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October 6, 2015Ohio State escapes Indiana still undefeated: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
October 6, 2015The Cleveland Indians won’t be hoisting any hardware as a team this fall, but there’s still a chance that they bring home some individual awards. AL Rookie of the Year contender Francisco Lindor represents the best chance, and Grantland’s Jonah Keri gave the shortstop some kudos in his season-ending awards writeup:
In what will go down as The Year of the Rookie, this was another deep award field: Even after this is published, I’ll be staring at the screen, trying to figure out how to shoehorn Miguel Sano onto the ballot. The two clear front-runners, though, were Lindor and Carlos Correa. Offensively, they produced a strikingly similar amount of value: Correa’s more power-heavy .279/.345/.512 was 33 percent better than the league-average hitter on a park-adjusted basis, while Lindor’s .313/.353/.482 was 28 percent better than average.
The difference, then, was defense. Correa made some exceptional plays in his rookie campaign, but he rated out as roughly league average by advanced metrics. Meanwhile, Lindor graded out as the fourth-best defensive shortstop in the majors, despite having just 99 games to accumulate value. He’s a human vacuum cleaner who played a huge role in one of the biggest in-season team defense improvements we’ve seen in a long time.
Both of these players are going to electrify fans for many years to come. Lindor’s fantastic defense just makes him a slightly better pick to take home this year’s hardware.
Houston shortstop Carlos Correa was the AL ROY favorite for much of the season, but Lindor’s superb play both in the field and at the plate has made it a real discussion. Lindor’s defense lived up to its billing, but it’s his surprisingly good hitting that could push him over the top.
Keri also threw Tribe starter Corey Kluber a fifth-place vote among AL Cy Young contenders.1 Kluber’s 9-16 record pales in comparison to last year’s 18-9 mark, but he still put up fine numbers, striking out 245 batters in 222 innings, including four complete games. Pitching wins and losses are considered less than they once were, and Keri says that he doesn’t factor them into his decision-making at all.
I don't consider W-L record at all. Didn't know Kluber's record until you just told me, actually. https://t.co/YEAYxyeQfe
— Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) October 6, 2015
It was a weird, disappointing season for the Indians. Lindor winning Rookie of the Year honors would provide a nice silver lining.
- The four ahead of Kluber, in order: Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, Toronto’s David Price, Oakland’s Sonny Gray, and Chicago’s Chris Sale. [↩]
6 Comments
I see Lindor finishing second behind Correa which is just fine with me. Kluber even getting a vote in the Cy Young is generous. Keuchel is my AL pick and Greinke is my NL pick.
NL CY is Arrieta for me. I read that he had the best second half of any pitcher in baseball history.
And Lindor or Correa would both be fine with me.
Imagine if they had brought him up earlier – he’d have run away with the award (and the Indians – not the Astros – might be in New York tonight).
I gave the edge to Greinke because he isn’t a one year wonder in fact he’s won the AL Cy Young as well. Arrieta had an amazing season and his team made the playoffs but I’m not high on 1 year wonders. If he pitches well next season that’s different.
I don’t buy into this rationale simply because the opposite could have happened just as well and Lindor could have struggled even longer. In the end it is what it is the biggest question for me is can Lindor pick up where he left off next season?
In 2014 Arrieta had a 2.53 ERA to go along with a 0.989 WHIP
In 2014 Greinke had a 2.71 ERA and a 1.152 WHIP
In 2015 Arrieta has a 1.77 ERA and a 0.865 WHIP
In 2015 Greinke has a 1.66 ERA and a 0.844 WHIP
I’m not sure how you call Arrieta a one year wonder with numbers like that for the past two years…