Justin Verlander Named 2011 American League MVP

Justin Verlander added some more hardware to his trophy case on Friday night, picking up a 2011 GIBBY Award for Starter of the Year. In 2011 Verlander had already won the pitching Triple Crown, AL Cy Young, and AL Most Valuable Player Award. Now, he has a GIBBY -- here is the announcement via MLB Network:

Verlander won the award with 58-percent of the votes. Clayton Kershaw came in second with just under 22-percent.

Jose Valverde also won a GIBBY Award for Closer of the Year. The All-Star topped baseball with 49 saves in as many opportunities with a 2.24 Earned Run Average.  Valverde blew away the competition for the award, picking up over 50-percent of the votes while second place, John Axford, only accumulated 13-percent. Craig Kimbrel finished in third with 11-percent of the votes. 

The GIBBYs are awarded each year (for the last 10 years) to the best players at each position based on votes by the fans at MLB.com, media, front-office personnel and MLB alumni.

After being named the American League Most Valuable Player, the first pitcher to win the award since 1992, Justin Verlander made the expected round of interviews that come with winning such a prestigious award. MLB.com actually allowed embedding of the Verlander/MLB Network interview, so we have that for you here: 

Whether or not you agree that pitchers should win MVPs, it doesn't change the fact that Verlander is the 2011 AL MVP. Rookie of the Year. Four-time All-Star. AL Cy Young. AL MVP. Two no-hitters. Verlander has quite the resume, and he's just getting started, but I loved that he is already talking about turning the page and getting ready for the ultimate reward-- a World Series ring. 

I agree with Harold Reynolds -- Verlander deserves time to enjoy this rare, extraordinary accomplishment -- but Detroit fans have to be happy to hear their ace is already thinking about the 2012 season and working hard to bring a World Series title to Detroit.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander has won the 2011 American League MVP Award, as announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. News of this award for Verlander comes less than a week after it was announced that Verlander won the 2011 AL Cy Young Award.

Verlander has made a lot of history by being named the AL MVP. He is the first starting pitcher to win the award since Roger Clemens won it back in 1986. (The last pitcher in general to win the award was reliever Dennis Eckersley in 1992.) He is also the first Tigers player to be named the MVP since Willie Hernandez won the award in 1984.

What's shocking about the voting for the AL MVP is how big the margin was between Verlander and Jacoby Ellsbury, who came in second. Verlander had 280 total points, whereas Ellsbury only had 242. Verlander received 13 first-place votes, eight more than the amount of first-place votes Jose Bautista received. Here's a look at the top five (first-place votes are in parentheses):

1. Justin Verlander - 280 points (13)

2. Jacoby Ellsbury - 242 points (4)

3. Jose Bautista - 231 points (5)

4. Curtis Granderson - 215 points (3)

5. Miguel Cabrera - 193 points (2)

To recap, the Tigers had Verlander win the AL Cy Young and the AL MVP, and they also had Jose Valverde finish in the top five for the Cy Young and Cabrera finish in the top five for the MVP. That goes along with an AL Central championship and an ALDS victory over the Yankees. 2011 was quite the year for the Tigers.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America have been announcing their awards, and early Wednesday, they announced the respective managers of the year. Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays was named the AL Manager of the Year and took home 26 of 28 first-place votes, now holding two of the top three spots in voting for the award. 

One of the two remaining first-place votes went to Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who finished second in the Manager of the Year voting. Leyland, on the last year of his contract, led the Tigers to a 95-67 record, behind only the New York Yankees for the best record in the American League. It was a rough start to the season, but they eventually pulled ahead of the Indians and White Sox to take the Central Division title for the first time in just under a quarter-century.

Detroit beat the Yankees in the AL Division Series, but stalled out in the Championship Series, falling to the Rangers in game six. Washington finished third in the voting, and received the other first place vote, while Indians manager Manny Acta rounded out the top four, with three second-place votes.

Justin Verlander, as expected, is keeping his post-2011 award-winning spree going at an impressive clip. After being considered a lock to win the AL Cy Young Award since the season came to an end, the choice has been confirmed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, according to ESPN's Jim Bowden on Twitter.

Jered Weaver, James Shields, and CC Sabathia rounded out the top four.

He becomes the third player in Detroit Tigers history to win the award, joining Denny McLain and Guillermo Henandez for the honor.  McLain won the award after a huge 31-victory season in 1968 (the Tigers won the World Series) and Hernandez notched the award in 1984 after dominating in most of the 80 games he pitched in during that World Series season. Both of those pitchers also earned the AL MVP award that season, something that Verlander definitely has a chance at.

Verlander led the league in wins (24), ERA (2.40) and strikeouts (250). His 24-5 record lead Detroit to its first division title in close to a quarter of a century. Verlander pitched 241 innings in 34 starts, and had a no-hitter on the season. Twice he reached the eighth inning in hitless bids on the year, as well.

The Cy Young Award will join a long list of awards for Verlander this season. He became the 12 pitcher in the last 50 years to win the Triple Crown, becoming the first Tiger to do it since Hal Newhouser in 1945, and the first AL pitcher to do it since Johan Santana in 2006. He was named to Sporting News' All-Star Team, was named the Sporting News Player of the Year and was tabbed as the MLB Players Choice Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, all of this on top of being the cover athlete for 2K Sports' MLB 2K12.

Now he's got the AL Cy Young to add to the shelf.

Justin Verlander is going to have a busy offseason -- so busy, he should probably hire somebody to build the extra trophy shelves he's going to need.

After already winning the AL Triple Crown and being named to the Sporting News' All-Star Team, Sporting News' Player of the Year, and cover athlete for the next MLB2K game, Justin Verlander just received the honor of being tabbed as the MLB Players Choice Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year. 

Verlander had this to say about winning the Player of the Year award [via Freep]: 

"With all the talk about should a pitcher be able to win an MVP or a top-player award, I think it shows a lot of support from my fellow players for them to vote me that," Verlander said. "When it comes from guys you’re playing with and battling against, that adds something extra special to it."

Verlander edged out former teammate Curtis Granderson and Boston's first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in the Player of the Year voting. Verlander is just the second pitcher to be named the Players Choice Player of the Year, the last being Pedro Martinez in 1999.

The Detroit Tigers had some pretty decent bats in their lineup this season to complement Justin Verlander's pitching prowess. The 2011 Silver Slugger awards, handed out on Wednesday night, didn't exactly reflect that however as only Alex Avila earned the distinction as the best offensive player at his position.

Avila's season at the plate included a .295 batting average while knocking out 19 home runs and driving home an additional 82 RBIs along with being named to the AL All-Star team.

"It's a great honor," Avila told Chris Iott via text message Wednesday evening. "To be considered one of the best at your position is a tremendous accomplishment, and I'm very proud of that."

While Avila had a solid season both at and behind the plate, it was almost more surprising that Miguel Cabrera was beat out for the award by Adrian Gonzalez. A release on MLB.com says that the award is voted on by coaches and managers from both leagues, and voters are prohibited from rewarding players on their own team.

David Ortiz and Atlanta's Brian McCann each picked up their fifth such honor.

The 2011 Gold Glove winners were announced on Tuesday night. The Detroit Tigers had both catcher Alex Avila and center fielder Austin Jackson up for an award at their position, but neither player won a Gold Glove. The Orioles' Matt Wieters took home the Gold Glove at catcher and the Red Sox' Jacoby Ellsbury won the award for center field.

It's probably only a matter of time until Jackson and Avila bring home a Gold Glove, but it is a bit disappointing that neither won the award after an outstanding 2011 season.

Here's the full list of the 2011 Gold Glove winners:

American League

P - Mark Buehrle (White Sox)
C - Matt Wieters (Orioles)
1B - Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox)
2B - Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox)
SS Erick Aybar (Angels)
3B Adrian Beltre (Rangers)
LF Alex Gordon (Royals)
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox)
RF - Nick Markakis (Orioles)

National League

P - Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers)
C - Yadier Molina (Cardinals)
1B - Joey Votto (Reds)
2B - Brandon Phillips (Reds)
SS - Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies)
3B - Placido Polanco (Phillies)
LF - Gerardo Parra (Diamondbacks)
CF - Matt Kemp (Dodgers)
RF - Andre Ethier (Dodgers)

The Gold Glove Award finalists were released Monday afternoon with two Detroit Tigers showing up on the list. Austin Jackson and Alex Avila, who was recently named the American League's best catcher by Sporting News, will find out their fates at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night in an award special being broadcast on ESPN.

Avila is joined by Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters and A.J. Pierzynski of the Chicago White Sox, meaning last year's Gold Glove winner -- Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins -- will not be repeating 2011. Jackson is joined by Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and Peter Bourjos of the Los Angeles Angels.

As SB Nation's Rob Neyer notes, the center fielder position is loaded.

You can't go wrong with any of these guys; as we knew coming in, Rawlings' decision to switch to one award for each outfield position is going to leave some outstanding center fielders out in the cold.

One player that isn't listed that probably should have been is Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Kurt Mensching from Bless You Boys makes the case:

The surprise to me was Jhonny Peralta being left out. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been left out. When I think of defensive wizards at short stop Peralta is not on my top three list. But generally speaking, we think of the Gold Gloves as going to guys who have high fielding percentages who hit the ball well. Peralta fulfills both of those requirements. Heck, he actually ranks pretty high by UZR/150. So... you know what ... maybe Peralta should be in the final three after all!

Tune in to ESPN Tuesday night to find out the final results.

The awards keep coming in for Detroit Tigers pitching ace Justin Verlander. After being named to Sporting News' AL All-Star Team on Thursday, he's received another award from them, and it's a doozie: Player of the Year. Verlander was voted as the first pitcher to win the award since Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers in 1988 by 289 major league players (177 players from the AL, 112 from the NL).

Sporting News says it best themselves:

In the second consecutive installment of the "Year of the Pitcher," Verlander stood out among even his most dominant peers. "He's had one of the best seasons for a pitcher. Ever," New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia said.    

Verlander's season included league-leading stats in wins (24), strikeouts (250), opponents' batting average (.192) and WHIP (0.92). He also led the American League in ERA with 2.40 and had a no-hitter on the season, as well. His season was just monster, in almost every way. It would have been nice if his postseason was just as strong, but now that it's all said-and-done, it's time to honor him for what he was able to do.

Verlander received 67 votes, and was followed by Curtis Granderson of the Yankees with 57, Matt Kemp of the Dodgers with 41, Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays with 25, and Ryan Braun of the Brewers with 25 as well.

The Detroit Tigers had an ugly exit in the MLB postseason, but the team is still being recognized for its accomplishments during the regular season. On Thursday, starting pitcher Justin Verlander and catcher Alex Avila were both named to Spring News' annual Al All-Star Team.

Verlander finished the season with a 24-5 record, earning Triple Crown honors a he finished tops in the AL with a 2.40 Earned Run Average and struck out 250 batters, also good for the best in the American League. According to the Sporting News website, 26 American League executives voted for the AL team with Verlander being the only unanimous choice.

Avila was one of the better defensive catchers in the American League this season, amassing the most putouts at home plate putting together a .389 On Base Percentage at the plate. It's quite the honor for him to earn top catcher honors in just his third season of MLB play.

Oh, and in other news, Curtis Granderson also made the team.

The best hitter and pitcher in baseball reside in the Motor City.

A day after Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander secured the AL pitching Triple Crown, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera secured the AL batting title. Cabrera edged out Boston's Adrian Gonzalez and Texas' Michael Young, and unlike Jose Reyes, the NL's batting champion, Cabrera played a full nine innings on Wednesday en route to winning the AL batting title.

Here are the final batting average numbers for the 2011 season:

1. Miguel Cabrera - .344

t-2. Adrian Gonzalez - .338

t-2. Michael Young - .338

4. Victor Martinez - .330

5. Jacoby Ellsbury - .321

Considering how many question marks were surrounding Cabrera following his DUI in February, it's remarkable that he had such an outstanding season. It's also remarkable that he managed to fly under the radar for most of the season despite putting up such great numbers. Only recently has he started to be mentioned as a possible MVP candidate, for example.

Cabrera isn't flying under the radar anymore now that he has secured his first career batting title and is leading the Tigers into the playoffs. He has returned to the spotlight, and unlike before the season, the attention he is garnering is because of what he is doing on the field. That's exactly how it should be, and Cabrera deserves kudos for how he has handled himself -- on and off the field -- ever since that ugly incident back in February.