41-year old righty closer Mariano Rivera finished 8th in the voting for the A.L. Cy Young Award voting in 2011. He pitched in 64 games (0 starts) for the Yankees in 2011 and he was 1-2 with 44 saves, a 1.91 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Rivera has now pitched in 1,042 games (10 starts) in his first 17 years with the Yankees and he is 75-57 with 603 saves, a 2.21 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Rivera became the all-time saves leader in major league history in 2011 and he also became the first pitcher to ever work in over 1,000 games with the same team! He is the best closer in major league history, period!

26-year old righty reliever David Robertson finished 11th in the voting for the A.L. Cy Young Award. Robertson pitched in 70 games (0 starts) for the Yankees last year and he was 4-0 with 1 save, a 1.08 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. He has now pitched in 204 games (0 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 14-6 with 3 saves, a 3.03 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Robertson deserved the credit he’s getting as he was downright nasty for the Yankees last year.

UPDATE: (11/21/2011) - David Robertson finished tied for 22nd in the A.L. MVP Voting today. I’m thinking one of his relatives has a vote, because Mariano Rivera didn’t get any votes.

24-year old righty starting pitcher Ivan Nova finished in 4th place in the A.L. Rookie of the Year voting. He pitched in 28 games (27 starts) for the Yankees last year and he was 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Nova has now pitched in 38 games (34 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 17-6 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Nova probably finished where he deserved to be in the voting as the guys above him had better years. The Yankees don’t care about that as Nova is going to be a big part of their future, likely going into next year as the #2 starter behind C.C. Sabathia.

30-year old switch hitting 1B Mark Teixeira finished in a tie with Royals’ closer Joakim Soria for 19th place in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Teixeira played in 158 games for the Yankees last season and he was 154 of 601 (.256 avg, .846 OPS) with 113 runs scored, 33 homers and 108 RBIs. He has now played in 1,218 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 1,321 of 4,624 (.286 avg, .913 OPS) with 782 runs scored, 275 homers, 906 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Teixeira will likely always get votes for this award as long as he’s with the Yankees.

35-year old righty swinging 3B Alex Rodriguez finished 15th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. A-Rod played in 137 games for the Yankees last season and he was 141 of 522 (.270 avg, .847 OPS) with 74 runs scored, 30 homers, 115 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. A-Rod has now played in 2,303 games in his first 17 years in the majors and he is 2,672 of 8,826 (.303 avg, .958 OPS) with 1,757 runs scored, 613 homers, 1,831 RBIs and 301 stolen bases. Alex Rodriguez appears to be slipping a little bit as he’s getting older and playing drug free (maybe).