Cleveland Indians: Previewing the awards to be handed out this week

Before baseball’s major awards are handed out this week, we take a look at the Cleveland Indians’ finalists for each award.

This week the 2017 MLB award season concludes and the Cleveland Indians have three nominees looking to claim some of those titles.

Corey Kluber is a finalist for the Cy Young Award, Jose Ramirez is a finalist for AL MVP, and Terry Francona is up for AL Manager of the Year.

The competition for these awards is stiff with many other strong contenders. While the odds may be against some of the Indians players winning, we take a look at how they earned their spots as finalists.

Jose Ramirez: AL MVP finalist

Jose Ramirez was known throughout the league for his remarkable play this year. He was the only starter voted in the All Star Game for the Tribe.  Jose led all of baseball in doubles hit in 2017, and was third in the AL in slugging percentage.

He was also clutch for the Indians on defense. He was 11 above average in runs saved. He also showed versatility by playing 88 games at third base and 71 games at second base. Jose took advantage of more defensive chances while playing second base by recording 118 putouts.

Unfortunately for Indians fans, the odds are not exactly in Ramirez’s favor to win this award. The other two nominees, Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve, had historic seasons. Judge has already won AL Rookie of the Year and was the Home Run Derby winner, although he did hit a slump after the break which, in turn, opens the door for Ramirez to have a chance.

Jose Altuve is also a strong candidate to win the award and looks to be the favorite. He led all of baseball with his .346 batting average and it wasn’t really close. Ramirez has a chance to win MVP but the odds are stacked against him.

Terry Francona: AL Manager of the Year finalist

Tito is up for his third Manager of the Year Award after another stellar season for his team. On the Starting 9 podcast, host Jared Carrabis even said multiple times the award should be named the Terry Francona Award. This season backed that statement up.

Tito is absolutely a strong candidate given how the Indians fared in 2017. He was the conductor of the AL record 22-game winning streak for the Tribe. He also artfully managed the starting rotation during the regular season.

When Corey Kluber suffered his injury, Tito brought in Mike Clevinger, who became a stud in the Indians rotation.  He also kept the Indians infield at the top of their game throughout the season. When Jason Kipnis went down, he put Giovanny Urshela at third base and moved Ramirez to second.

Tito also shuffled the Indians lineup to keep their hitting sharp. Moving Francisco Lindor to leadoff and keeping the core of Ramirez, Encarnacion, Bruce, and Santana hitting in the middle of the order kept the offense hot down the stretch. The Indians never hit any major slumps thanks to Tito keeping the team loose all year.

His competition will also be tough. Paul Molitor took the Twins from a 100+ loss team to a Wild Card team in one year. The Twins gave the Indians headaches all season thanks to Molitor’s management. A.J. Hinch is also a finalist with his Astros staying at the top of the AL for most of the season and eventually taking his team to a win the World Series.

I personally think Molitor will win the award due to the Twins’ huge turnaround this year. But Francona had the Indians as the hottest team in baseball going into the playoffs. Thanks to that, he may be locked in for his second consecutive Manager of the Year Award.

Corey Kluber: AL Cy Young Award finalist

Corey Kluber may be a lock for his second career Cy Young Award. Kluber was arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball when he returned from the DL. He was one of the two Indians pitchers with 18 wins this year. Players were hitting .193 against him and he led all of baseball with a 2.25 ERA. His WHIP was also an incredible 0.87.

While Kluber was at the top of nearly every major pitching stat, the stats don’t tell the full story. Kluber went on the DL in May after some early struggles.

When the ace returned, he dominated every team he saw. Indians fans were glowing with confidence when Kluber was scheduled to take the mound. Fans packed the stadium to see him pitch and he delivered all season. Throughout this year, he struck out 11.71 players per nine innings, pitched five complete games and had three shutouts.

His biggest competition is Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale. Sale led all of baseball in strikeouts and was dominant from day one. His only real struggles came against Cleveland. The Indians got to Sale twice, scoring seven runs in both games against him. Those two starts may be enough to cost him the award.

Next: Top 10 wins from 2017

Kluber’s dominance is unquestionable. With Sale’s play dipping toward the end of the season, the Indians ace looks set to win his second Cy Young Award.