Los Angeles Dodgers 2015 Season Awards

October 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez (23) celebrates after scoring a run in the first inning against New York Mets in game five of NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Best infielder: Adrian Gonzalez

Right out of the gate, a really tough decision. It was either the butter-and-eggs man or Justin Turner, who defied all logic for the second straight season and maybe is the real deal and not just a product of a sky high BABIP. Turner put up a better overall slash line (.294/.370/.491) than Gonzalez (.275/.350/.480) and played pretty good defense at third, but he missed a little too much time for him to win this honor over Gonzalez.

Turner missed 36 games, and while that isn’t a huge number it really hurt the Dodgers, who were without a suitable backup at third for most of the season after Juan Uribe was traded. Gonzalez played in 156 of the teams 162 games, with solid offense regardless of lefty-lefty matchups and Gold Glove caliber defense at first.

Overall, both of them easily could have been the best infielder on the team. I gave the edge to Gonzo because, for the last three years, he’s been the most consistent and dependable bat in the Dodgers lineup.

Honorable mention- Turner, first half Yasmani Grandal

Next: Best Outfielder/Comeback Player of the Year

October 9, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier (16) walks to the dugout following introductions before playing against the New York Mets in game one of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Best outfielder/Comeback Player of the Year: Andre Ethier

For a while, Joc looked like the best two-way player on this team. He slowed down hard and struggled to make contact, losing his starting spot. The outfield was in flux and by my count, 11 different players saw time in the Dodger outfield this year.

The one constant (at least against righties) was Ethier, who the Dodgers couldn’t even trade for Miguel Montero in the offseason. He looked to be an afterthought, and then he put together a much more 2011-2012 Ethier-y type of season.

Ethier slashed .294/.366/.486 with 20 doubles (ninth time in 10 seasons he’s done that), 14 homers and overall solid defense. He had more than his fair share of lapses and “Jim Edmonds‘d a few balls (taking awful routes/bad jumps and then making a diving catch to save it), but even the biggest Ethier haters have to be pretty content with what Ethier was able to do this season.

Much of Ethier’s success had to do with Don Mattingly‘s use of him Ethier, for his whole career, has struggled against lefties. His first two years weren’t awful against lefties, but since then he’s been next to useless against lefties. He only faced lefties 48 times this season (nine hits, two walks, 14 strikeouts), and this selective use of Ethier is what helped him put up the numbers he did.

At some point this offseason, I’ll probably write something you all will hate about how the Dodgers should sell high on Ethier, which they should. But for now, Ethier gets two of my awards, as he was easily the most dependable outfielder on the team and the Comeback Player of the Year.

Honorable mention- OF- Enrique Hernandez

Honorable mention- Comeback Player- Brett Anderson, A.J. Ellis

Next: Best Reliever

October 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Kenley Jansen (74) pitches the ninth inning against New York Mets in game five of NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Best Reliever- Kenley Jansen

Obviously. The Dodgers bullpen, again, was the weak part of the team. They showed the ability to dominate at times, but there was too much inconsistency for the most part.

Of course, that previous statement excludes the closer, Jansen. When used right, Jansen was nails this season. He gave up a couple awe-inspiring homers and missed the first month of the season, but for the most part was his same dominant self. In 69 low-leverage at-bats, Jansen gave up four homers and a .254/.319/.460 slashline. But he was dominant in high-leverage and medium-leverage situations and finished the season with his second-highest strikeout/9 rate and had a 10:1 K/BB rate.

It wasn’t really hard to be the best reliever on this team, but Jansen is still one of the best closers in baseball. He can give up all the moonshots in the world to Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, as long as they’re in low-leverage situations.

Honorable mention- J.P. Howell, April-Yimi Garcia, end of the season Chris Hatcher

Next: Cy Young

Oct 13, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) reacts after the seventh inning against the New York Mets in game four of the NLDS at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

Or Zack Greinke. I still don’t know.

Kershaw was brilliant for most of the season, and while his numbers seemed bad for the first nine starts he started looking like Kershaw again and ended up striking out 301 batter this season.

Greinke, while less mindblowingly dominant, was the epitome of consistency this year. His ERA was never above 1.95 after any start and allowed zero or one run in 21 of his 32 starts this year. He led baseball in ERA and had the 75th-lowest ERA in baseball history, according to Baseball Reference which goes back to at least 1876.

Cy Young voters have their work cut out for them, because both of these pitchers and Jake Arrieta should be no-brainers for the award, and only one of them can win it. While Greinke was phenomenal this season, Kershaw came into the season as the best pitcher in baseball and somehow became better, so he gets my vote.

Honorable mention- Greinke

Next: Rookie of the Year

sOct 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson (31) hits a two run home run in the second inning of the game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Rookie of the Year: Joc Pederson

I don’t feel really good about this, but Joc wins my rookie of the year mainly by default. Corey Seager could easily win it, but he only played for a month. He will probably win a few awards next year.

At another website before the season, I pegged Joc for a .230 average, .350 OBP, 20 homers and 19 stolen bases. At the all-star break, he already had 20 homers, but he only hit six the rest of the season and while I was a bit off with his average (.210), his OBP was close (.346) and his stolen bases didn’t translate from his minor league numbers.

Overall, Pederson fell off hard in the second half, but was still spectacular for most of the first half and was still an OBP machine. His defense was great in center and he showed the willingness to work and learn. Joc and his eventual replacement in center, Kiké Hernandez, were really the only two rookie-eligible players that got enough playing time on the Dodgers, and while Kiké was phenomenal, his platoon splits were a bit too drastic.

Honorable Mention- Kiké Hernandez, Corey Seager

Next: MVP

October 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke (21) returns to the dugout after being relieved in the seventh inning against New York Mets in game five of NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

MVP: Zack Greinke

Yeah, I’m going with the Cy Young to one player, MVP to the other cop-out.

Greinke and Kershaw each have a strong case for the Cy Young award, with the main difference being in consistency. While Greinke did it for the whole season, Kershaw “struggled” early on.

While a lot of it was bad luck, Kershaw gave up 28 earned runs in his first nine starts. He gave up 27 earned runs in his next 24, but he did not do what the Dodgers needed him to do in the first portion of the season. Greinke, on the other hand, was consistently stellar all season. He had two outlying starts where he gave up five runs, and every other time Greinke took the hill he registered a quality start. I don’t love the “quality start” stat because a full season of allowing three runs in six innings is a 4.50 ERA (not quality at all), but Greinke’s consistency kept the Dodgers in first during Kershaw’s early season struggles.

Hopefully, the Dodgers saw Greinke’s value this season. He’s expected to opt out of the final three years of his contract and seek a longer deal. It’s always risky doling out a long term contact to a 32-year old pitcher with over 2,000 innings in his arm, but Greinke has never relied on velocity. He’s one of the smarter pitchers in the game and those pitchers tend to age better. My gut tells me Greinke will be back next year, but I also don’t see this front office overpaying an aging pitcher. Hopefully it’ll be a beneficial contract for both sides.

Next: Grading the Dodgers Rotation