The Slanch Report

Ooops! Looks like no one told the Sporting Goods Newswire that the AL Gold Glove winners weren’t being announced until 4pm, because they released the winners early.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

P – MIKE MUSSINA – YANKEES
C – JOE MAUER – TWINS
1ST – CARLOS PENA – RAYS
2ND – DUSTIN PEDROIA – RED SOX
3RD – ADRIAN BELTRE – MARINERS
SS – MICHAEL YOUNG – RANGERS
OF – TORII HUNTER – ANGELS
OF – GRADY SIZEMORE – INDIANS
OF – ICHIRO SUZUKI – MARINERS
No real bones of contention here for me, I’m obviously psyched to see Pedroia win his first of many Gold Gloves and it hopefully won’t be the only hardware he takes home this off-season… The choice of Pena over last year’s winner Youkilis is disappointing but not egregious, especially when considering how many games Youk played at third this year and that Pena can definitely pick it. The only player who stands out to me as somewhat iffy is Michael Young, but looking at the rest of the league there isn’t anyone else that really stands out besides maybe Orlando Cabrera as equally deserving. That Derek Jeter DIDN’T win is a sign that I may start to believe in this award as being almost legit once more. Torii Hunter continues to ride his reputation more than the reality that he isn’t as good as he once was but again not an egregious choice. I’d have preferred to see Carl Crawford win it, or perhaps Nick Markakis but then again, I have no vote so I guess I don’t matter.