Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia wins AL MVP

NEW YORK (AP)

By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer

—Boston little man Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP award Tuesday, becoming the first second baseman to earn the honor in nearly a half-century.
Pedroia easily beat out Minnesota slugger Justin Morneau and added to his ever-expanding trophy case. Generously listed at 5-foot-9, the Red Sox star was the top AL rookie last year while winning a World Series ring.
“I’m not the biggest guy in the world. I don’t have that many tools,” Pedroia said on a conference call from his home in Arizona. “If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn’t think I’m a baseball player.”
Nellie Fox was the previous second baseman to become AL MVP, in 1959 with the White Sox. No position has produced fewer MVPs overall—just 10 overall since the AL and NL awards were first presented in 1931.
Pedroia drew 16 of the 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and finished with 317 points.
It was a scattered ballot, with five players receiving first-place votes. Pedroia was even left off one ballot, while Morneau and Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis were listed on every one.
Pedroia and his wife originally planned to leave early this week for a vacation in Mexico. But with the MVP vote looming, a Red Sox official suggested he delay the trip by a day or two, just in case.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Pedroia said. “I wasn’t nervous or overly excited.”
Pedroia was driving to his daily workout when he got the phone call telling him he’d won. Right away, the calls and text messages from teammates began pouring in.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
Morneau got seven first-place votes and had 257 points, and Youkilis and Twins catcher Joe Mauer each got a pair of first-place votes. Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels drew the other first-place nod and came in sixth.
Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the AL wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases. Earlier this month, he also won his first Gold Glove.
Pedroia quickly became a fan favorite at Fenway Park with his meaty swings and scrappy approach. In a lineup depleted by injuries to David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew and the midseason trade of Manny Ramirez, Pedroia took his hearty hacks wherever needed—while he usually batted second, he also hit leadoff and cleanup.
The 25-year-old Pedroia was the fourth second baseman to win the AL MVP award, along with Fox, Joe Gordon (1942) and Charlie Gehringer (1937). Six second basemen have won the NL honor, with Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan doing it most recently.
“When I first got called up to the major leagues in 2006, I didn’t know what to expect,” Pedroia said.
“I had to overcome a lot of things to prove people wrong, and so far I’ve done that,” he said. “I have to find a way to have that edge.”
Pedroia became the 10th Red Sox player to take the award and first since Mo Vaughn in 1995. He also is just the third player to become MVP the season after earning the Rookie of the Year award, joining Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard.
Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP winner, hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBIs in helping the Twins reach a one-game playoff for the AL Central, which they lost to Chicago.

In this Oct. 5, 2008 file phot… AP - Nov 18, 2:11 pm EST
Youkilis (.312, 29, 115) was third with 201 points and Mauer (.328, 9, 85) was next with 188 points.
White Sox star Carlos Quentin, who was leading the AL with 36 home runs when he broke his right wrist in an act of frustration, was fifth with 160 points. Rodriguez, who went 62-for-69 in save chances and recently filed for free agency, drew 143 points.
Texas slugger Josh Hamilton, who made a remarkable recovery from drug addiction to resume his career, was seventh and followed by last year’s winner, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.
Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena came in ninth, the top vote-getter from the AL champions. The Rays beat Boston in Game 7 of the ALCS.
Pedroia, who made just $457,000 last season, didn’t have an MVP bonus provision in his contract. Morneau earned $75,000 and Mauer, Youkilis and Pena got $25,000 each.
The AL MVP was the last of the major BBWAA awards presented this year. Albert Pujols won the NL MVP award Monday and last week Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum won Cy Youngs, Joe Maddon and Lou Piniella were picked as Managers of the Year and Evan Longoria and Geovanny Soto were the top rookies.

A's acquire Holliday from Colorado

By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Athletics completed their trade for star outfielder Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, landing a big bat for the middle of their lineup.
The Rockies received right-handed reliever Huston Street, lefty starter Greg Smith and promising outfielder Carlos Gonzalez from the A’s. The clubs reached a tentative agreement Monday, but had to wait for the results of physicals and other details to be worked out.
“We landed one of the biggest hitters out there,” A’s manager Bob Geren said. “He’s definitely a piece of the offense you can build around.”
This is a major move by an A’s team that began rebuilding last winter and is more accustomed to losing star players than acquiring them.
“We wanted a right-handed bat and we got one,” Oakland outfielder Jack Cust said. “It’s usually the other way around—giving away a bigger-name guy for guys who aren’t as established. It’s definitely exciting going into the season.”
Holliday, a two-time All-Star and runner-up for the 2007 NL MVP award, is to make $13.5 million next season and then will be eligible to become a free agent.
“The long-term model for our organization to be successful has always been built around the team dynamic,” Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd said in a statement. “The three men we acquired from Oakland are talented major league players that are a solid fit for us.”
Holliday has 128 homers and 483 RBIs in five big league seasons. His best year was 2007, when he won the NL batting title with a .340 average. He also had 36 homers and a league-best 137 RBIs in helping the Rockies reach the World Series. He finished second to Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins for NL MVP. Geren spoke to Holliday by phone just after the deal became official.
“He is going to help us tremendously,” Geren said. “We all know the kind of talent he has with his numbers, but I talked to him and you can tell the kind of person he is. It’s a great fit.”
Oakland (75-86) reached the AL championship series in 2006 before being swept by Detroit. Last season, it finished with its worst record since going 74-88 in 1998. The A’s lost 44 of their last 68 games after being just four games out of first place on July 11.
Holliday joins a roster featuring six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez, who is expected to come back healthy from shoulder surgery. The team recently re-signed second baseman Mark Ellis and shortstop Bobby Crosby. Cust batted .231 with a team-leading 33 home runs and 77 RBIs while drawing 111 walks in 2008.
“It’s caused a lot of attention around these parts, the fact we got a big guy the Yankees wanted and a lot of other teams wanted,” Cust said, speaking by phone from New Jersey.
“The last couple years we’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of guys not doing as well as they’d like,” he added. “They say hitting is contagious and I believe that. Once you get guys rolling and get the pitcher worrying about a few guys, they’ve got to really bare down in the middle of the lineup. I played with Matt in Colorado. We were in the minor leagues together and now we’ll be in the big leagues together, so it’s come full circle.”
The 24-year-old Smith had elbow surgery last month. He went 7-16 with a 4.16 ERA in 32 starts and 190 2-3 innings during his first major league season.
Street, a 25-year-old right-hander, was demoted from Oakland’s closer this season and finished 7-5 with a 3.73 ERA and 18 saves in 25 chances. He would join a bullpen that includes Manny Corpas but is expected to lose closer Brian Fuentes in free agency. Street can become a free agent after the 2010 season.
Like Smith, the 23-year-old Gonzalez just finished his first big league season. He hit .242 with four homers and 26 RBIs in 302 at-bats.
Smith and Gonzalez, considered a top prospect, both came to the A’s last offseason in the blockbuster trade that sent ace Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
AP Sports Writer Arnie Stapleton in Denver contributed to this report.