Didn't see this discussed, MLS will be adding a new award...newcomer of the year award (different from rookie of the year, which is for players with no professional experience). Not a bad idea, although unless EJ wins MVP, I could very much see someone getting both MVP and the newcomer award (Emilio, Angel, Toja, even Schelotto and Galindo have a shot). http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070907&content_id=115840&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp
Toja over Emilio? Can't wrap my head around that one. Toja's been very valuable to Dallas, but his numbers haven't been that outstanding. Emilio is having a Ruiz-in-2002 debut season.
So if you win golden boot can you get this new award too? I'd imagine they'd be the same person if allowed.
Gotta be Angel or Emilio. I'll admit Schelotto and Blanco have changed their clubs for the better as well, but Angel and Emilio and single handedly making their teams win. Angel especially. It's a toss up between those two for newcomer of the year, but I'd def give MVP to Angel. I think without Angel NY would be in the gutter. Can't say the same about Emilio and DC.
Angel or Emilio will be up for MVP.. I think this is the "Thanks for making Columbus a contender" Award that will be given to Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
I would vote for Blanco simply because he has made chicken salad out of chicken shit. The rest play for pretty good teams which help them tremendously. Toja and Angel also deserve it
Be interesting to go back and see who might have won this from 97 through last year. Off the top of my head... 97 - Carlos Llamosa, Ronald Cerritos, Richard Gough, Thomas Dooley, Damian Alvarez, Martin Machon, Danny Pena 98 - Stern John, Lubos Kubik, Piotor Nowak, Diego Serna, CJ Brown, Paul Dougherty, Mauricio Ramos 99 - Walter Zenga, Jorge Dely Valdes, Joe Cannon, Anders Limpar, Roy Myers, Mauricio Wright 2000 - Mamadou Diallo, Hristo Stoitchkov, Miklos Molnar, Adolfo Valencia, John Wilmar Perez, Ian Russell 01 - John Spencer, Alex Pineda Chacon, Ian Bishop, Landon Donovan, Ronnie Ekelund 02 - Taylor Twellman, Carlos Ruiz, Steve Morrow, Milton Reyes 03 - Shalrie Joseph, Amado Guevara, Pat Onstad, Earnie Stewart 04 - Cory Gibbs, Avery John, Jovan Kirovski, Jean-Phillipe Peguero, Marcelo Saragosa, Simo Valakari 05 - Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Guerrero, Thiago, Carlos Mendes, Roberto Mina, Pando Ramirez 06 - Kenny Cooper, Claudio Suarez, Adrian Serioux, Sebastien Rozental Obviously, some years were much better than others. Some guys, like Christian Gomez, Jonny Walker and Ronnie O'Brien made instant impacts their first season but joined their respective teams too late in the season for them to realistically claim the award.
No matter how you slice it, that's a pretty damned impressive list of 2008 newcomers. You have to give credit where credit is due - to the front offices of the teams that managed to bring these players in. This list, I think, says very good things about the state of MLS. Toja, Angel, Emilio, Schletto, Galindo, Blanco. What team that doesn't have one of these players wouldn't move heaven and earth to try and get one? Aside, of course, from the NE Revolution...
That's a difficult list to choose from, but I'd give it to Juan Pablo Angel. He's been a monster on the field from day one and consistantly throughout the season.
I'd like to see the league legitimately try, hard as it is cognitively to completely factor out what the guy did the rest of the way. I'll give you my personal choices: Llamosa John Zenga Diallo Chacon Ruiz Guevara This one's tough, probably the weakest field historically. I guess you'd have to say Gibbs. Djorkaeff Suarez and Cooper are real close. I guess I'd go with Suarez. I showed a slight preference for guys who came in more heralded and lived up to it (or appeared to for a year), because realistically those guys would have gotten more attention. Especially not counting playoffs. If you counted playoffs, Molnar beats Diallo, Donovan beats Chacon, and Gomez wins in '04. FYP, but I agree. Fair to say that even past the designated players, this was still one of the best, if not the best year ever. Consider a guy like Marinelli, who'd have been a fair shot to win the award in a year like '04, won't even make anyone's list of finalists this year. My finalists are the same list, and I think that will be pretty common. I think these guys still mostly have it all to play for down the stretch: - I think Toja would have to rebound quickly to have a good chance. - I think Emilio will win if he finishes the scoring race more than two ahead of all the other candidates. If exactly two, it's a close call. If less, he probably won't. Galindo and Angel have similar "get on the scoreboard" criteria. - Blanco coming in late hurts him, but he's appeared on the highlight reel a lot, lived up to a big reputation, and turned the team around. If they storm into the playoffs on a hot streak, and his name appears in the stat sheet and highlight reels often, he's got a shot.
If either Emilio, Angel, Toja, Guille, Blanco, etc, win the MVP award then obviously they'll also win the "Newcomer" award right? MLS wouldn't have a player win the Golden Boot by 2-3 goals, be the MVP and not get this one too right? Oh wait, yes they would.
He won't win either award, I think, unless there's at least a little separation between him and the next goalscorers. Fair or not, Emilio is viewed as a pure goalscorer, which puts the expectations up very high on goal number. Angel is viewed as a guy who can hold up the ball and set his teammates up as well, especially when they manage to field a good forward next to him. One other thought, I listed Marinelli as a guy who would have been a contender in a weak year but won't even be thought of this time around. Another one of these is Fred. He fits that mold even better--I can find two or three years in my mind that this season from him would be good for strong consideration, but he also will not make any finalist lists this year.
The mark is 27, set by Roy Lassiter in '96. Emilio's good, but 10 goals in 6 remaining games would be pretty superhuman. I'd like to see Rocket Roy pull that off against 2007 defenses, though.