This should be the final in this brief series of posts. I'm pondering the necesity of a third but I'm leaning heavily towards no.
Rookie of the Year- Brett Gardner
I'm not quite sure if he's technically a rookie or not but I'm going to go assume he is and roll with it. In any case, he's surpassed the expectations of idiots like me and risen to the top of a strong rookie class. Early on he had to fight for the centerfield job. Melky Cabrera's hot April and Gardner's slow start won Melky back the job. However, When things reversed themselves Gardner won it back and since he's been an exciting sparkplug for the Yankees. We all knew about his speed and he has not dissapointed, stealing 24 bases in 29 attempts, which could become more important in the heated pitching duels of October. However, to take advantage of that he needed to get on base at a decent clip and since his early adjustment period he's shown that he can do that with a line of .279/.354/.397. He has absolutely no power but that's just not part of his game. His biggest value comes in his defense, which brings me to my next award.
Gold Glove Award- Brett Gardner
This was a very difficult decision for me and I know I'm going to take some heat for not going with Teixeira here. However, the biggest reason for the Yankees much improved defense this year has been Brett Gardner. His speed allows him to cover more ground out there than anybody we've seen man centerfield in the Bronx in a LONG time. Gardner also has a cannon for an arm, which he has shown to the dismay of opposing baserunners on many occasions. He's not very flashy out there but Gardner quietly emerged as one of the best defensive outfielders in the game this year. Obviously Mark Teixiera deserves honorable mention and the difference between him and Giambi has been immeasurable. He's gunned guys down at the plate, turned double plays, and made some diving plays that just make you shake your head. However, I don't think first base is as important defensively as centerfield and the stats don't really back up Teixeira. His UZR/150 is just a tick below average at .9 and his rate 2 is just a couple ticks above average at 104. I think he's been much better than that, just not as good as Gardner though.
Silver Slugger- Mark Teixeira
Now this was an easy one. Although he went through an adjustment period in April, as soon as he got some protection from A-Rod, Mark Teixeira became one of the most feared hitters in the American League. His 37 home runs trail only Carlos Pena in the American league and he could eclipse him by year's end. His line of .293/.383/.563 pegs him as a guy that fits perfectly into the middle of the Yankees' fearsome lineup. Since A-Rod's return he's been a force that no pitcher has seemed capable of stopping. Its ironic that the winner of this award didn't get any of the many walk off hits this season delivered. However, Teixeira did his work early on and won plenty of games for the Yanks with his bat. Nobody on the Yankees really came close, although I briefly considered A-Rod for the award before I came to my senses.
Brett Gardner has had a very good year, no argument there. however it is a mistake to give him the gold glove for one reason. while he has improved the defense at the CF posioion Texeira (IMO) has improved the defense of the whole infield. even when he was in the midst of a slow start at the plate his defense was stellar.
ReplyDeleteHands down Tex gets the Gold Glove!
I agree Teix should have gotten the Gold Glove. Its no coincidence that Jeter had a great year defensively compared to what he was doing in recent years. Teix held up that defensive and made it arguably the best defensive infield.
ReplyDeletedont they give out a silver slugger to every position?
ReplyDeleteGardner covers ground, sure, but he's not gunning anybody down.
ReplyDeleteFor rookie of the year, Gardner is a given, he is the only rook who received playing time to qualify as a rook.
ReplyDeleteGold Glove: Mark Teixeira. No question without a doubt its Mark T. He saved everybody on the infield this year. And he was there Day in and Day out, Gardner didn't play the 1st month, then split time with Melky then missed another month due to a broken finger.
Silver Sluggers should go to A-Rod and Teixeria.
I think that MT will also win the Hank Aaron award.
that what i was thinking of.
ReplyDeleteThe Hank Aaron award is for the single best offensive/power hitter.
Silver sluggers are to the best player at each position.
Like your list Durden.
Jeter, Teixeira and Jorge should all win GG's imo.
have you even watched gardner play? he absolutely does NOT have a cannon for an arm...the ball bounces like 50 feet in front of him every time he throws
ReplyDeleteGardners arm is worse then Bernie Williams.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to give out coach of the year - Rob Thompson. He has been a lights out improvement over last year and really done a nice job as #B coach. Go Yanks and Stan Bahnsen where ever you are--keep losing Red Sux.
ReplyDeleteno way gardner gets gold glove. Gotta be Tex or Cano maybe even Jeter over Gardner.
ReplyDeletemelky is a better cf than gardner
ReplyDeleteGardner is much better centerfielder than Melky. He has much more range, he makes routine catches and almost makes very diffucult catches that Melky has no shot at.
ReplyDeleteMelky is better playing the corners. Gold glove should go to Teixeira though.
Also Melky might have a great arm. But he is not very accurate with it. He doesn't have many outfield assits. There were plenty of throws this year where Melky threw home at threw the ball up the line where he could of got the runner.
ReplyDeleteA few problems with this.
ReplyDelete1) Gardner is not a rookie. I don't see how you can just ignore that. If you are going to give your ROY award to a young guy who is not a rookie, than Cano is your Rookie of the Year. If not him, then Hughes.
2) Gardner is not a very good defensive CFer. Melkie is better, and he's not that good. See http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding/_/position/cf/league/al/sort/zoneRating/qualified/false/order/true
Tiexiera is the only Yankee regular who is above average in terms of range. It's silly to not give him the team Gold Glove Award.
Don't you need 130 at-bats to not be qualified as a rookie the next season? Gardner only had 127 last year.
ReplyDeleteAnd Gardner's UZR/150 is 11.2 which is very good. Melky's is 1.5, which is average. Gardner has been much better in cernter this year.
45 days on the MLB roster is also a threshold. He played in 42 games last year and certainly was on the roster more than 45 days
ReplyDeleteLet's assume he was aweseome defensively for a second. He's played about 1/3 of the time. Tex is your gold glover on this team, although the idiot MLB writers will probably give another one to Jeter because he's so damn sexy and has never been caught cheating.
ReplyDeleteLucky, I'm not saying Gardner is the gold glover of the team, I'm just saying he's better than Melky.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Gardner's rookie status it's 45 days on a Major League roster before September 1, which I don't think he had because he was sent down for most August.
Congratulations to all award owner!
ReplyDeleteThey all are really deserved awards. we like to watch all of them. Thank you!