The 2010 Cleveland Indians End-of-Season Awards
A few hours from now, the Baseball Writer’s Association will unveil the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player—the final award the BBWAA hands out out at the end of the season.
Of course, no Indians players are in competition for the awards. The only chance Cleveland has of getting any recognition will be if Shin-Soo Choo gets some bottom-ballot MVP votes, and while he surely deserves a place near the top, he’s not likely to even crack the Top 10.
But while the Indians’ 2010 season was full of misery and disappointment, it wasn’t all bad. We deserve to have our players’ achievements recognized by someone.
In that vein, the WBWAA (Wahoo Blues Writers Association of America) proudly presents its choices for the 2010 Cleveland Indians End-of-Season awards.
Most Valuable Player: Shin-Soo Choo
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File this one under “duhhhh.” Choo led the Indians in literally every major offensive category—hits, homers, RBI, runs, steals, average, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and WAR (in both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference’s models). He even finished first in games and plate-appearances despite missing three weeks with a sprained thumb in July.
Cy Young: Chris Perez
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Tempting as it was to give this to Andy Marte instead of someone who pitched more than one inning, the presence of Perez means we can’t justify snubbing the actual staff. Perez’ 1.71 ERA was second-best in the league among hurlers with at least 50 innings, and he didn’t allow a run in 17 outings after August 6.
Rookie of the Year: Carlos Santana
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Another pretty obvious choice. Santana hit six homers with an .868 OPS and 2.0 WAR in his 46 games with the Tribe, posting an eye-popping 19.3% walk rate in the process. Don’t forget he did that as a catcher.
Gold Gloves: Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Shelley Duncan, Matt LaPorta, and Lou Marson
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Choo and Marson were legitimate Gold Gloves because of their arms; Choo’s 14 outfield assists were tops in the majors, and Marson threw out 38% of would-be basestealers, the best among AL catchers with at least 500 innings behind the plate. Meanwhile, Duncan posted a 4.4 UZR in 49 games in the outfield—not great, but it was the best on the team.
Meanwhile, with such lackluster competition, LaPorta and Cabrera overcome their respective poor ranges (-7.7 and -5.7 UZR, respectively) and are honored by the eyeball test; the former made a number of great snags at first base, while the latter gets recognized because of plays like this (start at 0:16):
No Gold Gloves are awarded for pitcher, second base, third base, or center field.
Silver Sluggers: Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Santana
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The Indians’ offense was so bad that we had to use the same picture twice.
No Silver Sluggers are awarded for first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, or designated hitter.
Comeback Player of the Year: Fausto Carmona
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It’s clear now (if it wasn’t before) that Carmona’s phenomenal 2007 season was a fluke, but in 2010 he at least reestablished himself as an above-average pitcher. After garnering more walks than strikeouts in 2008-9, Carmona upped his K:BB ratio to 1.72 (still pretty bad, but it’s a big improvement) and posted a 3.77 ERA.
Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge
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Just kidding.
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