D.I.B.S Tigers Awards

With Brian Borawski (TigerBlog), Ryan Sosin (Tigers Central), and Bill Ferris (Detroit Tigers Weblog) leading the way, a group of Tigers bloggers have formed the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes (DIBS). The group is currently made up of 11 Bloggers who spend time discussing the Tigers on their respective Blogs. The immediate function of this organization is to focus on improving and promoting the quality sports coverage taking place on the internet as well as give out the year end Detroit Tigers baseball awards. The awards are; Tigers Player of the Year, Tigers Pitcher of the year, and Tigers Breakout Player of the Year.

The members of DIBS include:


TigersBlog
Tigers Central
The Detroit Tigers Weblog
The Cheap Seats
Beyond Boxscores
Out of Bounds
Sports Pig
Bless You Boys
Detroit Sports Squad
Roar of the Tigers

Here are the winners (first place votes in parenthesis):

Tiger Player of the Year:

1). Placido Polanco (5)
2). Chris Shelton (2)
3). Craig Monroe (3)

Tiger Pitcher of the Year:

1). Jeremy Bonderman (6.5)
2). Kyle Farnsworth (3.5)
3). Mike Maroth

Breakout Player of the Year:

1). Chris Shelton (11)
2). Curtis Granderson
3). Fernando Rodney


Here is how I voted with a brief explanation:


I want to emphasize how incredibly difficult it was to decide which players I thought were deserving of the awards. The Tigers were average in every sense of the word at every position on the field and every spot in the lineup. Nobody really stood out which is why you had two players that spent half the season on other teams or injured factor in the voting. It is my hope that the winners of next years awards have significantly better seasons and are considerably more deserving of the honor bestowed upon them by DIBS. However, it’s up to the Tigers to make that happen.


Tiger Player of the Year:

1). Craig Monroe
2). Chris Shelton
3). Placido Polanco


I have to admit that any one of these guys could’ve been given the award considering the circumstances of the Tigers this year. As far as I can see, nobody contributed more offensively and defensively for a longer period of time than Craig Monroe. Monroe played almost twice as many games as Polanco and 50 more games than Shelton. That’s too much to be overlooked. If Monroe had Brandon Inge’s numbers, then it wouldn’t matter how many more games he played. Monroe put up good numbers while playing significantly more than both Shelton and Polanco. His numbers weren’t staggering but he led the team in RBI’s by 17 over the next player. Chris Shelton probably would’ve been my #1 choice if he were with the team from day one in April. The fact of the matter is that he didn’t come up until June. Monroe had already been making everyday contributions for two months before Shelton even arrived. Polanco was an awesome acquisition. The reason I didn’t have him number one (or two for that matter) is because he spent 1/3 of the season on another team and missed 18 games due to injury when he was with the Tigers. While Monroe contributed all season, Polanco’s contributions came during the last two months of the season when the Tigers were drowning in underachievement.

Tiger Pitcher of the Year:

1). Kyle Farnsworth
2). Jeremy Bonderman
3). Fernando Rodney

There is no question in my mind that Farnsworth was by far the best Tiger pitcher this year. There really wasn’t anyone even close. The only problem is that Farnsworth spent the second half of the season on another team! That just shows how terrible the state of Tigers pitching was this year. Readers of this blog know how big of a Bonderman fan I am but he was terribly average this year. He started off strong but really tailed off at the end of the season. Fernando Rodney got my #3 vote by default. There was no way I was going to list Mike Maroth on my list. I would’ve put Wil Ledezma ahead of Maroth if I had to just on principal alone. Roar of the Tigers picked Jamie Walker as the Tiger Pitcher of the Year which is incredibly ridiculous and sadly appropriate at the same time. Walker was certainly better than Maroth and probably better than Bondo. The Tigers just didn’t give us much to work with this year.


Tiger Breakout Player of the Year:

1). Chris Shelton
2). Curtis Granderson
3). Nook Logan


Chris Shelton got all of the first place votes for this category which is no surprise. I didn’t vote for Fernando Rodney simply because I didn’t consider him to be eligible for the category. I took the definition of this award to mean that it went to a player who hadn’t had a chance to play before. Rodney played a good amount in 2002 and 2003. If I would’ve included Rodney, he probably would’ve gone ahead of Granderson. I ranked Logan third by default since there really wasn’t anyone else.