The Marlins are Idiots

Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, but word came down not too long ago that the Florida Marlins have agreed to trade Dan Uggla to the Atlanta Braves for infielder Omar Infante and and reliever Mike Dunn.  I think the Braves got the better end of this deal.  Infante had a nice season, but he's no Uggla.  And, Dunn? Well, honestly, I have no idea who he is in the first place.

So, why are the Marlins idiots?  You don't trade one of your best players to a team in the division... you know, one of the first teams that you have to beat over the course of the season.  Okay... maybe it worked out for the Philadelphia Eagles, who traded Donovan McNabb to the Redskins... but the Redskins didn't just make the playoffs like the Braves did.

But perhaps the greatest part in all of this is Mark Bowman's tweet on the situation.

@mlbbowmanMark Bowman

#Braves appear to very close to nearing deal for Dan Uggla.

35 minutes ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply

That's right, the Braves were indeed "very close to nearing a deal."  This guy's a writer?  Geez!

ROYs Announced

The National League and American League Rookie of the Year Award was handed out today to the top first year players in each league.  Can't really say that there were a lot of surprises here.

Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants won in the NL after being called up in May and putting up slugging and on-base numbers that were only bested by some scrubs named Pujols, Votto, Carlos & Adrian Gonazalez.  Personally, I was pulling for St. Louis pitcher Jaime Garcia, but after he was pretty well shut down at the end of the season I knew that he didn't have a chance.  Garcia ended up 3rd in the voting trailing Posey and runner-up Jayson Heyward of the Atlanta Braves.

In the American League, Rangers' closer Neftali Feliz took 20 of 28 first place votes to walk away with the award.  Feliz had 40 saves in his debut season for the American League champion Rangers, a team record. Also, in related news, Feliz won the Major League Award for coolest name, beating out players such as: Jo-Jo Reyes, Marc Rzepczynski, Nelson Figueroa, Esmerling Vasquez and Wilfredo Ledezma.

Silver Slugs

Quite possibly the coolest creepy-looking thing I've ever seen: a dragon slug

As the awards season presses onward to its inevitable conclusion, the Silver Slugger Awards were handed out to the top offensive player at each position.  Here are your winners:

American League
C: Joe Mauer (well played... again...)
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Robinson Cano
3B: Adrian Beltre (wait a tick, is it 2004 again?)
SS: Alexei Ramirez
OF: Jose Bautista (raise your hand if you had Bautista as the MLB HR leader. Anybody?  Anybody?)
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Josh Hamilton
DH: Vladimir Guerrero (yeah, that totally makes up for those errors in San Fran)

National League
C: Brian McCann
1B: Albert Pujols (plus the Gold Glove & somehow Votto is favored for MVP)
2B: Dan Uggla (soon to be a former Marlins player from the looks of things)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (So, a mullet's just a bunch of hair?)
OF: Ryan Braun
OF: Carlos Gonzalez
OF: Matt Holliday (so much for people ragging on his inability to hit in the clutch)
DH: Yovani Gallardo (he's a pitcher... why is he listed as DH?)

Can I Paint His Glove Gooooooolllldd?

Much to the delight of a certain villain from Austin Powers, the Gold Gloves were awarded to (allegedly) the best defensive players at each position.  Here are your winners:

American League
C: Joe Mauer (well played indeed)
1B: Mark Teixeira (Remember, I before E except in Teixeira)
2B: Robinson Cano
3B: Evan Longoria (no, Evan, that's not your hat!)
SS: Derek Jeter
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Ichiro Suzuki (10th consecutive GG)
OF: Franklin Gutierrez
P: Mark Buehrle (who sealed his up in April with this play)

National League
C: Yadier Molina (at least he didn't hit .262 in vain)
1B: Albert Pujols (once again showing why he is the best player in the game)
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Scott Rolen (Remember when he used to play on the Cardinals... that was awesome)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (I thought a mullet was a fish!)
OF: Michael Bourn (Michael Bourn... not Jason Bourne)
OF: Carlos Gonzalez
OF: Shane Victorino (the only guy on the NL list whose team actually won a playoff game)
P: Bronson Arroyo

I have only heard of mild controversy about these choices.  Most don't seem to think that Jeter deserved to win, and I've heard a few rumblings about Zimmerman getting overlooked at NL 3B.  All in all, this is an award that often ends up being based more on reputation instead of the actual defensive numbers.  Of course, you know how I feel about advanced statistics.

Breakfast of Champions

Pablo Sandoval, also known as Kung Fu Panda in some circles, plays for the recently crowned World Champion San Francisco Giants.  Some have noticed a severe dip in his production from last season to this season (.330 to .268 BA; 25 to 13 HR; 90 to 63 RBI).  I saw this awesome tweet from ESPN's Buster Olney today that might help explain why.

@Buster_ESPNBuster Olney

Pablo Sandoval will go into the spring training on notice. A friend saw him power down this breakfast during WS: Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

I can't even begin to describe how much this makes me laugh.  It sounds as though Timmy's habits may have caught on to some other guys who have succumbed to the munchies throughout the season.  No word yet on Sandoval's reaction to the destruction of Proposition 19.

Passing of a Legend

In case you haven't already heard, Sparky Anderson the first manager to lead teams from both leagues to victories in the World Series passed away earlier this week.  Anderson managed the Red and Tigers to World Championships.  Incidentally, only one other manager has led teams in both leagues to a World Series Championship - Tony LaRussa, who led the Cardinals and the A's to baseball's version of the Promised Land.  Sparky will truly be missed, after all, with a name like Sparky, you know he has to be awesome.

 Stories of Sparky's generosity abound.  Here he is about to share a piece of gum with Cecil Fielder.

 Sparky cared a great deal about his players.  

Some would say he could only be faulted for caring too much.

 This picture is awesome because pipes make a person 35% more awesome.

Here he is letting God know that they'll be seeing each other soon.

Putting a Bow(tie) on 2010

Well, I guess that does it.  So much for the Rangers winning the World Series in their first trip.  The San Francisco Giants are your 2010 World Series Champions.  I don't know if I have it saved, but at some point during the season, I think it was on an MLB Network Radio status update midseason, I said that the Giants are a darkhorse for the World Series because of their pitching.  If they can get into the playoffs - seriously, this is what I said at the time - they have a legitimate shot of winning it all simply because of their pitching staff.  And then they scored 20 runs in the first 2 games.

While small victories are just that... small... I would also like to note that Timmy Lincecum is not going to legally be able to celebrate in his usual way, as Proposition 19 was shot down by California voters by half a million votes.  The reason: stoners weren't sensible enough to actually vote... because they were stoned.

Regardless, I think this officer of the law has the right expression as far as the Giants actually winning the Series is concerned.