Detroit, Mich. — The Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes proudly announced Sunday (Oct. 30) Placido Polanco, Jeremy Bonderman and Chris Shelton as its 2005 year-end award winners. Polanco took home top honors as the DIBS Player of the Year. Bonderman was named pitcher of the year with Shelton pegged for his breakout season.

Acquired from Philadelphia in June, Polanco finished the season in fourth-place among American League hitters in batting average. He was an immediate hit when he arrived in Detroit, pounding out 25 hits in his first 18 games in Motown. He finished out the season hitting .338 with 36 driven in.

Despite a slow finish to the season, Bonderman came into his own as the leader of the Tigers staff. An 11-5 clip prior to the All-Star break led many in Detroit to believe the young ace was destined for spot on the American League squad. Following the All-Star snub, Bonderman stumbled to a 14-13 record with a 4.57 ERA. His strike outs-per-nine innings was almost a point-and-a-half better than the second highest Tiger starter’s.

Shelton, a rule 5 pick in 2004, was called up from Toledo on May 31 and proceeded to take over the first baseman duties. Hitting .299 with 18 home runs and 59 RBI, Shelton became a mainstay in the heart of the Detroit line-up. His production only improved with runners on base, slugging .518 with men aboard.

Staff from 11 sites participated including, Tigerblog.net, TigersCentral.com, DetroitTigersWeblog.com, RoaroftheTigers.com, motownsportsrevival.blogspot.com, bleacherguy.com, beyondboxscores.blogspot.com, gregeno.blogspot.com, sportspig.com, blessyouboys.com and detroitfab4.blogspot.com. Votes were tabulated and then ranked based on a points system.

Established in 2005, DIBS (Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes) are a collection of independent websites that cover the Detroit Tigers. Formed by Brian Borawski, Bill Ferris and Ryan Sosin with the idea of uniting a community of fans and writers, DIBS is focused on improving and promoting the quality sports coverage taking place on the internet.

Player of the Year (First Place votes)
1. Placido Polanco (5)
2. Chris Shelton (2)
3. Craig Monroe (3) - My vote!

Pitcher of the Year (FP votes)
1. Jeremy Bonderman (6.5) - My vote!
2. Kyle Farnsworth (3.5)
3. Mike Maroth

Breakout Player (FP votes)
1. Chris Shelton (11) - My vote!
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Fernando Rodney

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 10:33 am and is filed under Leland Comets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.