CLEVELAND — Baseball awards season is upon us, and two members of the Guardians are among those being considered for some of the highest honors MLB can bestow upon its members.
Closer Emmanuel Clase on Monday was named one of three finalists for the American League Cy Young Award, given to the man considered the best pitcher in each league. Additionally, manager Stephen Vogt was identified as a finalist for AL Manager of the Year.
Clase delivered perhaps the best season by a reliever in Cleveland history, setting a new franchise record with a league-leading 47 saves to go with a miniscule 0.61 ERA, the second-lowest by any pitcher with at least 70 innings during a season. He also passed Cody Allen to become the club's new all-time saves leader with 157.
Since the Cy Young's establishment in 1956, only eight relievers have taken home the award across both leagues, and none since Éric Gagné did so in the NL for the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2003. Clase is the first reliever since Francisco Rodríguez in 2008 to finish at least in the top three in Cy Young voting.
Five different Cleveland pitchers have combined for six Cy Youngs since 1972, the most recent being Shane Bieber in 2020. Clase is just the second bullpen arm in team history to even receive votes for the honor, joining José Mesa's runner-up effort for the 1995 Indians.
Fellow AL Central hurlers Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals are among the top three with Clase. Skubal won the AL's pitching Triple Crown with 18 victories, a 2.39 ERA, and 228 strikeouts, while Lugo won 16 games and tossed 206 2/3 innings.
As for Clase's skipper, Vogt is attempting to do in his first year what his predecessor Terry Francona did three times in 11 seasons. Replacing a legend in the dugout is hard enough, but the former All-Star catcher was also embarking on his first-ever managerial job, and doing so for a group with relatively low expectations.
Yet almost immediately, Vogt and the Guards silenced the doubters by delivering the team's most successful season in years, winning 92 games to capture the AL Central Division for the fifth time since 2016. The young bunch then bested the Tigers in a thrilling AL Division Series before eventually falling to the pennant-winning New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
Vogt and Francona are the only two Cleveland managers to make the playoffs in their first seasons leading the club. Besides Francona's trifecta of Manager of the Year honors in 2013, '16, and '22, Eric Wedge also took home the award in 2007.
In a virtual mirror image of the Cy Young battle, Vogt is up against Detroit's A.J. Hinch and Kansas City's Matt Quatraro both men led their respective clubs to the postseason, though both finished behind the Guardians. It is worth noting, though, that these awards were voted on before the playoffs began, so the Guards' ALDS triumph over the Tigers will not be taken into account.
The Guardians have already taken home some hardware for 2024, with second baseman Andrés Giménez and left fielder Steven Kwan each winning their third consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. Additionally, José Ramírez is a finalist for the AL Silver Slugger Award at third base, as is Josh Naylor at first base.
The winners of these awards will be announced in the coming weeks.