Veteran's Committee Ballot Announced

This actually happened a few days ago, so I am a little late to posting about it. There are ten names on this year's ballot, as laid out below:

Buzzie Bavasi
Ken Boyer
Charlie Finley
Gil Hodges
Jim Kaat
Minnie Minoso
Tony Oliva
Allie Reynolds
Ron Santo
Luis Tiant

Finley was an owner for the Athletics and Bavasi was a GM. Obviously the player I am most interested in is Tiant. I looked at his Hall of Fame potential some time ago and came out somewhat borderline. I hope he gets in, but I would not be shocked if he does not. Santo seems to me to be the most likely to get in, partially due to the dearth of third basemen in the Hall.

See Ya Jonathan Papelbon

Link.

This actually does make me a little sad. Apparently Paps is on his way to Philadelphia for four years and $50 million. Daniel Bard is first in line to become Boston's closer, although the Red Sox will look at Ryan Madson and Heath Bell. I think it came down to Boston was simply not willing to give Papelbon that much money. I can't really blame them. Boston now has an easy decision to make by offering arbitration to Papelbon so they can likely get Philadelphia's first round draft pick next year as well as a supplemental pick. Not bad.

2011 Silver Sluggers

American League
C - Alex Avila, Tigers
1B - Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox
2B - Robinson Cano, Yankees
SS - Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians
3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers
OF - Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
OF - Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox
OF - Curtis Granderson, Yankees
DH - David Ortiz, Red Sox

National League
C - Brian McCann, Braves
1B - Prince Fielder, Brewers
2B - Brandon Phillips, Reds
SS - Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
3B - Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
OF - Justin Upton, Diamondbacks
OF - Matt Kemp, Dodgers
OF - Ryan Braun, Brewers
P - Daniel Hudson, Diamondbacks

This one was a surprise. I predicted one Red Sox Silver Slugger, that being Ortiz. I thought Miguel Cabrera would beat out Adrian Gonzalez and that they would try to separate the outfield positions like they did with the Gold Gloves and therefore Granderson winning in center field. Not because he was clearly a better hitter, all around Ellsbury was better, but that the voters would not be able to ignore Granderson's home runs and RBIs.

2011 Rawling's Gold Glove Awards

American League:
C - Matt Wieters, Orioles
1B - Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox
2B - Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
SS - Erick Aybar, Angels
3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers
RF - Nick Markakis, Orioles
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox
LF - Alex Gordon, Royals
P - Mark Buerhle, White Sox

National League
C - Yadier Molina, Cardinals
1B - Joey Votto, Reds
2B - Brandon Phillips, Reds
SS - Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
3B - Placido Polanco, Phillies
RF - Andre Ethier, Dodgers
CF - Matt Kemp, Dodgers
LF - Gerardo Parra, Diamondbacks
P - Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

So, as I predicted, three Red Sox won a Gold Glove, and all three arguably deserved it. Pedroia also won the Fielding Bible award for his position this year. So, it was a good year for this award for the Red Sox. It is the first time three Red Sox won the award in the same year since 1979 when Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn, and Rick Burleson all won it.

Some Quick Notes

I have been pretty bad about posting lately, and I meant to keep up with the news in the offseason. Anyway...

-Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their World Series win and to David Freese for being named MVP.

-Ben Cherington was officially named the Red Sox general manager. Now it is time to retool.

-Marco Scutaro's option was picked up so he will be back next year.

-The team declined the options on Dan Wheeler and Scott Atchison.