Baseball America has named the Indians' Chris Antonetti MLB executive of the year.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Chris Antonetti, the architect of the Indians' 2016 season, has been named Executive of the Year by Baseball America.
The Indians won their first AL Central title since 2007 with a 94-67 record during the regular season. They followed that by winning their first AL pennant since 1997 by beating Boston in the ALDS and Toronto in the ALCS.
They did so with an injured started rotation, but it didn't stop them from reaching Game 7 of the World Series against the Cubs before losing in 10 innings, 8-7. The Indians have not won a World Series since 1948.
The Indians' effort in 2016 has been recognized nationally. Manager Terry Francona was named AL Manager of the Year for the second time in four years. Center fielder Tyler Naquin finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting, while workhorse Corey Kluber finished third in the AL Cy Young voting.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor won a Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove for his defensive play.
Antonetti, 41, just finished his 18th season with the Indians. This is his sixth season running the team's baseball operations -- one as president and five as general manager. The Indians have had winning seasons their last four years. Mark Shapiro, Antonetti's mentor, won the same award in 2005 as the Indians' GM.
Shapiro left last season to take over the Blue Jays. Antonetti was named president of baseball operations after he left.
Antonetti said two things impressed him about the Indians as a team and an organization last season.
"No. 1, the resilience our team showed in overcoming a lot of challenges and continuing to persevere and find a way to win," said Antonetti. "No.2, it was a collective organizational approach where everyone was pulling in the same direction and trying to do their part to help the team.
"The collaboration between the coaching staff, Tito, the front office, the player development staff, our scouting staff and our players embodies the type of organization we want to be."
This past season the Indians overcame injures to starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar in September. They were also without left fielder Michael Brantley and catcher Yan Gomes for much of the season.
Once the Indians reached the postseason, Trevor Bauer, yet another starting pitching, suffered a cut on the pinky finger of his right hand and was rendered all but useless in the postseason.
"Things didn't go the way we would have drawn them up at the start of the year, but that never deterred Tito, our staff or our players from competing each night and trying to win," said Antonetti.
Antonetti bolstered the team at the Aug. 1 trading deadline with the acquisitions of super reliever Andrew Miller from the Yankees and outfielder Brandon Guyer from Tampa Bay. Later he added outfielder Coco Crisp from Oakland.
Miller, signed through 2018, won the ALCS MVP. In 10 postseason appearances, he went 2-0 with one save and struck out 30 batters in 19 1/3 innings.
Andrew Miller named MVP of ALCS for Tribe
Guyer hit .333 (6-for-18) in the postseason. Crisp homered in games when the Indians clinched the AL Central, the ALDS and the ALCS.
Antonetti joined the Indians in 1999 as an assistant to baseball operations after starting his career with the Montreal Expos. He worked his way through the organization, becoming director of major league operations in 2001, assistant general manager in 2002 and vice president of baseball operations in 2007.
Francona, hired by Antonetti after the 2012 season, frequently describes Antonetti as the "smartest guy in the room, but you'd never know it."
Antonetti believes that Indians recent success is about the organization not one indiviudual.
"It's about the people we have ultimately," he said. "I think we have a group of people who are aligned behind a common vision of winning and being part of an atmosphere where everyone contributes to it. No one really cares about who gets credit and who doesn't or who gets blamed. It's about how do we find a way to win.
"That's the collective mindset that everyone has. When you have a group of people who think like that, you have the opportunity to do something special. It doesn't always exist like that, especially in professional sports."
The Indians won a franchise record 14 straight games from June 17 through July 1. They went from being tied for first place in the AL Central to having a seven- game lead. They ruled the division from that point on.
Antonetti said the streak captured the heart of the 2016 Indians.
"It wasn't only about how many games we won in a row," he said. "But it was the way we found different ways to win in that streak. We won one-run games. We won another game in 19 innings. We had a starting pitcher (Bauer) go five innings in relief. We won some high-scoring games, we won some-low scoring games. We had come back victories.
"The way in which we won games during that stretch embodied a lot about what our team was about during the course of the year - regardless of what was going on just try to be one run better than the other team that night."
