While the Red Sox missed out on the Gold Gloves this year, they did bring home a Silver Slugger thanks to Adrian Beltre, who was named the best offensive third baseman in the American League on Thursday.
Beltre, acquired as a free agent on a one-year deal over the offseason, exploded for the Red Sox, hitting .321/.365/.553 with 28 homers and 102 RBI in 152 games. With perennial contender Alex Rodriguez going through a down year, Beltre's only real competition was Evan Longoria, whose line of .294/.372/.507 puts him firmly in second place.
As usual, the Silver Slugger winners are quite a bit less controversial:
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| C | Joe Mauer |
| 1B | Miguel Cabrera |
| 2B | Robinson Cano |
| SS | Alexei Ramirez |
| 3B | Adrian Beltre |
| OF | Jose Bautista |
| OF | Carl Crawford |
| OF | Josh Hamilton |
| DH | Vladimir Guerrero |
Shin-Soo Choo probably should have beaten out Carl Crawford, but the best argument should really go to David Ortiz against Vlad Guerrero. While Ortiz played fewer games and couldn't match Guerrero's RBI total, their rate stats show that Papi drastically outperformed Texas' slugger.
| Player | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vladimir Guerrero | .300 | .345 | .496 | 29 | 115 |
| David Ortiz | .270 | .370 | .529 | 32 | 102 |
It's not quite a "Jeter" pick, since Guerrero did have a pretty good year with the bat, but it's definitely a snub.