Seattle Mariners Nominated For Seven GIBBYs

Every year, near the end of the year, baseball gathers its A-list and hands out the awards known as the GIBBYs (Greatness In Base Ball Yearly). This year, seven Seattle Mariners are up for the award in various categories.

The GIBBYs are categorized into 23 different topics. In the “Star Starting Pitcher” category King Felix Hernandez is in that category, no surprises there. Hernandez finished off perhaps his best season in his 10 year career and is a sure lock for the AL Cy Young award. Hernandez went 15-6 with a 2.16 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, and a career high 248 strikeouts.

Fernando Rodney is the second Mariner up for a GIBBY in the “Star Closer” category. Rodney set a Mariner franchise record with 48 saves, although every time he came into the game he made us have friggin’ heart failure! Either way Rodney was nearly perfect in saves this season, he only blew three out of 51 attempts.

Chris Young is up for the “Star Bounceback Player of the Year” GIBBY. Young has already won The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award, so why not be up for another award in the same category? Young was signed by the Mariners near the end of the 2014 spring training, after being out of baseball for nearly two years Young turned in a stellar season. Young tied a career high with 12 wins, a 3.65 ERA, and the sixth-lowest hits-per-nine-innings (7.8) in the American League.

Dustin Ackely finally had a season this year that showed off his true potential and he made transition to become the Mariners everyday left fielder. Ackley is up for the “Must C Play” award after robbing Travis d’Arnaud of a home run in July. Ackley not only made the nomination for the “Must C Play” award but he made the play of the year for the Mariners as well (well that’s just my opinion).

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The Mariners’ $240 million dollar man Robinson Cano is up for perhaps one of the most unusual GIBBYs. Cano was nominated in the “Must C Oddity” category after he unbuttoned his soon-to-be teammate Kendrys Morales jersey. Cano was probably making fun of Morales on how he constantly wears his jersey unbuttoned, but still its a nomination none the less.

One of the Mariners promotions got nominated for the “Must C Cut4 Topic” award for their “Sriracha Night“. That award is thanks to Mariners head chef Dave Dekker and M’s VP marketing Kevin Martinez.

Finally the Mariners’ bright young third basemen Kyle Seager was nominated for the “Must C Walk Off” award. That award and walk has an interesting story for me. The day before Seager broke out of his season beginning slump and drove in five runs including the walk off three-run home run was the day I stopped shaving and let the beard grow out. That also to me was the day the Mariners hunt for the postseason officially began because after that day the Mariners never looked back.

So many Mariners in seven different categories, but there are two categories that I believe were snubbed of Mariners. The “Manager” and “Executive” awards have plenty of good candidates but why oh why is Lloyd McClendon and Jack Zduriencik not on this list?

McClendon in his first year replacing Eric Wedge managed the Mariners to their first winning season since 2009 and nearly saw the Mariners first postseason appearance since 2001! McClendon was also snubbed out of The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award, that honor went to Mike Scioscia…….gross!

Jack Z on the other hand, well there’s been a lot of skepticism about his choices when it came to signing and trading, but he began the 2014 season off by making the signing of the year in Cano. Then he goes out and trades for Logan Morrison, now yes he had a couple of deals go into the crapper but the trade that saw Austin Jackson come to Seattle really helped the Mariners in the last couple months.

You can go vote for your Mariners and other players for the GIBBY by clicking on any of the player’s links above. You can cast your vote for as many times as you would like. The voting for the Must C awards are having round voting, to determine 10 finalists. The voting for the Must C awards will end on November 7th. The voting for the rest of the awards will end on November 21st so be sure to cast your votes for your Mariners or players that you think deserve the award the most.