Finalists for MLS awards announced, no Red Bulls in the running

For keeping this article short, I'm not going to list the full length of finalist. You can find that list on mlssoccer.com. Let's jump right into why the New York Red Bulls don't have anybody up for an award. We're going to ignore the Xbox Team Fair Play & Xbox Individual Fair Play awards as they are based on stats alone.

MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year: Luis Robles was up for this, but it's hard to argue against anyone in this category. Everyone nominate does good in the community and nothing should ever take away from that.

Newcomer of the Year: None of the Red Bulls players deserve this. Those who could be called Newcomers (Matt Miazga, Chris Duvall, Abroise Oyongo) haven't been consistent players in the lineup, so they don't deserve to be considered for this award.

Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year: I was going to originally argue for Robles, with the justification of having an ever changing back line in front of him early in the year. However, is he better than Steve Clark (Columbus Crew), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), or Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)? I don't think he was this year.

Comeback Player of the Year: The Red Bulls didn't have anyone to qualify as a "comeback" so we can skip this.

Coach of the Year: Can't argue against Petke not making it since they went from the Supporter's Shield winner to 4th in the East. However, I will say that I don't think Ben Olsen or Sigi Schmid deserve it. Olsen was at the helm of D.C.'s worst in MLS performance last year. His team may have turned it around this year, but he was part of the reason for the team's overhaul. Schmid did lead to Seattle to a US Open Cup title and Supporter's Shield, but he did that with an extremely talented squad. He legitimately has enough players to have 2 quality MLS sides.

Defender of the Year: Jamison Olave could have been up for this award, if it wasn't for two things. First, he's been on & off the field this year due to injuries. Second, until recently, he hasn't had a consistent partner at center back. If him & Ibrahim Sekagya got on the same page sooner, that might have been enough to overcome the injury factor.

AT&T Rookie of the Year: Just like Newcomer of the Year, the youngsters didn't get enough playing time.

Volkswagen Most Valuable Player: Here is where the Red Bulls have 2 legitimate gripes. First, Bradley Wright-Phillips is the golden boot winner, and without him, the Red Bulls have not been so great. The Red Bulls are 10-3-5 (35 points) when he score, and 3-7-6 (15 points) when he doesn't. He may "just score goals", but those goals lead to wins.

Thierry Henry had arguably his best season in MLS. 10 Goals and 14 Assists in 30 appearances. Meanwhile, Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution) had 18 Goals, but only 5 Assists. You can make the claim that Henry is more valuable to his team just on the fact that he creates more goals.

What do you think? Did the Red Bulls get snubbed in the end of year awards?