Congrats to Huff
Aubrey Huff's impressive turnaround this season has culminated in a Silver Slugger Award.
Huff was honored as the American League's top designated hitter after leading the AL with 82 extra-base hits and finishing in the top 10 in total bases (third, 330), doubles (third, 48), slugging percentage (fifth, .552), RBIs (sixth, 108), home runs (ninth, 32) and hits (10th, 182).
Eight different Orioles have won the award. I won't quiz you. They're Huff, Cal Ripken, Miguel Tejada, Eddie Murray, Mickey Tettleton, Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro and Melvin Mora. Ripken won it eight times, Murray twice.
I'm surprised Murray didn't win it more often, considering the numbers he put up.
Here's a statement from Huff: "It's a tremendous honor for me and something I've always wanted to win. Some guys try to win a Gold Glove, but as a DH, this is the ultimate honor for an offensive player, and the fact that it is chosen by opposing coaches and managers means that others noticed the year I had, and probably that David Ortiz had an off year."
Love that sense of humor.
Huff put up the numbers to put the boo's to rest.....although I think it would still be funny to see "horse**** town" on his away jersey. Always love seeing Fruit Loops mentioned. Talk about your all time worst trades. Jeff Robinson? Really?
Now's the time...it's been nice knowing you Aubrey.
This, in my opinion, would be a dream come true for next season:
Roberts 2B
Furcal SS
Markakis RF
Teixeira 1B
Huff DH
Scott LF
Weiters C
Mora 3B
Jones CF
Guthrie
Burnett
Garland
Patton
Albers
That lineup would crush opposing teams. Or at least take pitchers out in the 5th inning. One or the other. If Scott got 600 ABs, that could give the O's 4 guys who hit 25-30 HRs in the middle of the lineup. The pitching wouldn't dominate, but it would be good enough to put the team in a position to win. A healthy bullpen with Sherril, Ray, Johnson, and Baez would do the rest.
Roch - Can you explain something to me. As you pointed out, there have been 8 previous O's who have won this award, which is for the top designated hitter. Yet none of them were designated hitters. Cal, Tejada, Murray, Alomar, etc were certainly not DH's. What's the deal???
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Hey Chris, sorry I didn't explain that better. Players at every position are awarded Silver Sluggers (including 3 outfielders). Cal and Tejada were shortstops, Murray first base, Alomar second, Tettleton catcher, etc. - Roch
I like how Nick Markakis just gets hated on. Grady Sizemore wins a gold glove and silver slugger in the outfield where Nick outperformed him both in the field and at the plate. When were silver sluggers handed out to only the HR hitters? Nick's avg was 40 points higher, and they had nearly the same RBI and runs scored totals, and Nick had more walks.
He deserves it. He had a horses**t season.
Don't laugh but Randy Johnson is available. At this point he's probably not asking too much. If he is asking too much, then leave him alone. On the other hand, could he be worse than what the O's had last season?
Maybe, but.......
Huff should win the award for being a Conan O'Brien look a like.
If Conan ever needs to take a night off when he takes over for Leno, he should call Huff to fill in for night.
So we get Scott Boras on the phone and suggest we might (over)pay for Veritek if he steers Tex our way. Of course Veritek, Tex, and Wieters are all his clients. All are Georgia Tech alum. We'll need to get rid of Hernandez but by grabbing Veritek, the Red Sox captain, it might create a musical chairs for catchers which could actually create a market for Ramon. Oh and what will all those white breads in Red Sox nation do with all those Veritek jerseys you ask... switch to Youkalis of course!
Yeah Tek looked a bit over the hill last year but is there a better mentor for Wieters? The first two years Veritek won't become just a Sunday afternoon catcher I'm sure. Wieters can start off in Norfolk slowing down the service time clock then brought in to share with Tek before it becomes obvious Wieters cant be held back any longer.
Tek's "leadership" abilities will always make him valuable at the trading deadline if necessary.
Roch, the O's seem potentially heavy in the back end of the bullpen with Sherrill, Ray, and Johnson. The Ray's seem heavy with young Shortstops with their current starter, Brignac, and Beckham. What about a need for need trade?
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As long as you don't mind trading within your division, makes perfect sense to me. -
Roch
Huff was first in total bases in September, but he had a little slump for a week. Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton both finished with 331. Huff was out of a tie for first place by one base. He had an incredible year. Thanks Aubrey.
Nice to see Aubrey get some well-deserved recognition...even if he did spend significant time in the field this season, it's nice to see that Ortiz wasn't an automatic choice at DH.
Can someone explain to me how Brady Anderson did not win a Silver Slugger award in 1996?