The Twins were awful this year, but an annual tradition is an annual tradition. The Baseball Writers Association of America votes on team awards, like the MVP and most improved player. The Twins only had one really good player this year, and Brian Dozier claimed both of those awards. It’s really hard to argue against either of those acclaims, as Dozier indeed seemed to be the catalyst for any good thing that happened for the Twins. When he slumped, so too did the Twins. When he came around, it seemed like the Twins had a pulse.
The Twins were also tasked with naming a pitcher of the year. For this purpose and this purpose alone, it was kind of nice that as a group, the staff was so bad. Ervin Santana was the only option for this award. Indeed, he claimed it, joining such luminaries as Mike Trombley and Scott Diamond as winners of this award. The previous Santana to win this award, Johan, was probably the most notable pitcher to win this one.
We were also assured that Byron Buxton will never win the Rookie of the Year in any category. Max Kepler won it for the Twins this year, though Buxton was the defender of the year. Still, for the hype that Buxton has had, it sees like he was predestined to win the AL Rookie of the Year, and he couldn’t even win the team specific version. He wasn’t even the best rookie in the outfield. Heck, even Caleb Thielbar won this once!
There was another notable award. For the second time in three years, the “Good Guy” Award, which is definitely not BS, was awarded to someone who was recently fired. I’m sure that winning this will soften the blow for Terry Ryan, just as it did with Ron Gardenhire.
Here’s to there being some real competition for some of these awards next year.
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