Tonight, MLB Network will announce the winners of the 2011 Silver Slugger Awards. The announcements are set to begin at 6pm ET.
If you're like me, you're probably looking forward to tonight's awards twice as much now after the shock of last night's Golden Glove Award announcements revealed that no Yankees would receive Golden Gloves this year. While I would have been absolutely shocked and amazed if Derek Jeter would have been able to get away with another award this year, I was really surprised that Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira didn't win; I'd really like for any baseball fan or analyst to show me any other first or second baseman in the American League that plays the position better than these two. I just don't see it.
But, some Yankees are almost certainly sure to win a Silver Slugger. The most obvious of the Yankees being Curtis Granderson, who is coming off of the greatest offensive performance of his career (thank God Jose Bautista plays in right and not center!). Cano may fare better tonight, as he once again hit over .300, had over 100 RBIs and slugged over .500. Boston's Dustin Pedroia fared slightly better in hits and average, but Cano's slugging and RBI numbers should really put him over the top. Teixeira would have had a great chance after hitting 39 homers with 111 RBIs, but Detroit's Miguel Cabrera blows him and pretty much every other AL first baseman out of the water with a .344 batting average, .586 slugging percentage and 1.033 OPS. Boston's Adrian Gonzalez could have a chance, as his numbers are only slightly lower than Cabrera's and he has 16 more hits.
As for the rest of the Yankees lineup, no chance. It's kind of disappointing though; at the beginning of the season, it would have seemed that Alex Rodriguez would have been on his way to his 11th Silver Slugger Award, perhaps even his 4th MVP Award. But injuries took his bat away. Let's hope that Alex gets himself healthy this offseason, and returns to form next year.
Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper
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