My 2010 Angels awards post.

You can bet that there are going to be plenty of changes around Halo Land this offseason, and I'm sure that I'm going to be typing up my fair share of season reviews and offseason/2011 season previews as the weeks and months drag on, and today I'd like to present my first of those such posts. To start reviewing the 2010 season, today I'm bringing you my Angels Awards Post. Let's have some fun!

We'll start with the offense:

1. The Rod Carew Award (best OBP)

Hideki Matsui: Can you believe that of our "regular" starters, Godzilla finished tops in OBP this season? This is the fun thing about the awards post, you find out some things that surprise you. Hideki's .361 mark was +.007 on batting average leader Torii Hunter. Way to go 'Zilla...maybe we should reconsider letting you walk away? Nah.

2. The Tim Salmon Award (most HR)

Mike Napoli: We've been over this and over this, even in yesterday's post. Naps had an up and down season, but led the team in bombs with 26. Are we equipped to deal with it if we trade him in the offseason. Not really. And if the Angels decide we are, they better start Hankie Pankie and let us deal with the growing pains rather than pretending that Mathis can shoulder the load.

3. The Garret Anderson Award (most R)

Bobby Abreu: Speaking of aging OF/DH who are on the bubble, El Comedulce scored more runs than any other Halo, finishing with 88, and also led the team with 87 walks. Amazing that despite leading the teams in walks, Abreu didn't lead the OBP race for the Halos? That speaks volumes for me.

4. The Chili Davis Award (most underrated player)

Howie Kendrick: Now sure, a lot of people will get on me for this because HK-47 is my favorite player, but he's easily the most underrated hitter on this team. How often do people talk about getting rid of him? How many times have you heard, "I thought he was going to win a batting title by now"? Well, how about this: The only batters with a WAR higher than Howie were Torii, Napoli, and Matsui. And, Howie's defensive WAR finished tied for the best among those ahead of him in overall WAR. Very, very underrated this year.

5. The Mo Vaughn Award (best fattie)

Mike Napoli: Two awards! I considered picking Paul McAnulty for this one, but how else can you determine best fattie, if not by HBP. Mike Napoli's large frame was responsible for 11 HBP this season, four more than Aybar and Hunter, neither of whom are fatties.

6. The Paul Schaal Award (worst hitter)

Brandon Wood: This was one of the more exciting awards to pick. Wood v Mathis was the battle, and I just had to go with Woody. He hit .146, struck out in 31% of his at bats, and just looked out of place in the majors. Worst hitting performance we may have ever witnessed. Second worst? Mathis this year (.195 and K'd in 29% of his ABs). 

7. The Chone Figgins Award (fastest guy on the team)

Peter Bourjos: Couldn't pick anyone else, right? Pete's stats project that he would have had 13 triples and 32 stolen bases if we extrapolate his 51 games into a full season, and that would have been +7 on the next best triples guy (by the way, in just 51 games, he tied for the team lead in triples with 4), and +8 on the next best SB guy (Abreu's 24). Just watching Speedy Pete is a joy. He's fast.

Now on to the pitching:

8. The Chuck Finley Award (best pitcher)

Dan Haren: This ought to stir up a little argument, right? To back up my award, Haren's 2.87 ERA in 14 starts as an Angel was the lowest on the team (Weav finished 3.01 in 34 starts). Haren had 1 complete game to Weaver's 0. If you give either of them run support, they'll look much better, but I think Haren deserves some love because of how Weaver is kind of a douche.

9. The Kirk McCaskill Award (most underrated pitcher)

Mike Kohn-Jordan Walden-Rich Thompson: Talk about hard to pick! In a year where Angel fans lamented about the horrible bullpen, these three guys were young studs. How can we not have confidence moving forward with these three guys? Combined, their ERA was 1.94 over 53 games, and they had a combined K/9 of 9.6. Wow. Really, really underrated. 

10. The Kelvim Escobar Award (starter most likely to be relegated to the bullpen)

Scott Kazmir: It was a struggle watching Kazberries pitch all season, and I don't know if he'd be any better doing short work out of the pen. I do know, however, that I cannot struggle through another season of near 6 ERA stuff where he never pitches more than 5.3 innings in a game. He had 99 problems, and they're all earned runs.

11. The Troy Percival Award (the guy with the best closer stuff)

Jordan Walden: Yeah, I know he's just 22, but there was no way I was going to pick Brian "Bye Bye" Fuentes or Fraudnando Rodney for this one. And while he may have only picked up 1 official save this season, Waldo had a team leading K/9 of 13.5 in 2010. Once he develops a little more ice in the veins, he'll be our man.

12. The Mike Witt Award (pitcher most likely to get 20 wins next year)

Jered Weaver: Alright, alright, here's your award. We all know I thought Ervin had a good chance to reach 20 this year, but if your a real Halo fan, you also know that El Rosario doesn't have good back to back seasons. Meanwhile, Weaver showed some amazing stuff this year, and he will have better run support next year to be sure. Thus, he's our potential 20 win man in 2011.

Next, let's reward the defense:

13. The Jim Fergosi Award (best defensive player)

Peter Bourjos: I mean, he led the AL in assists from CF and he was only up for like 50 games. This guy is special, and watching him improve with the leather is going to be a real treat. His range is out of hand, and will only get better. Sorry, Torii.

14. The Jim Fergosi Award (worst defensive player)

Erick Aybar: Yeah, Jim Fergosi has the most fielding assists and the most errors in Halo history, hence the double award. EA Sports led the Angels in errors this year by a wide margin (9 more than second place Mike Napoli). His 21 errors hurt the team, and even looking at his overall fielding percentage .963 doesn't help. Why does Victor Rojas try to just push "elite defensive SS" on us? We know how to look up stats! 

Finally, the extra awards the refused to fit in a category:

15. Worst facial hair:

A tie between Brian Fuentes' mustache and Fernando Rodney's "beard."

16. Worst walk off:

Easily, Kendy's grand slam/leg break.

17. The "sad to see you go" award:

Robb Quinlan getting cut was rough. The extra "B" is for "bye bye."

18. Worst manager:

Mike Scioscia

19. Worst coach:

A tie between the horrible base running decisions of Dino Ebel and the horrible hitting advice of Mickey Hatcher.

20. Best memory of the season:

Jered Weaver's final strikeout of the season, securing him as the 2010 Major League Baseball Strikeout King.

Disagree with any of my award choices? Blast me in the comments sections. And, despite the season being over, stay tuned for the fun posts that this Angels offseason is sure to bring.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē