Omar Gonzalez was named Rookie of the Year today. (Getty Images)

Another season award came down today, this time it is the league’s Rookie of the Year. For the second straight year a LA Galaxy defender has won it as the honor went to Omar Gonzalez today.

Gonzalez helped a defense go from one of the worst in league history to one of the better ones this season. Last year the Galaxy gave up 62-goals while this year thanks to Gonzalez that total was cut in half to 31 goals.

Gonzalez beat out DC’s Chris Pontius and Toronto keeper Stefan Frei for the honor.

While I had New England’s Darrius Barnes as my ROY choice, Gonzalez did gain my second place vote. For me it came down to the fact that Barnes played every minute of every game for the Revs and for the fact that it wasn’t just Gonzalez that helped turn the Galaxy defense around in 2009, a lot of that credit can go to keeper Donovan Ricketts I think.

Still Gonzalez definitely earned this award as he did enjoy a stellar season with the Galaxy. I can only hope the duo of him and last year’s ROY winner Sean Franklin is one we will see in this league for years to come, because it is certainly a good one to watch.

The regular season is done, over, finished or whatever other adjective you want to use. For the second straight season WVH got to participate in the league’s media vote for the season awards. Voting is now over and I felt it was time to share my votes with you all.

I’ll have to admit some awards were tougher to vote on than others but I tried to span the entire season’s body of work as much as I could for these awards. The way you vote for these awards is to give your first, second and third place votes for each. Now I will leave out the lesser awards like best PR from a club and best ref of the year. The rest I will list below.

Robert Warzycha was the best coach fo the year for me. (Getty Images)

Coach of the Year:

1. Robert Warzycha (Columbus): Some will definitely disagree with me on this one and I will be honest I really went back and forth on this award but at the end of the day I had to give it up to a guy that kept things just the way they were and got this club to a second straight Supporter’s Shield trophy. Consistency is key in this league and its even more amazing to see it happen after a coaching change.

2. Sigi Schmid (Seattle): I think anytime you take an expansion team to the playoffs you deserve some big time credit for it.

3. Bruce Arena (LA): I kind of have a feeling he will end up with this award but he didn’t get my top vote but not because he didn’t deserve it. The job he did in LA was definitely one of his best. I am just waiting to see if it turns into a MLS Cup before I call it his best work.

Defender of the Year:

1. Geoff Cameron (Houston): One of the easier award for me to vote on. Cameron was consistent and easily the best defender of the year in my eyes.

2. Chad Marshall (Columbus): Had he stayed healthy through the entire season he would have won back-to-back votes from me for this. It was close but his injuries hurt him I thought for this award.

3. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle): The biggest X-factor on that Seattle defense is Hurtado. The guy is that good folks. Continue Reading…

Darrius Barnes is currently leading the way for the rookies. (Getty Images)

Its finally Friday, though I will admit this week has flown by for me due to it being a four-day work week and things being fairly steady on both the regular job front and this place. I had planned to do more than what had been posted today but I blame the weird rainy weather here in Dallas for me not getting around to some of it. Rainy days seem to do that to me.

Anyways I wanted to get back into some award talk for the first part of tonight’s post. Tonight I wanted to kick up my Rookie of the Year discussion and give you a sense of where I rate the current crop of rookies, which by the way have been nothing short of great this season. I know not every single rookie drafted has played this year but there are at least 10 or possibly 12 good rookies from this year’s draft. That usually doesn’t happen very often.

This is my current rankings on the rookies, whether or not this stays the same when I vote in a couple weeks for this award remains to be seen.

1. Darrius Barnes (New England): Yes a third round pick has a great shot right now at Rookie of the Year. Not like last year because the draft class was so weak but because he has truly shown to be the steal of the draft. Barnes has played in every minute of every game this season for the Revs and has truly become a guy that I think will be defending in this league for years to come.

2. Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy): A lot of people have him as the top rookie right now and I am starting to actually buy into his hype after last weeks’ game against LA. He’ll probably snatch up more votes than Barnes because of his pick number and because of where he plays but that should be the reasons why you vote for this kid. He’s good…and I mean damn good. That Sean Franklin and Gonzalez duo in the back for LA is going to be a tough one to get by for years to come.

3. Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I nearly had him over Gonzalez but for some reason Gonzalez just came out slightly ahead of this kid. I think if TFC gets into the playoffs you will see this guy get plenty of first place votes for this award. If they fail to reach it he may not even get any third place votes.

4. Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): Zakuani lived up to the top pick hype this year I believe unlike last year’s top pick (Chance Myers). He’s gonna need a monster last couple of weeks to the season to catch up to the guys ahead of him but he’ll surely get his share of votes for this.

5. Chris Pontius/Rodney Wallace (DC United): These two really split votes for me. One day I see Wallace as the better rookie then the next it is Pontius. Both have proven to be very valuable picks but as things get worse for DC here late in the year the less votes these two will see.

Others in consideration: Kevin Alston (New England), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Michael Lahoud (Chivas USA), Matt Besler (KC), and George John (Dallas).

Steve Zakuani makes a strong case for ROY. (Getty Images)

Last night in the links and thoughts we discussed the MVP race that is heating up, tonight we shall take a look into an even tougher Rookie of the Year race. We all know how deep this year’s rookie class is and right now we could make a serious case for about five or six guys. This time last year we were all digging real deep to even come up with candidates. Thankfully that is not the case right now.

Right now I won’t put out my 1-whatever order as there are still plenty of games to be played. Feel free to leave who you think is the top rookie below.

- Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): The number one pick really hasn’t disappointed, except for that nasty miss in Houston. He’s produced well with three goals and four assists and has seen plenty of good minutes for Sigi Schmit this year. He’s also found a way to live up to the number one pick hype unlike last year’s number one (Chance Myers).

- Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy): Could LA make it back-to-back rookie of the years? Its possible since Gonzalez has seen action in every game this year for the Galaxy. Not many other rookies have seen the field as much as Gonzalez. After a little shaky start to the year I think we’ve seen this kid turn out to be one of the better defenders in the league, just like we expected him to be. Safe to say this kid could be in for a nice long career if he keeps this up.

- Sam Cronin (Toronto FC): One of TFC’s three first rounders has done very well so far this year. He’s seen plenty of time on the pitch and has produced rather well for a defensive midfielder. His chances at this award will go a long way if he helps lead Toronto into the playoffs for the first time in club history.

- Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): The only keeper on the bunch of rookies but he was rated the highest keeper for a reason. Toronto has had faith in him since day one and hasn’t really wavered from him even when the team has struggled. His four shutouts are a pretty good number as well for a rookie.

- Rodney Wallace (DC United): One of two DC players on this list. Wallace is a beast to deal with and lots of teams are dreading seeing this kid in the midfield for DC for years to come.

- Chris Pontius (DC United): I still remember draft day when DC picked him and United fans all booed heavily because of it. I think their mood changed quickly though when Pontius started producing goals early on. He’s cooled off a bit from his nice start but he still is enjoying a solid rookie campaign.

- Darrius Barnes (New England Revolution): The biggest steal of the draft still is Barnes who was taken in the third round. Steve Nicol found a gem as Barnes has played in every minute of every game this season. Continue Reading…

With today being the league’s All-Star game it just felt right to go into some award talk. Most of the awards feel like they are going to be decided very late in the year this season. A lot of names in the running for things like the MVP race and the rookie of the year race. Only the comeback award feels like it is all but given out to Chivas keeper Zach Thornton.

For each award I’ll give a quick rundown of guys in the running for the award. Each list is in no real order at this time since it would be almost silly to rank each player (or coach) at this point with so much left to do this season.

Feel free as always to give your thoughts on the awards and who you think should be at the top of each list.

MVP

Players in the running:

• Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus
• Landon Donovan (LA)
• Fredy Montero (Seattle)
• Brad Davis (Houston)
• Shalrie Joesph (New England)

This will be a very tight race if some parties stay hurt (GBS) or are gone for national team games (Donovan). I put Joesph on the list because I’ve always been a fan of how underrated he is in this league. Without him New England would be close to what Dallas and San Jose are right now in the standings. Montero gets on the list because of the excitement he has brought to Seattle this year, and his numbers are really good. Davis is another underrated guy that more people need to look at. Houston wouldn’t nearly be as well run in the midfield if it weren’t for him. Continue Reading…

Stefan Frei has proven to be one of the better picks in the 2009 draft. (Getty Images)

We are nearly halfway through the 2009 campaign and it is a good time to review how the rookies are doing thus far. As stated before I think this year’s rookie class has been one of the better ones that we have seen in recent years. Plenty of rookies are getting a chance on the field and some are making very good impacts with their clubs.

For me right now the rookie of the year race is really starting to heat up. A few guys have really shown they are worthy of the honor already and continue to do so each week. While I won’t go into any particular order with this list I will say the few that are mentioned are definitely above and beyond the rest of the class here.

Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): The number one pick continues to impress me. I knew a while back that this kid had some special talent and I believe we are seeing just that here this season. Currently he has two goals and three assists on the year. His number may not jump out to some but his skill on the field definitely do to me. Right now he has to be considered a front-runner for ROY honros. Good to see a number one pick live up to the expectations of the pick.

Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I think Frei has made a lot of clubs second guess themselves this year to why they didn’t pick him until Toronto did late in the first round. He’s already proven himself to be a quality starter in the league. Hell he’s even gotten Toronto’s old keeper out of a job because of his play. While he has let in a few more goals than other keepers out there a lot of that could be due to the defense that plays in front of him, though I think that could be changing soon. Continue Reading…

Sean Franklin takes home the ROY honors. (Getty Images)

Yup, LA Galaxy defender Sean Franklin has been named the 2008 MLS Rookie of the Year after beating out New England’s Kheli Dube and Houston’s Geoff Cameron. Franklin started 26 out of 27 games and recorded one assist.

Honestly, I know Franklin is a big talent for LA and will be a staple of that backline for a few more years but I really felt he didn’t deserve this award. Sure the first half of the year he was the clear front-runner for this award but after June he was clearly not.

I know he was the only quality player on the LA backline but he was a member of the LA backline that gave up 62 goals this year. Yes, 62. I know the rookie field was very slim this year in terms of who to give this award to but I just don’t agree giving an award to a defensive player (rookie or not) who’s club gave up a league-high in goals this year. Continue Reading…