Above the Fold - I got DIBS

Id like to have dibs on lots of things, like beer and women. I got dibs on the good Canadian beer, or I got dibs on cute blond in the corner. But life isn't that easy. I have Bud in the fridge, I haven't met a cute blond in ages, and I'm not talking about that sort of dibs.

Today, I'm talking about DIBS, otherwise known as Chris McCosky's worst nightmare, and better known as Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes. In other words, it's the Detroit Tigers bloggers! Membership is quite exclusive, and here's the DIBS members who know the secret handshake, and voted for the awards. (Apologies to Sam, as I totally stole her idea for today's link dump!)

Bless You Boys - Ian's given fresh life to the SBN Tigers weblog, making it a daily must read for Tigers fans, at, sad to say, the sacrifice of that sports blog with the slightly gay name.

The Daily Fungo - Mike and crew also crank out the highly entertaining The Detroit Tigers Podcast. Mike even let me appear on the podcast once, I have no idea what got into them... I have to say that Mike is way smarter than most of us, as he knows enough to live where it's sunny and warm 365/24/7/.

The Detroit Tigers Weblog - The Grandpappy of the Tigers blogs, Bill has been blogging Tigers news daily since the Eisenhower administration.

The Fanhouse - Hey, you absolutely got to have the //ahem// mainstream bloggers involved, it makes DIBS that much more scary to McCosky.

From the Copa - I know things have been quiet there, as Rock & Rye was recently married. I'm sure he has better thing to do //wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more// than those of us who blog in our pajamas.

The Grandy Report - Deaner's blog is about all things Grady Sizemo...Uh, I mean all things Curtis Granderson. I always get those names confused...

The Leelanau Sports Guy - The Sports Pig is not just loyal to the Tigers, but is also the biggest fan of the Traverse City Beach Bums!

Mack Avenue Tigers - Kurt is a legitimate journalist, a troll ex-pat living amongst the Yoopers, and the anti-Chris McCosky. With the Tigers inking Kenny Rogers today, I'm sure he'd also like the Tigers to remember, "IT"S NOT THE 90's!"

Motown Sports Revival - The mortal enemy of Ann Arbor News columnist, and Wolverines mouthpiece, Jim Carty. That makes him aces in my book!

Roar of the Tigers - MVN parter in crime with sister blog Take 75 North, Sam is the Tigers' blogosphere poet laureate, king queen, and court jester of the photoshops, and...OMG...A chick!

Take 75 North - Want to know who's who, and who's that in the Tigers farm system? Just Take 75 North.

Tiger Blog - Want to learn more Tiger history? Read Brian's fascinating 1935 and 1984 Tigers running diaries!

Tiger Tales - The Tigers' blogosphere resident saber. When it comes to crunching numbers, Lee can out Bill James Bill James...

Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grub/Out of Bounds - Eno, the Mitch Albom of the Detroit blogosphere. Not like the annoying, sappy, sentimental, holier than thou sellout Albom of today, but the interesting and funny Albom who disappeared over 10 years ago. Hmmm....

Last and least, yours truly...

The main reason for the existence of DIBS, other than to scare certain fishwrap writers, is to honor Detroit Tigers players in 3 categories.

Tiger Player of the Year, Tiger Pitcher of the Year, and Breakout Player of the Year.

Player and pitcher of the year are pretty self explanatory, and breakout player doesn't necessarily have to a rookie, but a player that made the leap to the next level.

Voting took place last month, and yesterday the winners were announced.

Your Tiger Player of the year was a no-brainer, at least in my mind.

Maggio Ordonez

Placing 2nd was Curtis Granderson, and 3rd was Placido Polanco.

Tiger Pitcher of the Year was also an easy, easy pick.

Justin Verlander

2nd was The Rollercoaster, Todd Jones, and 3rd went to the surprising Bobby Seay.

Last, but not least, your Breakout Player of the Year is...

Curtis Granderson

Placing 2nd was Ryan Raburn, and 3rd was Jair Jurrjens.

In regards to my policy of full voting disclosure, here's my DIBS balloting...

Player of the Year
1. Magglio Ordonez
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Justin Verlander

This was the easiest of all the ballots, as Ordonez had an AL MVP caliber season, and would have won in most any other year, save for the unreal numbers that the New York pretty boy put up in 2007. If Gary Sheffield had stayed healthy, I would have considered him, as he was marvelous from May thru July.

As for the seasons of Granderson and Polanco, they would have won player of the year for most teams in baseball, but Ordonez had just an amazing, career defining, season. Personally, I voted Verlander 3rd, as he carried the starting staff for most of the season, and the most electrifying performance of the year was Verlander's June no-hitter. I just had to give him the love.

Pitcher of the Year
1. Justin Verlander
2, Todd Jones
3, Bobby Seay

As you can see, my ballot matched with the overall voting, as brilliant minds think alike. Picking Verlander in this category was just as easy of a decision as making Ordonez for Tiger Player of the Year. Jones was the only other pitcher really worth mentioning, which says it all in regard to the injuries and ineffectiveness that plagued the Tigers pitching in 2007.

I have to say, coming up with a 3rd pitcher took quite some thought, and I'm still not sure Seay was a deserving pick, but he did have the best overall stats of all the relief pitchers. To be honest, rather than vote for the LOOGY, I could just as easily left #3 blank. I think that sums up the Tigers' season in a nutshell. There was no considering pitchers like Bonderman, The Gambler, Zumaya, Rodney. No usual suspects, thus no division title.

Breakout Player of the Year
1. Curtis Granderson
2. Jair Jurrjens
3. Bobby Seay

This was another very hard category to come up with other deserving candidates, other than Granderson. With Granderson making the leap from good to great, he got my vote.

When Jurrjens was on, which he was for several starts before his shoulder injury, he was the Tigers 2nd best starter in September. Again, that sums up the Tigers unsuccessful bid to defend their AL pennant. He'll be missed. I picked Seay over Raburn, as the LOOGY took the next step as well, from career minor leaguer, a 4A player, to a valuable major league situational reliever.
All things being said, Seay had a very nice season.

To read the press release of the DIBS awards, head over to The Detroit Tigers Weblog or Mack Avenue Tigers for the details.

That's "Above the Fold" for Friday, 11-30-07!