Yankees midseason awards: the best and worst of the team's first half

We've reached the official halfway point of the season with the Yankees heading into the four-day All-Star break today. At 47-47, the Yankees are 5 games back of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.

Hal Steinbrenner opened up his checkbook for the Yankees to spend almost $500 million on free-agents, such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka. But that wild offseason spending has hardly paid off for the Bombers, with really only Tanaka and Ellsbury earning their money so far.

There is no doubt that this team has under-performed so far this season, but you could also point out the fact that injuries have riddled the team just as much as they did last season, with four fifths of their Opening Day rotation currently on the DL.

The Yankees had a goal of winning one last World Series calls it a career at the end of the season, but with the way things are going now, they could be out of the playoff hunt by the time September rolls around.

Most Valuable Player: Masahiro Tanaka

Without a doubt, Tanaka has been the best player on the Yankees' roster this season. Named an All-Star in his first Major League season, Tanaka is 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA in 18 starts but has lost three of his past four outings. Regardless, without him, it's hard to see the Yankees even still being in contention for the division title.

There were a lot of expectations on Tanaka shoulders when coming over, having gone 24-0 last season in Japan and then getting such a big contract (seven-years, $155 million) with the Yankees put a lot of eyes on him. He not only met the challenge, but he went above and beyond it in his first couple of months.

Obviously we don't know if the elbow injury was there when his recent downward spiral began, but maybe the routine of having to pitch every fifth day, compared to once a week in Japan, was starting to get to him.

The Yankees are hoping that Tanaka is only going to be out for about six weeks, with Tommy John surgery currently on hold. There is no doubt that should Tanaka be out for the rest of the year, the Yankees' playoff chances are essentially over.

Least Valuable Player: Carlos Beltran

After a brilliant postseason with the St. Louis Cardinals last October, Beltran hit the open market with the Yankees keeping a close eye on him, and likewise from Beltran, who always dreamed of being a Yankee. Brian Cashman, according to some reports, did not want to sign Beltran on anything more than a two-year deal, but in the end, with the Kansas City Royals making a series push, Cashman gave him a three-year pact, for some reason that is already looking like a terrible mistake.

Hitting just .216 with nine homeruns and 28 RBIs in 61 games for the Bombers this season, Beltran has already been on the DL twice -- first for an elbow injury in May, and the second being right now with a concussion from a batting practice accident.

There has always been some concerns about Beltran staying healthy through the end of this deal, but if anything, we thought it would be related to the bum knees that have troubled him in the past. Instead, it's the bone spurs in his elbow which have limited him to being a DH-only for the Yankees since he can't throw. And because of that, the Yankees have had to use Ichiro Suzuki on a full-time basis, and it even forced more regular playing time for Alfonso Soriano, who shouldn't have been getting that.

Biggest surprise: Yangervis Solarte

Where did this guy come from? A career minor leaguer, Solarte broke through in spring training and earned a spot on the Yankees' Opening Day roster. He carried his hot bat in Tampa with him to the regular season, hitting .303 in April and .296 in May, where he started to finally come crashing down to Earth near the end, and eventually posted a .164 batting average before he was optioned to Triple-A.

He didn't stay in the minors very long, coming back after just over a week later. Since his call-up, he's 1-for-9, though.

I don't know, maybe he just went on a hot streak for a couple of months, but it seemed like he would never come back to life, which is no longer the case. I really hope that he can turn things back around and start hitting well again -- not just for the Yankees, but for himself -- because he's a fun person to watch. Long live the Legend of Yangervis.

Biggest letdown: Michael Pineda

Honestly, Pineda is the team's biggest letdown, in my opinion, because we hardly ever got a chance to watch him pitch. He only completed four starts before he was dumb enough to get caught with pine tar on his neck, leading to a ten-game suspension, during which he would get hurt and we haven't seen him sense.

This was suppose to be the year that Pineda finally took the mound for the Yankees and made fans realize why it was such a big deal to acquire him. With a 1.83 ERA in his first four starts, Pineda was off to a great start before stupidity and bad luck caught up to him.

Pineda completed a 25-pitch bullpen session without issue Friday, but a mid-August return to the majors remains his best-case scenario. Coming back anytime in August would be a major addition to the Yankees' rotation, but right now.

Reason to keep believing: the schedule gets easier

The Yankees have 40 home games at Yankee Stadium in the second half of the season -- that's the most in the leagues. The Orioles, meanwhile, who lead the division, have one of the league's toughest schedules in the second half, which could bode very well for the Bombers.

On the flip side, the Yankees have struggled at home this season, but you never know how that might play out in the second half.

This team, for the most part was build for their home ballpark, with the power in Mark Teixeira, McCann and Beltran -- Soriano was another, but was recently DFA'd. McCann and Beltran have struggled, while Teixeira is leading the team with 17 homeruns so far. You have to think that they'll turn it around at some point. This lineup is weak, yes, but it can't hit this bad for the entire season, can it?

Reason to stop believing: the injuries

Four fifths of the Yankees' Opening Day starting rotation is currently on the disabled list -- and two of those guys, possibly three, are pretty much done for the rest of the season, with Pineda, as I mentioned, likely to come back sometime in August, at the earliest.

If there was one player that the Yankees could not afford to lose this season, if was Tanaka. And go figure, they lost Tanaka for at least six weeks, possibly longer if the rehab doesn't work and he needs to have Tommy John.

Coming into the season, the rotation figured to be the Yankees' biggest strength, and now it's their biggest weakness with Chase Whitley only going 3-4 innings a start, and there being no other reasonable in the minors because they're all here. The trade market is dry, and the Yankees don't have much to get the top-tier pitchers out there.

Without injuries, the Yankees are probably sitting pretty in first place right now.

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Masahiro Tanaka: Rookie of the Year?

Masahiro Tanaka has taken Major League Baseball by storm. He seems to only get better week after week. Its hard to deny that Tanaka has grown to become one of the elite pitchers in Major League Baseball.

Early on the Tanaka deal was heavily criticized. Critics and skeptics were quick to point out that his 24-0 record in 2013 was achieved in the NPB, an inferior Japanese league.The criticism was understandable, there's a lot of risk attached to a 155 million dollar deal over 7 years with a pitcher who never threw in the MLB.

Tanaka has proven his critics wrong. He has won a Major League leading 11 games while enduring only 1 loss. Tanaka also has an ERA of 1.99 (2nd to Johnny Cueto) with 113 strike outs (2nd to David Price). I think its safe to say that Tanaka has lived up to the hype.

So at this point its not unreasonable to entertain the idea of Tanaka winning Rookie Of The Year. Although I personally feel that Tanaka will be deserving of the honor, its not hard to understand why so many think otherwise.

Many feel that Tanaka isn't a true rookie, after all he has played professional baseball in Japan's equivalent to the MLB. Its also not typical for a "rookie" pitcher to make 22.5 million dollars a year. So for obvious reasons I can understand the argument.

In my opinion if Tanaka continues to pitch at this level there is no way you can deny him the honor. The MLB has essentially left the decision regarding Rookie of the Year up to the writers. It is absolutely necessary for the league to take a stance on the issue. By not doing so this creates a grey area where the power ultimately lies in the hands of the writers, which isn't necessarily consistent year to year.

The fact that Ichiro Suzuki won Rookie of the Year in 2001 meanwhile Hideki Matsui was denied the honor in 2003 shows firsthand the inconsistency this grey area can create. Only time will tell, regardless of what happens we can only hope that our ROOKIE phenom continues to dominate the league.

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Nova Named AL Pitcher of the Month For August

A couple weeks ago, Alfonso Soriano was named the AL Player of the week after he rattled out a weeks worth of game with a batting average above .400 to accompany nearly 20 runs batted in. Now the New York Yankees have another reason to celebrate.

Major League Baseball has announced that RHP Ivan Nova has been named the American League's Pitcher of the Month for August.

Nova's enter season has been turned around over the past few weeks, and his last start in August might just be able to sum it all up. He tossed a three-hit shutout against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday for the first complete-game shutout of his career.

Nova made six starts in the month of August, posting a 2.08 ERA in 43 1/3 innings to go along with his 4-0 record, and 31-12 strikeout to walk ratio.

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Alfonso Soriano Named AL Player Of The Week

New York Yankees outfielder Alfonso Soriano has been named the American player of the week after he hit .484 (15-for-31) with 5 homeruns, 18 RBIs and 9 runs scored over the past seven days.

Soriano begin his historic run last Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels, going 3-for-6 with a pair of homeruns and six RBIs. He followed up the next day by going 3-for-3 at the plate, with two more homeruns and another seven RBIs.

Although he only drive home one run on Thursday, Soriano still went 4-for-5 with a run scored in the Yankees 8-4 loss to the Angels. He opened up this past weekend's series against the Boston Red Sox by collecting three more hits, including a three-run homerun, picking up four more RBIs.

Soriano finished Saturday's ballgame, in which the Yankees lost 6-1, going 2-for-4, as well as raising his batting average to .329. But he couldn't finish off the week on a good note, dropping his average back down to .306 after an 0-for-6 effort Sunday night.

Soriano's 18 RBIs over a five-game span last week put him into the history books, tying the great Mickey Mantle for the most RBIs all-time over the span of five-games.

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Mid-Season Yankees Awards

We're half-way through the 2013 season and for the Yankees, it hasn't been the best of years, but it also hasn't been the worst. While injuries have plagued the Yanks at every position imaginable, including even Brian Cashman, who broke his ankle while sky-diving during Spring Training.

But before the Yankees kick-off the second half of the season with a huge series in Boston, I thought I'd give out my midseason Yankee awards.

Most Valuable Player: Robinson Cano

Absolutely no surprise here. Cano is the on regular position players from the Yankees last season that hasn't landed on the disabled list at some point. With Jeter, Teixeira, A-Rod and Youkilis all on the DL, there hasn't been much competition for Robbie.

Cano leads the Yankees in batting average (.302), homeruns (21), RBIs (65), on base percentage (.386) and OPS (.917). Apart from Mariano Rivera, he was the teams only All-Star, and he's inclined to get paid big time this offseason.

The Yankees enter the second half at six games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, and if they have any hope of making the playoffs, then Cano will be a huge part of the process.

Cy Young: Mariano Rivera

Now this decision was a little more tough because there was a couple pitchers deserving of taking home this hardware. But edging out Hiroki Kuroda by the slightest of margins, I've decided that Mo has been the best pitcher on the Yankees roster this season.

At 43-years-old, and in his final season, Mariano is having a season that even the biggest and best Hollywood writers couldn't come up with.

Mo's 1.83 ERA is the best among all Yankee pitchers, and his 30 saves in 32 chances is almost beyond what many would have expected from a guy coming off major knee surgery. He baseball's greatest closer, he's having a great season and he's the top pitcher on the Yankees.

Best Moment: Mo's All-Star Entrance

Now I know this isn't specifically tied to the Yankees and the games that they've played, but Mariano 8th inning entrance into the All-Star Game Tuesday night was one of the most spectacular moments I've ever witnessed as a baseball fan and as a sports fan.

In New York, in his final Midsummer Classic, it was a moment that could only be applied to a player as respected among his peers like Rivera is.

For about a minute, Mariano stood alone on the field as over 45,000 Citi Field spectators, joined by all players from both sides, cheered and paid their respects to arguably the greatest closer in the history of Major League Baseball.

Best Walk-Off: Vernon Wells vs the Orioles

The Yankees haven't exactly been known to be the comeback over the past couple months since the offense flew south, but on July 5th against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees turned in one my favorite moments from the season thus far.

It wasn't that a walk-off single from a cold-hitting Vernon Wells is why this wins the award, but because of the context of the situation.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom half of the 9th inning, facing one of the game's best closers in Jim Johnson, the Yankees pulled off a comeback that not only won the game, but gave Ivan Nova that he so desperately deserved for his rock solid pitching performance.

Nova was making a post start for Kuroda, who was skip because of some concern over his hip-flexor, and didn't fail to make the best of his opportunity. Nova held the O's to only two runs on three hits, the only runs came off a two-run homerun by Matt Wieters, while striking out 11 in the complete game effort.

I look forward to covering the rest of the season and hope you continue to read along. Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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