FanSided’s AL Player of the Year: Jacoby Smellsbury

Note: Every writer who is a member of the FanSided Family was given the opportunity to vote for who we thought deserved to win multiple awards this season. The awards we voted for were Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Reliever of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and of course MVP (Most Valuable Player). Every writer for a team in the AL only voted for AL players. Each winner will be announced on FanSided’s general baseball blog, Call to the Pen. However, I will also post the winner every time it is released on the site, give you a link to the article, and throw in my own opinions.

The fifth and final FanSided end-of-the-season award was recently announced. Of course. One of the players I hate most in the game wins FanSided’s equivalent of the MVP award. Yes, I put my feelings aside and also voted for him but that’s besides the point. This time we were asked to vote for our top ten but I won’t bore you with all of my picks.

I hate to admit it but Ellsbury had an amazing year. He finished with a line of .321/.376./.552 and stole 39 bases. He hit for power as well this season with 32 home runs and 46 doubles. He drove in 105 runs and scored the third most runs in the league with 119. Clearly, he had a complete season and deserves this award.

Coming in second place was Jose Bautista who, again, led the majors in home runs, and also led the majors in OPS at 1.056 thanks to his 132 walks. I voted him in third place, just under Curtis Granderson. Grandyman was voted number 5 by FanSided. He finished the season with a .262 average, 41 home runs, 119 RBI, and was great defensively in center field.

So getting third place from the FanSided writers was Miguel Cabrera who I voted as 4th on my list. He finished with a .344 batting average, 30 homers, and 105 RBI.

Finally, I voted for Adrian Beltre as 5th. FanSided voted Verlander 4th. So, the lists are:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury
2. Jose Bautista (FanSided); Curtis Granderson (me)
3. Miguel Cabrera (FanSided); Jose Bautista (me)
4. Justin Verlander (FanSided); Miguel Cabrera (me)
5. Curtis Granderson (FanSided); Adrian Beltre (me)

I voted for Verlander as my number 10 pick. Obviously he was one of the best players in the league but I couldn’t justify voting for a pitcher higher up in the MVP voting. I just see it as pitchers have their own awards. It’s probably wrong because he’s higher than the 10th best player in the league but I had to go old school on this one.

To read the entire article, go here!

As for the NL, Matt Kemp ran away with the vote, as he should. Second was Ryan Braun, third was Prince Fielder, fourth was Justin Upton, and fifth was Joey Votto.

To get the whole article for more in-depth information, go here!

This concludes the FanSided Post-Season Awards. Stay tuned for next season’s! (As well as posts on this season’s real winners.)