IBWAA Names Melancon, Miller Top Relievers

Awards season has begun for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), a day ahead of that other baseball writers group. On Sunday the IBWAA named Mark Melancon and Andrew Miller the top relievers of their respective leagues.

The Pirates’ Melancon received 84 first place votes, about half of those cast, for a total of 517 points. Trevor Rosenthal was second with 359 points and Aroldis Chapman was third with 312 votes.

My ballot was different. I had Jeurys Familia first. It was kind of a hometown vote, but Familia had a great year and was certainly deserving. I had Melancon second and Rosenthal third.

Over in the American league, Miller of the stupid Yankees got a third of the first-place votes for 414 points. The dumb Yankees’ Dellin Betances was second with 372 points and Wade Davis of the now-stupid Royals was third with 306 points. My ballot was Miller, Zach Britton and Betances.

Stay tuned all week for the IBWAA award announcements.