Major League Baseball will announce the 2011 American League MVP Award Nov. 21. Here are five candidates to watch based upon their regular season performances.

Jacoby Ellsbury(notes)

Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox had a .321 batting average to go along with 39 stolen bases and 32 home runs. Ellsbury was one of four Red Sox players with an average above .300 in their vaunted lineup. The outfielder has spent all five years of his career in Boston and had a career high with 105 RBIs in 2011.

Curtis Granderson(notes)

Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees led the American League with 119 RBIs on 41 home runs. He also had a great all-around performance with 25 stolen bases. The center fielder had his most productive Major League season in his eight-year career in 2011 despite having just a .262 average. Granderson had 11 more home runs than his previous best seasonal mark and over 30 RBIs more than his 2007 season with the Detroit Tigers.

Adrian Beltre(notes)

Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers had one of his best seasons ever. He only played in 124 games but his stats belie a meteoric season had he played in all 162. Beltre had 105 RBIs, 32 home runs and a .296 batting average. What is most amazing is that he had only 53 strikeouts to go along with 25 walks.

Adrian Gonzalez(notes)

Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox had a .338 batting average in 2011 along with 117 RBI and 27 home runs. Although he didn’t lead the league in any of these three categories, Gonzalez was the best hitter on a team full of them. Three of his mates were on his trail batting above .300 with over 20 home runs.

Jose Bautista(notes)

No one dominated the American League’s batting categories more than Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. All of his stats were above and beyond for one person despite playing on a team that finished with a .500 record. Bautista had 43 home runs to lead the AL. He had 103 RBIs, good enough for 10th place. His most amazing stat was that he did all of this despite league-leading 132 walks and 111 strikeouts. Bautista finished with a .302 average but led the American League with an on base percentage of 1.056. This past season was Bautista’s best overall.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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September 3, 2011

Red Sox bats silent, Miller wild in loss

The Salem News

Sat Sep 03, 2011, 05:53 AM EDT

April 01, 2011 2:00 AM

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Boston Red Sox missed the playoffs last season, but are widely considered the AL East favorite after adding Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, two of baseball’s most productive players.

There are some predictions of 100 wins, but like Texas, the Red Sox are focused on trying to get the first one this afternoon against the Rangers and building from there.

“I don’t put numbers out there,” Kevin Youkilis said. “I just go out and just play the game and all the numbers and all the wins will play themselves out after 162 games.”

With the addition of Gonzalez at first base, Youkilis switched back to third base for the Red Sox, filling a vacancy created when Adrian Beltre turned down a $10 million option to stay and instead signed an $80 million, five-year deal with Texas that includes the likelihood of another $16 million in 2016.

Beltre, a two-time Gold Glove winner, hit .321 with a league-best 49 doubles, 28 home runs and 102 RBIs in his only season with the Red Sox. He was an All-Star for the first time in his 13-season career, and faces his old team in his Rangers debut.

“It’s kind of a little weird, but it’s just another game,” Beltre said. “Hopefully get the first couple of games out of the way and start the long journey.”

C.J. Wilson, who won a Rangers-high 15 games last season after moving from the bullpen to the rotation, starts the opener against Jon Lester in a matchup of left-handers.

Wilson was 3-0 with an 0.86 ERA in his three starts against Boston last year.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona made a couple of tweaks to his expected regular lineup against Wilson.

Though J.D. Drew is expected to be the everyday right fielder, Mike Cameron will start in right today and hit seventh. Youkilis will bat fourth with Gonzalez fifth, though Francona plans for it to be Gonzalez then Youkilis against right-handers.

By Rob Neyer – National Baseball Editor

Read More: Victor Martinez (DH – DET), Adrian Beltre (3B – TEX), Boston Red Sox

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Mar 10, 2011 - There are questions surrounding all 30 MLB teams during Spring Training, and Rob Neyer intends to answer them with his 30-part Question of the Day series. Today, he takes a look at the Boston Red Sox.

Quick, how many games did the Boston Red Sox win last year?

If you said 89, you get a gold star sprinkled in fairy dust. Because considering the perennial expectations surrounding the Red Sox and how many things went wrong for them in 2010, it’s not easy to remember that they finished with the fifth-best record in the American League.

It should be said that some things did go well for the Red Sox last season. Adrian Beltre played out of his mind. Victor Martinez played in 154 games and hit like Victor Martinez. Despite his early-season funk, David Ortiz finished with highly respectable numbers.

And it’s Beltre and Martinez that might give people the wrong impression about this team. If the Red Sox play well this season, newcomers Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez will probably get much (or most) of the credit. Which will be fair … but only to a point. The difference between last year’s Red Sox and this year’s Red Sox will not be Crawford and Gonzalez, who will (at best) merely replace Beltre’s and Martinez’s value.

No, the difference between last year’s Red Sox and this year’s Red Sox will — if there is a difference, and a positive difference — be fewer days on the Disabled List. Many fewer, probably.

First let’s consider just the outfield, which a year ago was supposed to be anchored by Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, and the famously injury-prone J.D. Drew.

• After averaging 149 games per season in 2008 and ’9, Ellsbury answered the bell only 18 times in 2010.
• Cameron, another 150-games sort of guy, played in only 48 games.
• Shockingly enough, J.D. Drew was the Red Sox’ healthiest outfielder.
• 27-year-old rookie Daniel Nava hit a home run — a grand slam, no less — in his first MLB plate appearance … and went utterly homerless in his other 187 plate appearances.
• 31-year-old Darnell McDonald, who entered the season with 156 plate appearances in the majors, racked up 363 with the Red Sox.

Bill Hall, Ryan Kalish, Eric Patterson, Jeremy Hermida … All of those guys saw more time in the outfield than they were supposed to, or should have. Essentially, two-thirds of the outfield was an unmitigated disaster … and that was only the half of it. Because something like two-fourths of the infield was disastrous, too.

Actually, when you do the math it wasn’t quite that bad. 

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia played only 75 games. But one of Pedroia’s replacements was Jed Lowrie, who hit even better than Pedroia.

First baseman Kevin Youkilis played only 102 games, but when he played he was brilliant. Unfortunately, his replacements, led by Mike Lowell in his swan song, didn’t fare nearly as well.

According to Baseball Prospectus, the Red Sox lost more than 1,100 days to the DL. Which seems like a lot, especially considering that Ellsbury, Cameron, Youkilis and Pedroia had never before demonstrated any particular penchant for injuring themselves.

Granted, baseball players do get hurt, sometimes even baseball players with no penchant for it. But four generally healthy players in one season? All with catastrophic, season-killing injuries?

More than anything, that’s just really awful luck.

Today’s Question, then, is this … Will the Red Sox luck turn around just some? It doesn’t have to turn all the way around. They don’t need great luck, good luck, or even average luck. They just need, when it comes to injuries to their hitters, luck that isn’t unfathomably execrable.

Their chances at that sort of luck (or better) are really good. Which is why almost every projected standings you’ll see show the Red Sox finishing atop the American League East.

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Jacoby Ellsbury stood in the batting cage, swinging freely from the left side at balls set on a tee and thrown underhanded from 15 feet.

The Red Sox fleet center fielder didn’t wince or wail in pain on a sunny Wednesday morning.

Ellsbury feels good again. He said he’s 100 percent healthy after he broke five ribs last year then endured more heat when his willingness to play hurt was questioned on talk shows.

No wonder, after being limited to 18 games, he has no interest in talking about his turbulent 2010 season.

“I put it in the past,” Ellsbury said of the criticism. “I’m moving forward, excited about 2011.”

Was it unfair to question his toughness when only he knew how he really felt?

“I’m moving on,” Ellsbury repeated, “moving on, 2011.”

Racing on may be more like it.

He set a club record with 70 stolen bases in 2009. Now he’s joined by left fielder Carl Crawford, who swiped 60 bags that year and 47 last year before leaving Tampa Bay for Boston as a free agent.

Ellsbury wouldn’t predict who would steal more bases this year, but, “Who’s faster? I wouldn’t bet against myself,” he said with a smile.

It’s an expression that was rarely seen last year when he may have had more MRIs or CT scans than RBI (five).

He wasn’t thrilled when the Red Sox decided before the season to move him to left field after acquiring Mike Cameron to play center. Then on April 11, Ellsbury broke his ribs in his sixth game when he and third baseman Adrian Beltre collided while chasing a ball in short left field.

Ellsbury’s first comeback ended on May 24 after only three games, again because of fractured ribs. He returned on Aug. 5 and lasted only nine games before re-injuring ribs on the left side in a collision at first base with Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter in Texas.

For the rest of the season, Red Sox fans wondered what was taking him so long to return.

“It was awkward, but it’s all just noise and meaningless,” Boston general manager Theo Epstein said Wednesday. “The bottom line is everyone was trying to find solutions. He was trying to get back on the field, we were trying to get him back on the field, and his injuries were severe enough that that wasn’t possible.”

It is now.

Manager Terry Francona said there are no limitations on what Ellsbury can do in spring training. And Ellsbury said he’ll have no hesitancy if he has to dive for a fly ball or slide headfirst into a base.

“I’ll be able to play with natural aggressiveness, just like I’ve always played,” he said. “I’m not worried at all. It’s not like I’m coming off of major surgery or anything like that. If anything, (the ribs) should be stronger than they were. Any time you break something and let it heal, they’ll be stronger.”

Beltre is gone now, allowed to leave as a free agent for Texas.

“He’ll definitely be missed,” Ellsbury said with a diplomatic grin. “He’s a good teammate and I saw him this offseason, but I wish him the best.”

This season, the biggest danger could come from Crawford. With the two speedsters racing for balls hit into left-center field, more collisions are possible.

“There’ll definitely be communication,” Ellsbury said. “It’ll take us some time to get used to.”

With Crawford’s ability to cover more ground than former Boston left fielders Manny Ramirez and Jason Bay, Ellsbury can shade more toward J.D. Drew to protect the deep triangle just on the right field side of straightaway center.

“I think J.D. gets overlooked in right field because of those two (Ellsbury and Crawford),” starting left-hander Jon Lester said. “He’s a pretty good outfielder as well. I don’t imagine there’s going to be a lot of fly balls that find green grass out there.”

Francona would like Ellsbury to lead off. If he gets on base, the pitcher will have to watch him closely rather than focus only on the batter.