worth 3, and third worth a single point. The player with the most points would then be crowned as Baseball Digest Daily’s Rookie of the Year.

The writers were reminded that this is a vote, not a prediction. As such, each writer could use measures which they felt supported their argument for their picks. Here’s how the voting shook out for the National League Rookie of the Year:

G. Soto takes the NL Rookie of the Year in a landslide, and deservedly so. Despite a fairly strong 2008 rookie class, one which we will be hearing things for years to come, Soto was clearly at the top of this class.

Not a lot of deviation from writer to writer here as there was only 5 players receiving votes.

The American League had a little more excitement towards it, with a three horse race for 3rd place. Here’s how we voted for the AL Rookie of the Year:

Definitely an interesting poll. The American League posted twice as many single vote getters then the National League received. This tells me that not only was the 2008 AL rookie class extraordinarily deep, providing a lot of options, but there was also some disagreement between what player provided more and had a better rookie season.

One of the most surprising votes has to be Brian’s vote of Jacoby Ellsbury. Not because Ellsbury is undeserving of a ROY vote, but that Brian had Ellsbury as his 2nd place pick when nobody else had Ellsbury even finishing 3rd.

In addition to the writers providing votes, some took advantage of the optional opportunity to explain their votes. Let’s check out what each writer had to say. Beginning with the National League:

Brian Joseph

For the longest time, I was more sold on Jurrjens than Soto but young Jair had a rough second half and Soto kept up his impressive rookie year. Soto was a force to be reckoned with behind the dish for the Cubbies and while Joey Votto turned in an impressive offensive performance also, Soto had the harder defensive job of catching. Votto at first base makes his numbers a little less spectacular when compared to his peers.

Bill Baer

This one’s not particularly difficult. The only real competition Soto has is Joey Votto but Soto is a catcher and Votto is a first baseman. However, the difference between Soto’s OPS and the average at his position is almost five times higher than Votto’s.

Rob McQuown

Votto was helped by his ballpark, dropping his value behind the two good SP seasons. Kuroda and Jurrjens seemed almost identical, but the excellent .299 OBP and .359 SLG allowed by Kuroda push him into #2.

Mike Street

Votto put up solid numbers, slightly higher than Soto, but Soto did it while catching one of the best starting rotations this year. Jurrjens is to be commended for putting up 13-10, 3.68/1.37 ERA/WHIP with the rotten Bravos behind him, but he didn’t turn out to be a difference-maker.

Brandon Heikoop

This was a one horse race from the get-go. Soto mashed early on in the year, and while his numbers faded, he was still extraordinarily superior to the rest of this year’s rookie class. Votto began to catch Soto, even to my surprise passing Jurrjens. However, a late season push was not enough for Votto.

…and now the American League:

Brian Joseph

Even though I put Longoria first, I think at times all three of those guys held the top spot for me. All three helped catapult their teams to the playoffs and had big rookie seasons. Longoria’s OPS+ of 130 and ability to play the hot corner were the overriding factors for me. Armando Galarraga deserves an honorable mention, too.

Bill Baer

This is not a contrarian pick, believe it or not. Mike Aviles has been slightly more valuable than Evan Longoria. They’ve both close offensively: Aviles’ 116 OPS+ and 35.0 VORP to Longoria’s 130 OPS+ and 39.3 VORP, but Aviles has been the best defensive shortstop at a more demanding defensive position. Additionally, Aviles has a greater differential between his OPS and the average OPS at his position (POS OPS in the following chart), .140 to .106.

Rob McQuown

Very hard to sort out the guys behind Longo. Aviles had the best year, compared to position, but his defense was bad enough that he had to be taken out for defense. Span’s a great defender, and Chris Davis and Alexei Ramirez (also knocked for bad D) get honorable mention.

Mike Street

Longoria did it offensively and defensively, and he’s one of the reasons TAM has gone as far as it has. Ramirez is also good, but trails Longoria in every category (even triples!), though he did it while playing in the middle of the diamond. Rodriguez was the standout AL rookie pitcher, but he really can’t compare.

Brandon Heikoop

When I began putting together my ballot, I thought it was Longoria #1 and then everyone else. However, when I began looking at the numbers, Aviles started coming closer and closer to Longoria. The numbers were so close, that I simply could not pick one over the other, instead, I made a t-chart and in a fairly basic methodology, decided that among 5 categories there would be a winner chosen. Longoria was ahead of Aviles in WS, RC/27, and MLV while Aviles lead in VORP and WPA. Needless to say, despite my colleagues picks, this was a much closer competition. Hat tip to Bill for taking Aviles as the winner and making me look even further into the numbers.

You have seen our picks, you have seen some of our rationale, so what do you think? Do you agree with who we choose for the American and National League awards? Who would your top 3 be?

Tomorrow I will be posting the ballots for the American and National League CY Young award. Monday will feature the National League MVP with the American League MVP being announced on Tuesday.