Photos
One notable name missing was Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, whose streak of Gold Gloves ended at 10. The right fielder, who had won in every one of his big league seasons, had tied the AL record for Gold Gloves by an outfielder shared by Ken Griffey Jr. and Al Kaline.
Kershaw became a first-time winner at pitcher when the awards were announced Tuesday. Ethier earned his first Gold Glove in the outfield and Kemp regained the NL award he also earned in 2009.
Gonzalez earned his first AL Gold Glove to go along with two he won in the NL while with San Diego, Pedroia won at second base for the first time since 2008 and Ellsbury picked up his first Gold Glove. The previous three Red Sox to win in the same year were shortstop Rick Burleson along with outfielders Dwight Evans and Fred Lynn in 1979.
Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle won for the third straight year. Baltimore’s Matt Wieters won at catcher, the Angels’ Erick Aybar at shortstop, Texas’ Adrian Beltre at third, and Kansas City’s Alex Gordon and Baltimore’s Nick Markakis in the outfield.
Beltre won for the third time, after gaining the award in 2007 and 2008.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ Yadier Molina became the first NL catcher to win in four straight years since Charles Johnson from 1995-98.
Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips also won along with Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Philadelphia third baseman Placido Polanco and Arizona outfielder Gerardo Parra. Phillips and Tulowitzki joined Molina as the NL holdovers, with Phillips winning for the third time in four years. Polanco won AL Gold Gloves in 2007 and 2009.
ENCARNACION WILL BE JAYS’ UTILITY PLAYER
The Blue Jays plan to use Edwin Encarnacion all over the diamond next season.
The infielder who mostly was the designated hitter for Toronto last season played 36 games at third base and 25 at first, along with 70 as the designated hitter.
ET CETERA
The Seattle Mariners have hired Chris Gwynn as their new director of player development after current minor league director Pedro Grifol was made the new manager at Single-A High Desert. … Yankees general manager Brian Cashman signed a three-year contract worth about $9 million Tuesday, a day after his previous deal expired. … Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall will undergo surgery for prostate cancer next week. … Jed Hoyer took over as the Chicago Cubs’ general manager Tuesday. … Phil Plantier was hired to be the new hitting coach of the San Diego Padres. … Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, said he offered to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers several months ago but declined to enter negotiations when owner Frank McCourt said the price would be in the range of $1 billion to $1.2 billion. … Curtis Granderson hit a grand slam to lead a team of major league stars to a 7-0 win over Taiwan’s national team in Xinzhuang, Taiwan.
