Brantley's Thoughts About Winning His 1st Career Silver Slugger Award

Michael did some phone interviews today, on November 7, to talk about winning his 1st career Louisville Slugger AL OF Silver Slugger Award. he also talked about his AL MVP candidacy, his approach at the plate this season, and teammate Yan Gomes receiving a Silver Slugger for the first time, too.

photo courtesy of TribeVibe blog

photo cropped from a video on Indians.com

"it's a great honor, it really is. when i sit back and kind of reflect on the season, from the coaching staff, teammates, to the trainers, to my family's support, just everybody that helped me get through the season, and the fun season we had together... to be recognized for these awards, it's a blessing and an honor."

on how his offense improved this year: "one of the biggest things was that i changed my mental approach. i came into the season ready to drive the ball. i wasn't up there just trying to walk or work counts. i was really trying to get a fastball early and put a good swing on it. in the past, i never tried to do that before really. i used to try to work counts, get on base, make sure i was getting the perfect pitch. i hit more like a leadoff hitter. this year, i wanted to be more aggressive. i wanted, i figured, maybe there's a good first pitch fastball to hit early. i was ready to swing and try to put a good swing on the ball.

with the adjustments of growing up in the major leagues and having more time under my belt, it made it easier to relax and trust my skills and make sure that, i could swing at a bad pitch every now and then, but if i got a good pitch early on, just put a good swing on it."

because that worked out so well, he has no plans to change his offseason routine. "i really pride myself on just kind of working hard in the offseason. i've been kind of doing the same routine for the last couple years. i'm just making sure i stay consistent. i think it's consistency and your workout routines and eating right and making sure that you come in healthy to spring training and ready to play. i'm not a position player that feels like i take spring training to get ready. i want to come into spring training ready to play, so that, you know, once the first game, i'm acclimated and i'm ready to go."

on fellow Silver Slugger winner, Yan Gomes: "it's very exciting, because you see all the hard work that he puts in each and every day. he's a great teammate. he's one of the leaders on our team. he's in the cage with me side by side. he works hard each and every day. as a catcher, it's not easy to catch as many games as he does. to be his teammate and to watch how hard he worked this year, like i said before, i couldn't be more happy for one of my teammates. he deserves it."

what does his father, Mickey, think of all his nominations and his 2014 season? "we were just talking the other day. after kind of a couple awards came out and i was nominated for a couple things, i looked at him and i said, 'hey, pops. i had a pretty good season, huh?' he just laughed at me. he said, 'son, you had a great season.'"

"i've never been that player that is really stat driven. i care about wins and losses and i care about my teammates. that's what comes first and foremost for me. my goal, just like every other year, as soon as i step into spring training, is to get to the postseason and win the World Series. that's a group effort, and we all know that in the locker room. that's #1 on my list."

Michael's full interviews can be found here and here.

Brantley Wins Louisville Slugger's 2014 AL OF Silver Slugger Award!

tonight, on November 6, it was revealed that for the very first time in his career, Michael Brantley won Louisville Slugger's 2014 American League Outfielder Silver Slugger Award! finally, Michael wins an award! and it is well deserved! he's the first Indians outfielder to win the award since Grady Sizemore in 2008. that's my boy!

photo courtesy of @Indians twitter

photo cropped from a video on Indians.com

and can i just say, i love the commentary in the reveal video. "baby boy all grows up" and "Smooth Criminal" had me lol-ing, but my favorite part without a doubt was when they declared Michael the team leader over Swisher and Kipnis. hell yes! i've been saying that for 2 years.

Louisville Slugger's Silver Slugger Award is Major League Baseball's top offensive honor. four members of each major league team's coaching staff vote for the players they believe to be the best offensively at each fielding position in both leagues, plus the DH in the AL and pitcher in the NL. however, these managers and coaches are not allowed to vote for players on their own team. several offensive statistics are taken into account when voting for this award, including a player's batting average, on-base percentage, and (clearly) slugging percentage. the value a player brings to his team offensively, as determined by managers and coaches, is also an important factor.

created by Louisville Slugger bats manufacturer Hillerich & Bradsby, the Silver Slugger Award began in 1980. its purpose was to be an extension of the Silver Bat Award, a silver-plated bat given to the batting champions in the AL and NL by Louisville Slugger. the Silver Slugger Award is three feet long and features the winner's name engraved on it, as well as the other Silver Slugger winners from each position in their respective league.

here's how Michael's 2014 season numbers compare with all of the qualifying outfielders in the American League:
1st in batting average (.327), hits (200), and doubles (45)
2nd in OBP (.385)
tied 2nd in fWAR (6.6)
3rd in OPS (.890), extra base hits (67), total bases (309), runs (94), and wRC+ (155)
4th in SLG (.506)
5th in RBI (97)
7th in stolen bases (23)
tied 9th in home runs (20)
he had the lowest strikeout rate (8.3%) among AL outfielders, too.

the rest of the American League Silver Sluggers for 2014 are
1B Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox
2B Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
SS Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox
3B Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers
DH Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers
OF Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
OF Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
C Yan Gomes, Cleveland Indians (way to go, Gomer!)

now let me clear up any confusion about the OF Silver Slugger Award winners. this honor is awarded to three outfielders and the position which they actually play has no bearing. it's possible that one or two OF positions is not represented annually. but this year, it just so happened that each outfielder chosen mainly played in different spots. while Michael did see time in both left and center, he was primarily a left fielder. Mike Trout always played in center field and, perfectly rounding out the outfield, Jose Bautista was mostly in right field this season.

oh and because Yan Gomes also won a Silver Slugger, he and Michael are the first pair of Indians to win this award since Roberto Alomar and Manny Ramirez both won it in 2000. other Indians who have won Silver Slugger Awards in the last 15 years are Juan Gonzalez in 2001, Victor Martinez in 2004, and most recently until today, Asdrubal Cabrera in 2011.

so congratulations, Michael, Mr. Silver Slugger! no question you were one of the top outfielders of 2014 and i am so happy that you're being recognized for that with this award! enjoy that $50,000 Slugger bonus! =D


to see what Michael had to say about winning this award, read:
Brantley's Thoughts About Winning His 1st Career Silver Slugger Award

Vote Brantley For MLBPAA's 2014 Heart & Hustle Award!

back on July 22, i wrote a blog about how Michael Brantley was the Cleveland Indians' recipient of MLBPAA's 2014 Heart & Hustle Award.

photo courtesy of Indians mailing list

to recap, the Heart & Hustle Award is given annually to active players who demonstrate a passion for baseball and best embody the values, spirit, and traditions of the game. this honor was created by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association and is awarded to 30 preliminary winners, one player on every team. it is the only award in baseball that is voted on by former players.

the MLBPAA has 30 committees made up of alumni players with established relationships to each major league team. these committees choose one player from each team based on his passion, desire, and work ethic both on and off the field. then at the end of the season, fans, alumni, and active players can vote for the final winner of the award from the 30 individual team recipients.

tonight, i was made aware that fans can finally vote. i'm not sure, however, if voting has been open prior to today, and if it has, i'm very sorry that i couldn't alert my readers to it sooner. my Tribe sources should have been a little more on top of this, for the love of Brantley lol anyways, fans can now vote until November 8 at 11:59 pm EST. the fan vote counts for 5% of the total vote, so in all honesty it's probably not going to make much difference. regardless, you can still VOTE FOR MICHAEL HERE.

the final winner will be presented with his Heart & Hustle award on November 18 at the 15th annual Legends for Youth dinner in NYC. good luck, Michael!

And The Winner of Rawlings' 2014 AL LF Gold Glove Award Is...

...not Michael Brantley =(

today was the day that the Gold Glove winners were finally revealed. as i wrote on October 23, Michael was a first time finalist for his performance in left field this season. unfortunately, he did not win. on November 4, the American League Gold Glove was given to Kansas City's Alex Gordon. and that's who i think everyone, including myself, assumed would win.

Gordon finished the 2014 season with 8 assists, 2 errors, and 0 double plays in 1372.2 innings, giving him a .994 fielding percentage in left field. offensively, he had a .266 batting average, 150 hits, 34 doubles, 19 home runs, 74 RBI, 87 runs, 12 stolen bases, 65 walks, and 126 strikeouts in 156 games.

i pretty much knew Michael was a long shot for this award, but it's nice to see that the managers and coaches in the American League voted enough in order for him to be a finalist. however, i think the continued great play of Alex Gordon this season, combined with sabermetrics counting for 25% of the total selection process, was too much against Michael.

still, this does NOT take away from Michael's fantastic season in the outfield. he's sure as hell the best left fielder on the Tribe. screw those unkind sabermetric numbers. the most important thing is that people in the American League are now recognizing Michael's talent and that's good enough for me.

and who knows, maybe he'll get that GG next year! ;D **fingers crossed**

Brantley Named Finalist For Baseball Writers' Association Of America's 2014 AL MVP Award

i've been waiting for this announcement since before the season even ended. this evening, on November 4, it was revealed that the Baseball Writers' Association of America named Michael Brantley as one of three finalists for the 2014 American League Most Valuable Player Award! this MVP nod is the first of his career! he's nominated along with Mike Trout of the Angels and Victor Martinez of the Tigers. congratulations!

photo courtesy of @Indians twitter

if you're unsure how MVP candidates are chosen, let me provide a brief explanation. two writers from each American League city vote for AL MVP, totaling 30 votes overall. there are 10 spots on the MVP ballot and the finalists are the players who finished in the top 3. all players, including designated hitters and pitchers, may be chosen for most valuable player. writers of the BBWAA submit their picks before the postseason begins.

each spot on the ballot equals a certain number of points. a 1st place MVP vote is worth 14 points. the rest of the ballot spots are worth 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points from 2nd place down to 10th. BBWAA's secretary/treasurer, Jack O'Connell, tallies the votes before the finalists are revealed in November. the full results will be posted on the BBWAA website after the winner is announced.

as a general rule of thumb, writers define the MVP in terms of 1. the value a player has to his team, offensively and defensively, 2. the number of games he played, and 3. the player's general character, disposition, loyalty, and effort.

Michael certainly put up MVP type stats this year. to refresh everyone's memory, here are some of his tremendous #s:
.327 batting average
.385 OBP
.506 SLG
.890 OPS
200 hits
45 doubles
20 home runs
97 RBI
94 runs scored
52 walks
23 stolen bases
56 strikeouts
309 total bases
12 outfield assists
7.0 WAR
156 games

everything minus the walks and strikeouts was a career high for him this season. Michael also led the American League with his .376 BA with RISP, .346 BA with runners on base, and .337 BA against right-handed pitchers.

now let's look at the other 2 finalists' numbers:

Mike Trout: 173 hits, 39 doubles, 36 HR, 111 RBI, 115 R*, 83 BB, 16 SB, 184 SO**, 338 TB*, 7.9 WAR, 157 games, .287 BA/.377 OBP/.561 SLG/.939 OPS

Victor Martinez: 188 hits, 38 doubles, 32 HR, 103 RBI, 87 R, 70 BB, 3 SB, 42 SO, 317 TB, 5.3 WAR, 151 games, .335 BA/.409 OBP/.565 SLG/.974 OPS*
*MLB lead
**AL high

Michael's up against some tough competition and it would be a huge surprise if he won. the MVP frontrunner is Mike Trout, especially since he lost out on the award the previous 2 years. however, Michael just being a candidate for an AL most valuable player award is outstanding. to be recognized as a potential league MVP, that really is a hell of an honor. i am so freakin' proud of Michael! [insert happy tears here lol]

no Tribe player has been named MVP since 1953 when Al Rosen won the award. before him, Lou Boudreau won it in 1948 and George Burns was MVP in 1926. and that's it. only those 3 players have won MVP in the history of the Indians.

if Cleveland fans had their way, Michael would be the 4th. during Michael's final game of the season on September 27, fans started "M-V-P!" chants every time he came to the plate. when the media told Michael about this after the game, he was humbled and appreciative. "that's a remarkable feeling. i want to thank the fans for that. it's not something you hear very often. it's not something that's just thrown around. my hat's off to them. i can't thank them enough."

the winner will be announced on November 13 at 6 pm EST on MLB Network and you can count on me to write a follow up blog with all the details. congrats again, Michael! you're definitely my MVP! =D

Brantley Finishes 7th in FanGraphs' 2014 Player Of The Year Vote

today, on November 3, it was announced that Michael Brantley finished 7th in the FanGraphs 2014 Player of the Year vote! add that to the ever-growing long list of career firsts that Michael has obtained in 2014! =D

FanGraphs' POTY is a new award that was just started this year. it was created as a way to honor the player who performed at the highest level in Major League Baseball. this particular award recognizes the most outstanding performer of the season without splitting up leagues and player types.

the FanGraphs player of the year award is voted on by 10 authors at FanGraphs. one additional ballot is comprised of votes by FanGraphs readers. so in total, there are 11 ballots of votes.

here are the complete POTY voting results:

Player	Ballots	Avg Rank	Avg Score
Clayton Kershaw	11	1.5	77.3
Mike Trout	11	1.7	75.3
Andrew McCutchen	11	3.4	52.6
Corey Kluber	11	5.6	34.5
Jonathan Lucroy	10	6.0	32.6
Giancarlo Stanton	10	6.1	28.9
Michael Brantley	11	6.6	25.0
Felix Hernandez	8	6.8	19.1
Anthony Rendon	6	7.3	11.9
Jose Bautista	6	8.3	11.1
Buster Posey	5	8.0	8.6
Chris Sale	6	9.0	6.4
Josh Donaldson	2	8.5	3.2
Alex Gordon	1	9.0	0.9
Victor Martinez	1	9.0	0.5

**chart copy and pasted from FanGraphs website

according to this, Michael was on all 11 ballots that were cast. as usual though, i think some of these rankings are off. first of all, i find it odd that not one person voted for the guy who won the AL batting title--Jose Altuve. then there's Alex Gordon, who's the favorite to win the left field Gold Glove this year, along with Victor Martinez, who had the 2nd highest BA in the American League. somehow both of these players were only on 1 of 11 ballots. i'm not even going to get into the rest of the voting break downs.

i honestly don't like awards that are structured like this, grouping everyone in baseball together. each league has its own best player. i don't think the AL and NL should be combined and competing for top billing. also, you guys who have been reading my blogs for the last couple years know that i think pitchers and hitters should be awarded for their work separately. when you put them all together, that's when these rankings can be skewed because you have to compare everybody and almost literally pick favorites. i mean, doesn't it seem strange to see Corey Kluber finish 4th and Felix Hernandez finish 4 places underneath him?

speaking of Kluber, it's somewhat shocking to me that he finished so high and ahead of Michael. not every voter had Corey above Michael, but enough did so that the final results placed him 4th. (if you want to see who each voter included on their ballot, their rankings, and explanations for their rankings, click here.) can't say i'm too happy that Michael's teammate was viewed as more valuable than Michael in this vote.

now let's do some comparisons. if we weigh this POTY list against Sporting News' 2014 POTY vote, Michael again finished 7th. however, Corey Kluber was nowhere to be found in SN's top 10. and keep in mind, the SN list was voted on by major league players. essentially, this FanGraphs award was voted on by fans and bloggers. if faced with the choice, i'm going to put a little more stock into who the players think is POTY over fans and bloggers who could very well be biased (like i am LOL).

and looking back at Baseball Bloggers Alliance's 2014 Stan Musial Award, Michael finished 2nd, 2 places above Corey. granted those were American League specific results, but they still had Michael ahead of Corey. just saying.

in the grand scheme of things, this is another of one those awards that's really not something to get all worked up about. it's nice that Michael finished 7th on this list and while i don't necessarily agree with that, i'm still happy for and proud of him. the fact that he continues to even place on all these lists is a great accomplishment.

tomorrow we find out the winners of the Gold Gloves and if Michael won for left field or not. then on November 13, the results of MLB's AL MVP come out. those are 2 awards that i'm very anxious to see the results of. until then...

congratulations once again to Michael on being recognized for his amazing 2014 season!

Brantley Nominated For Three 2014 GIBBYs

it was announced today, on October 30, that Michael Brantley has been nominated for 3 GIBBY awards for his spectacular 2014 season! he's a candidate for the MLB MVP, hitter, and breakout hitter categories!

photo cropped off Indians.com

the GIBBYs are Major League Baseball's Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards. these trophies are the ultimate honors of the award season. the A-Listers in baseball receive these awards based on votes by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni, fans at mlb.com, and the Society for American Baseball Research.

fans can vote as much as they want through November 21 at 11:59 pm EST. all the GIBBY winners will be announced in a TV special on MLB Network and mlb.com on Saturday, December 6 at 9 pm EST.

please vote for Michael in the categories of MLB MVP, top hitter, and breakout hitter. there are 9 other players up against Michael in each of these categories, so he'll need our help to win. this is the easiest thing to vote for, you don't even need to sign up for anything and there are no limitations. just keep clicking "vote" as much as you want. VOTE FOR MICHAEL HERE.

congratulations on the 3 noms and good luck, Michael! =D

And The Winner of the 2014 AL Hank Aaron Award Is...

...not Michael Brantley =(

today was finally the day that the 2014 Hank Aaron Award winners were revealed. unfortunately, Michael, the Cleveland Indians' nominee this year, did not win. on October 25, Los Angeles Angel's Mike Trout was named the winner of the American League Hank Aaron Award. (Miami Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton was named the National League Award winner as well.) Trout was supposed to be presented with the award by Hank Aaron himself before Game 4 of the World Series between the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. however, for reasons i don't know, Trout was not there.

the Hank Aaron Award is given to the top offensive player in each league every year. Trout, with his .287 batting average, 173 hits, 39 doubles, 9 triples, 36 home runs, 111 RBI, 115 runs, 83 walks, 184 strikeouts, and .939 OPS, is the best hitter in the American League this year according to fans and a panel of Hall of Famers.

this is sad news for the Brantley fans and voters. but i want to thank everyone who voted for Michael through my blog and everyone who shared my blog to spread the word. you guys are awesome! the Brantley support is real. go team Brant! =D

Brantley Finishes 2nd For Baseball Bloggers Alliance's 2014 AL Stan Musial Award

this must be baseball award week because it was announced today, on October 24, that Michael finished 2nd for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance's 2014 American League Stan Musial Award! congratulations on another new career first!

okay this is one award that i was completely unfamiliar with, so i did my due diligence in research to provide my readers with a little background. the Stan Musial Award is voted on by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, which is constructed similarly to the Baseball Writers' Association of America, and goes to the best overall player of the season. BBA is made up of baseball bloggers for most of the 30 MLB teams and general baseball fan writers. it was formed in the fall of 2009 and currently contains 215 blogs.

when several blogs cover the same major league team, those blogs are grouped into "chapters," and only 2 votes from one chapter are counted towards the results. the general fan writing is also grouped into chapters and they have 2 votes each as well, however they don't have to vote for both leagues. so how exactly do these chapters get to vote then, you ask? by one of two ways--either each chapter has a representative who gets the ballots for voting, or a group ballot is posted.

the BBA voting results generally come out before MLB's official awards. but over the past 5 years, the BBA winners have been mostly the same as those from the BBWAA's results.

here are the complete results, totaling 870 points, for the 2014 American League Stan Musial Award:

Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels - 195*
Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians - 105
Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays - 74
Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians - 67
Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers - 66
Josh Donaldson, Oakland Athletics - 65
Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox - 51
Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners - 47
Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals - 45
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros - 44
Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners - 35
Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers - 29
Ian Kinsler, Detroit Tigers - 12
Nelson Cruz, Baltimore Orioles - 9
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers - 8
Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles - 7
David Price, Tampa Bay Rays/Detroit Tigers - 4
Phil Hughes, Minnesota Twins - 3
Brian Dozier, Minnesota Twins - 2
Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox/Oakland Athletics - 2

*Trout received all 15 first place votes
(a quick calculation shows that a 1st place vote equals 13 points for this award)


for the 3rd year in a row, Mike Trout won the AL Stan Musial Award. he basically won in a landslide, too, despite 2014 being his worst season in the majors. Trout's bWAR of 7.9 clearly weighed heavily in the decision, not to mention this being the first year that the Angels made the playoffs since he's been on the team.

my boy Michael placed 2nd with 105 points. he was the only other player on this list besides Trout to get over 100 points. good job, Michael! i like these results WAY better than Sporting News' by the way lol ;D

also, congrats to Corey Kluber, the other member of the Indians on the list, who finished 4th with a respectable 67 points.

what list of voting results will Michael appear on next? keep checking back, as i'll continue to blog all the awards i read about.

Brantley Named Finalist For Rawlings' 2014 AL LF Gold Glove Award

finally, this is the career first i've been waiting for! today, on October 23, Rawlings Sports named Michael Brantley as one of three finalists for the 2014 American League Gold Glove Award for left fielders. he's up against Kansas City's Alex Gordon and Boston's Yoenis Cespedes. Michael's teammate, Yan Gomes, was also a finalist for this year's AL catcher's award. no Indian has won a Gold Glove since 2008, when Grady Sizemore won the AL CF Gold Glove.

June 4 vs. Boston Red Sox

September 7 vs. Chicago White Sox

September 8 @ Houston Astros (photos courtesy of The Plain Dealer)

the Gold Glove is given to players annually based on their fielding performances. managers and coaches of each league are the voters for this award. however, managers cannot vote for their own players. after reading more about the Gold Glove, i found an additional factor that weighs into the final decision--sabermetrics, my favorite. the Society for American Baseball Research supplies a sabermetric statistic which counts for 25% of the vote.

this season, Michael played both left and center field. he finished with a career high 12 outfield assists, 2 double plays, 1 error, 271 putouts, and .996 fielding percentage in 1304.1 total innings as an outfielder. his 12 OF assists were tied for 4th most among American League outfielders. Cespedes had the most with 16. additionally, Michael played a franchise record 247 consecutive games in the outfield without an error, a streak that ended on April 2, 2014. that error occurred while Michael was in center field, i might add. so if we spotlight just his left field numbers, he's got 10 outfield assists, 2 double plays, 0 errors, 165 putouts, and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 931.1 innings.

let's also not hide the fact that a player's offensive skills play a part in these awards as well. Michael's .327 batting average was the 3rd highest BA in the major leagues and 1st among major league outfielders when all was said and done. plus, he was the only player in the majors with a minimum of 40 doubles, 20 home runs, 90 RBI, 90 runs, 20 stolen bases, and a .300 BA.

how about we compare some numbers of all 3 finalists:
Brantley: .327 BA/200 H/20 HR/97 RBI/45 2B/94 R/23 SB/52 BB/56 SO in 156 games
Gordon: .266 BA/150 H/19 HR/74 RBI/34 2B/87 R/12 SB/65 BB/126 SO in 156 games
Cespedes: .260 BA/156 H/22 HR/100 RBI/36 2B/89 R/7 SB/35 BB/128 SO in 152 games

now here are the finalists' fielding #s in LEFT FIELD only:
Brantley: 10 assists/0 errors/2 double plays/1.000 fielding % in 931.1 innings and 107 games
Gordon: 8 assists/2 errors/0 double plays/.994 fielding % in 1372.2 innings and 156 games
Cespedes: 16 assists/5 errors/0 double plays/.979 fielding % in 1090.2 innings and 125 games

going off those numbers alone, Michael should win this in a landslide. sadly, with the way the Gold Glove is awarded to outfielders now, those 373 innings that Michael played in center this season probably take him out of the running. (which makes it mind-boggling that Michael wasn't a finalist last year when he not only played all but 4 innings in left field, but also had 11 assists, 1 double play, and 0 errors all season.) and who's to blame for that? Michael Bourn. this guy has been screwing Michael over ever since we got him. Michael's way too much of a nice guy and a professional (as he should be) to say anything bad about Bourn. and that's where i come in. i'm neither of those things so i'm going to attack his ass.

i have been anti-Bourn from the minute that signing was announced in February 2013. i knew it would push Michael into left field and take him out of his preferred place in center and of course i wasn't going to support that. Bourn has been a terrible leadoff man, and he's done absolutely nothing to make my rants and complaints about him look bad. instead i look like a Nostradamus. eff that guy. he's a contract nightmare and too injury prone for my taste. all those steals he was supposed to get disappeared once he started having all these new hamstring problems. ultimately his inability to stay healthy and play center will be a huge reason why Michael does not win this award. grrr.

then there are the sabermetrics out there that some fans think are the freakin' bible of baseball. i debated whether or not to include the UZR/150 (the number of plays made in a player's defensive zone per 150 games) in my blog because i once read that that fangraphs stat should be avoided whenever possible because it is very misleading. yet, i fear it will be a determinant of this year's Gold Glove winner, in which case Michael is f*cked. of 7 qualifying American League left fielders, Michael is last with a -10.1 rating. Gordon ranks first with a 22.6 rating and Cespedes is second with 14. i'm puzzled about how Michael's zone rating could be so bad because he's not a bad defender. is it his fault if hitters hit a lot of bloop singles into shallow left field that he just can't get to and/or opts to play off the bounce? that doesn't mean he's a defensive liability. sigh.

to know that these advanced stats continue to label Michael as a horrible outfielder regardless of what position he plays...i just can't with this again. there is no better OF on our team and he's now one of the best in baseball. anyone who still believes otherwise needs to watch Michael play every inning of every game in a season instead of basing their opinions solely on looking at specific numbers that don't even come close to telling his whole story. remember, if Michael wasn't in Cleveland, then the threat of Ryan Raburn spiking more balls in the left field corner would become a very real possibility. (i've never seen Corey Kluber display that kind of pissed off emotion in a game before, btw. but Michael's not good? smh)

another strong argument against Michael for the Gold Glove is the fact that Alex Gordon is the reigning champ (3 years running) and he had another great defensive season. plus, he's playing on a team that not only made it to the postseason, but is also currently in the World Series. but i'm gonna go the other way and say because of that, i feel like he shouldn't get the GG this year. Gordon could potentially be a World Series MVP candidate. let him have that and give my boy the Gold Glove lol

so congratulations to Michael on being a GG finalist! he's certainly earned it and it is a true honor just to be nominated. but it's not looking like he'll emerge as the winner based on the criteria. honestly, i'll be stunned if he does win. no matter what happens, i am just so happy that Michael is finally getting some much deserved Gold Glove consideration. no, that's not true. you know i'm gonna bitch if he doesn't win this lol

the winner of this award, and all other 2014 Gold Glove Awards, will be announced on Tuesday, November 4, at 7 pm EST on ESPN2. i will post a follow up blog to this after i find out who won. good luck, Michael!