MLB 2006 Silver Slugger Award Winners

The winners of the 2006 Silver Slugger Awards have been announced.

Interestingly, the American League boasts 9 winners from only 5 teams: two each from the Red Sox, Yankees, White Sox, and Twins.

The National League offers a little more rounded lineup, with only two teams boasting multiple winners: the Phillies and Mets each have two. The whole list appears below.

NL	Player	Team	AL	Player	Team
Pitcher	Carlos Zambrano	Chicago Cubs	DH	David Ortiz	Boston Red Sox
Catcher	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	Catcher	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins
First Base	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	First Base	Justin Morneau	Minnesota Twins
Second Base	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	Second Base	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees
Shortstop	Jose Reyes	New York Mets	Shortstop	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees
Third Base	Miguel Cabrera	Florida Marlins	Third Base	Joe Crede	Chicago White Sox
Outfield	Carlos Beltran	New York Mets	Outfield	Jermaine Dye	Chicago White Sox
Outfield	Alfonso Soriano	Washington Nationals	Outfield	Vladimir Guerrero	Los Angeles Angels
Outfield	Matt Holliday	Colorado Rockies	Outfield	Manny Ramirez	Boston Red Sox

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is probably the most glaring omission, as the NL 1B award went to rising slugger Ryan Howard. Might this mean an MVP Award to is to follow for Howard? In my opinion, that's exactly what it means.

The American League's most glaring omission? Gotta be the three DH's: Travis Hafner (who mised a lot of time to injury), Jim Thome (who won the BBWAA Comeback Player of the Year) and Frank Thomas. All three were overshadowed by clutch-hit specialist David Ortiz.

The major awards will begin to be announced on November 20. I'll post results here and compare them to the ArmchairGM Awards which were announced on October 3.

Discuss.

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DNLLegend

1093 days ago

Score 2

Crede is, in a word, awful. Not the player, but the selection. He's not better than ARod, and not better than Glaus, but he gets the award? Ye gods. The NL lineup is good, across the board. While Pujols is an omission, it's hard to say that you take him over Howard or vice versa. If you included defense, well, it's a different story.

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ASwaffAll-American

1093 days ago

Score 0

I have to agree. I think the only thing that won this for Crede was his clutch hits. Crede had some big clutch hits this season, and people were looking for them after last year's World Series. But, A-Rod led AL third basemen in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He was second only to Troy Glaus in homeruns and he had 27 more RBI than Crede even with all his strikeouts.

Someone mentioned Glaus, and the case could have been made because of his power numbers. But, his .255 batting average simply doens't cut it. I'd also say that his .355 OBP doesn't cut it (especially when compared to A-Rod's .397), but Crede just won with a .327, so...I don't know.

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JeevesJV Squad

1093 days ago

Score 1

I think the reason Crede got the award is because everyone made up their minds about the award pre-September. They were much more comparable before A-Rod caught fire down the stretch and before Crede's back turned him into a double play waiting to happen. Season ending totals for Crede were .283/.323/.506 with 31 2B, 30 HR, 94 RBI. A-Rod posted .290/.392/.523 26 2B, 35 HR, 121 RBI. So I agree that A-Rod deserved the award, but if you look at pre-September numbers, I could see where voters would be mis-led, Crede... .300/.333/.543 29 2B, 28 HR, 87 RBI. A-Rod... .279/.379/.495 23 2B, 27 HR, 96 RBI. So at that point of the season Crede looks like the better choice, but as much as I'm glad Crede won, you have to take into account September and the fact that when the Sox needed Crede the most, he was unable to produce due to injury.

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ASwaffAll-American

1093 days ago

Score 0

Good points, Jeeves.

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