Post-season awards

[CIMO.]

Starts off with the AL Gold Gloves, where Franklin Gutierrez gets robbed.

 

P - Mark Buerhle

C - Joe Mauer

1B - Mark Teixeira

2B - Placido Polanco

3B - Evan Longoria

SS - Derek Jeter

OF - Torii Hunter

OF - Adam Jones

OF - Ichiro Suzuki

 

No, I still haven't gotten over trading Gutz (but I do like Valbuena and Smith ok). Here's some people much smarter than me explaining his awesomeness...

 

Gutierrez only got in a half-season in 2007 and three-quarters of a season in 2008. None of that mattered thanks to his outrageous 2009 season. Not to dismiss 2007 or 2008 as irrelevant. They certainly pointed out how good with the glove Gutierrez was and lend us some additional credence for the ridiculous 2009 figure. In 2007, Gutierrez posted a +1.0 UZR for every 70 innings fielded. In 2008, that ratio was one run for every 45 innings. That actually fell to one run for every 47 innings this past season, but that it was accomplished over a full season and in center field rather than right makes it all the more impressive.

 

To try and put into context just how amazing Franklin Gutierrez’s 2009 season was, here are two figures. First, his combined 30.9 runs in 2009 was the best in baseball by 5.5 runs. His defense was worth half a win more than anyone else’s. Furthermore, the 30.9 was the highest individual season mark in the entire 2007-9 sample. And that 30.9 figure, taken alone would have been good enough for 27th on our three-year list.

 

Simply by taking the field and playing defense, Gutierrez totaled over five wins of value. That he added some value with his bat, as a right-handed hitter in Safeco Field no less, was pure cherry-flavored gravy atop the ice cream sundae of awesome that was Gutierrez’s 2009.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/h...007-9-gutierrez

 

But instead, the Mariners' RIGHT fielder gets the gold glove. Where's the justice.

 

And Elvis Andrus should've won at Short, but I imagine he'll have 10 or so before his career's over.

 

Should be an interesting awards season.

[Beanpot]

Great thread Cimo. Posnanski is full on the Gutz-got-robbed train. He also spends more than a few words on Andrus. Here's a bit of it:

 

But I’m thinking of another outfielder — you know who. The three outfielders who won Gold Gloves were Torii Hunter, Adam Jones and Ichiro Suzuki. Now — and I appreciate that you may not care about defensive statistics at all or you are agnostic about them — but I’m going to give you a couple anyway. First, I want to show you their Dewan plus/minus numbers:

 

Ichiro: +21 plays above average

Torii: +8

Adam Jones: -20

 

Yes, that would be -20 for Adam Jones. Maybe you don’t buy that at all. I understand. Here are their Ultimate Zone Ratings:

 

Ichiro: +10.5 runs above average

Torii: -1.4

Adam Jones: -4.7

 

Yes, with UZR, Torii AND Adam Jones scored negative numbers … again, you might call total bull on that. And I understand, I really do. You might simply know, in your heart, that Hunter is still as great as he ever was out there and that Adam Jones is a defensive dynamo. But now I’m going to show you the Dewan plus/minus and the UZR for another outfielder. You already know who this is: Franklin Gutierrez.

 

Dewan: +43

UZR: +29.1

 

Do me a favor, no matter how you may feel about defensive numbers: Just look at those again. Compare them. Please? Everyone here knows I love these stats, but even if you think they are irreparably flawed — could they be THAT WRONG? His plus minus is SIXTY THREE PLAYS better than Adam Jones. His UZR suggests he saved more than THIRTY RUNS more Torii Hunter. Could they be that wrong?

 

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/11/10...d-glove-ripoff/

 

Beanpot

[Beanpot]

Here's the list of winners in the NL:

 

P - Wainwright

C - Molina

1B - Gonzalez

2B - Hudson

3B - Zimmerman

SS - Rollins

OF - Victorino

OF - Bourn

OF - Kemp

 

Tulo again misses out and Utley continues to receive little love. Neyer tackles some of this in his column:

 

A long time ago, I read that the most effective way to criticize someone is to offer a compliment, then your bit of criticism before finishing with another compliment and (if possible) a friendly squeeze of the shoulder. Unfortunately, the voters haven't done enough good things for that to work. So, instead I'll have to employ the less effective criticize-compliment-criticize paradigm...

 

...Who cares, right? Well, someday Utley's going to be on a Hall of Fame ballot, and at least a few voters will say, "Gosh, I love the guy's hitting stats, but why didn't he win any Gold Gloves?" The answer isn't that Utley wasn't a great fielder; the answer is that the Gold Glove voters just weren't paying attention.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/SweetSpot/post/_/i...t-of-9-aint-bad

 

Beanpot

[CIMO.]

Great thread Cimo. Posnanski is full on the Gutz-got-robbed train. He also spends more than a few words on Andrus. Here's a bit of it:

 

 

Beanpot

 

You should really try to catch some Ranger games, if you didn't watch much last year. Andrus is really looking like the 2nd coming of Omar. Here's a few good ones.

 

http://www.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4548897

 

http://www.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6303765

 

http://www.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4424513

- notice the scoreboard on that one.

 

Watching him and Feliz last year gives me a strange combination of hope and despair about the Cliff and Victor trades. Both of those players were low-level question marks while Teix was a middle of the order, gold glove big leaguer (with a year and a half left on his deal) when the trade was made, but it's looking like the Rangers won the deal now (and I think both Andrus and Feliz are still only 21). Carrasco panning out and Masterson staying a reliable starter is huge, but you can't say who won the trades until Knapp and Hagadone show their worth.

 

 

[Beanpot]

Jesus, those plays were things of beauty. Dead on comparing him to Omar too.

 

Thanks so much for those links bud.

 

Beanpot

[kshutchins]

Wow. Very cool.

 

[Beanpot]

Here's Castro on our award possibilities:

 

11/16/09 5:04 PM EST

Unrewarding campaign for Indians

Tribe coming up empty-handed during awards season

 

By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

Awards season was not a bountiful one for the Indians in 2009.

 

While players the likes of Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera had strong seasons, no one on the Tribe merited serious consideration for any of baseball's major awards -- be it the Baseball Writers' Association of America awards or the Gold Glove or Silver Slugger honors.

 

As far as local awards are concerned, the Cleveland chapter of the BBWAA will announce the annual winners of its "Man of the Year" and "Frank Gibbons/Steve Olin Good Guy" awards in the first week of December.

 

The 2009 awards season was the first in three years in which the Indians did not figure prominently into the mix. The Tribe's run of Cy Young Award winners came to an end. After a 35-year drought, the Tribe scored two straight with CC Sabathia in 2007 and Cliff Lee in 2008. Both, of course, were traded elsewhere in the season following their Cy Young triumphs. Sabathia went to the Brewers and later the Yankees, while Lee was dealt to the Phillies.

 

While the Tribe used 14 rookies and fielded a roster with 12 first-year players at season's end -- tied for the most in the Majors -- none of them contributed prominently enough for serious consideration for Rookie of the Year.

 

As far as the Gold Glove is concerned, Cabrera certainly has the slick-fielding skills and range to be considered for the high honor one day, but considering his position switch and time missed because of injury this season, he was not a prime candidate yet.

 

Two-time Gold Glove winner Grady Sizemore, who also won a Silver Slugger trophy last year, had an '09 season marred by elbow and groin injuries that required two surgeries in September. With his performance hampered and his season cut short, Sizemore was not in the mix for either award this time around.

 

Right fielder Choo, who was the only American Leaguer to hit .300 with 20 homers and 20 steals, might one day emerge as a Silver Slugger winner. But for now, he'll receive a simple pat on the back for a strong offensive showing in his first full season in the big leagues.

 

The Tribe might have had a Comeback Player of the Year candidate in Carl Pavano, but he was dealt to the Twins in August.

 

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/arti...sp&c_id=cle

 

Beanpot

 

 

 

 

[Beanpot]

Just a few additions:

 

Joe Pos came out with his McCloskey Awards, named after..."Honest John McCloskey (who) went 190-417 in his five seasons as a manager in Major Leagues. That’s a .313 winning percentage … the worst for any manager with at least 500 games."

 

Manny Acta, come on down!

 

The NL John McCloskey Award: Manny Acta, Washington.

 

He didn’t survive the season — and he’s so well thought of in baseball circles that he has already been hired by the Cleveland Indians to be manager. But for more than a half season, Manny Acta had the Nationals playing more or less like the expansion Mets. I mean, they were 26-61 — they were playing .299 baseball.

 

Now, we’re back to the premise: How much of a difference can a manager make anyway? Well, you know what? I’m looking over this roster and though this will sound ludicrous, I just don’t think the Nationals are THAT bad. There is some actual talent on that Washington team. Ryan Zimmerman is a major stud, Adam Dunn can swat for my team anytime (though, I admit, yes, I’d like him as a DH), Nick Johnson* — who got 400-plus at-bats with the Nationals — was an on-base-machine monster, Josh Willingham had a good year, and there are some young pitchers there I like including Jordan Zimmerman. John Lannan’s not bad either. I’m probably insane, but I’m getting a kind of Tampa Bay vibe from the Nationals, especially if Stephen Strasburg comes in and lights things up. We’ll see how it looks in the spring.

 

*You know how there are certain things in life you feel like you should have known but somehow didn’t. I don’t think I knew that Nick Johnson is the nephew of Larry Bowa. How could I have missed that?

 

But to the point: Yes, the Nationals were a bad baseball team, but they should have been just that … a bad baseball team, not a team on pace to be legendarily bad. Jim Riggleman came in, and the team played a lot better, and that’s not exactly a glowing endorsement. Like I say, I’ve heard nothing but great things about the kind of guy and the kind of baseball man Manny Acta is … and there’s no doubt that things were dysfunctional in Washington. Still. That was a bad year.

 

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/11/19...closkey-awards/

 

--------------------------------

 

There's also been a ton of talk about the NL Cy Young vote, especially as it relates to the votes of the two new guys, Law and Carroll.

 

Tom Tango talks about it here -

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/...d_will_carroll/ - and it's really kind of funny how the mainstream media is all over these two "sabr" guys for upsetting the apple-cart. Carroll pretty much always comes across as a clown all of the time and his ballot (and explanation) is equally clownish. But Law is a smart guy and his inclusion of Vazquez (at the expense of Carpenter) sure as hell stirred up the mediots in St. Louis.

 

Listen to this interview for evidence:

 

http://www.101espn.com/post/26682_the_fast...thursday_111909

 

Beanpot

 

[CIMO.]

Eh, I can't claim to be an expert on the Washington Nationals.....but that team seems more like the Memphis Grizzlies or the Clippers in terms of the mess. You might be able to pick out a couple good players, but that doesn't make it any less of a bad team.

 

.299 is pretty bad, of course. I just think there's more to it, especially considering how well regarded Acta still was/is.

 

 

I kinda forgot about this thread after I made it, but it's worth noting that Greinke did get the AL Cy Young. Who would be too surprised if he continues the streak of winners traded the next year?

 

His current deal runs through 2012, he's due $7.25M next year and $13.5M per in '11 and '12.

[Beanpot]

it's worth noting that Greinke did get the AL Cy Young. Who would be too surprised if he continues the streak of winners traded the next year?

 

His current deal runs through 2012, he's due $7.25M next year and $13.5M per in '11 and '12.

 

It'll be interesting to see just what happens to the guy. Not that I know crap about it, but his anxiety disorder may come into play. It may just benefit him to play in a smaller market rather than with one of the financial beasts.

 

When he left the Royals in the Spring of '06, Buddy Bell had this to say about his unexplained departure:

 

"It's none of my business, really," Bell said. "He's just got permission to go home and take care of a few things...I hate to be so vague," Bell said, "but, hopefully, this will be taken care of, sooner if not later."

 

Of course, it came out that he was suffering from depression:

 

"I really don't know what it is or what it was," Greinke began. "Depression kind of runs in my family. Supposedly, it goes down through (genetically). But I don't know if that's what I was actually going through.

 

"The medicine I take is an antidepressant. So (depression) must have something to do with it. That and social anxiety. But I don't think it was a serious case. I mean, I never thought about killing myself.

 

"It was always, once I got away from baseball, I was fine. So I didn't think about it as (an emotional disorder). I just thought that, at the baseball field, I was unhappy."

 

That misery reached such depths that Greinke often contemplated quitting baseball while still in the minors. His inability to handle the down time between starts heightened his turmoil and made him yearn to be a hitter or at least a relief pitcher.

 

"I'd talk to my agent all the time and ask him: 'How can I tell the Royals that I don't want to pitch? That I want to try hitting?,' " said Greinke, who added he knew there was no chance of that happening, which increased his frustration. "I thought that was why I hated baseball. I thought it was because I wanted to hit.

 

"It would be at least once a month that I'd be crying to myself while I'm going to bed with a bat in my hand, just swinging it. It's stupid. That doesn't happen anymore."

 

He's thankfully conquered his illness enough to be a terrific pitcher and he's very comfortable in KC:

 

"I hated being around attention and all the stuff in the clubhouse," Greinke says. "I really didn't want anything to do with being around people. A talking situation would make it worse. I've gotten a lot better at that...I hated being in the clubhouse all the time," he says. "Now I enjoy it, every single day. That's part of the reason I signed here."

 

But there's still a reason to believe he may not want to be part of a large market atmosphere:

 

But for all the love he gets from adoring fans, teammates and Kuchar, his high-school sweetheart, Greinke can be a loner.

 

"I've seen Zack walking around malls by himself more than I've seen him hanging around with somebody else," says Gil Meche, a veteran pitcher and confidante. "I'll invite him to dinner but you never know what you're going to get. Most guys you call and it's 'I can't wait. Let's go, I'm bored.' With Zack, it's just a matter of how he's feeling at that time. If he wants to go, great. If not, I don't ever take offense."

 

Other teammates say they have noticed a more engaging and outgoing Greinke since last season, about the time he began harnessing his enormous pitching talents. After going 21-35 with a 4.63 ERA in his first four seasons, Greinke went 13-10 with a 3.47 ERA last year, including 4-1 with a 2.18 ERA in September.

 

"You see him over there talking, playing cards — that's something he never did," says first baseman Billy Butler. "I think he's around a bunch of guys that he trusts, that he believes in, that he loves going to battle with.

 

"Zack knows everybody in here is pulling for him. I think that's what he needs."

 

As for his agent, The Hardball Times talked a little about that:

 

Greinke's agent is SFX, which is more willing to talk about buying out a few years of free agency than, say, Scott Boras.

 

So we'll see. The guy's an interesting case and I wouldn't bet on him being dealt any time soon. 'Course, I suck at betting.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb

http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/019327.php

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al...3-Greinke_N.htm

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...r-zach-greinke/

 

Beanpot