Mauer voted Twins MVP by local writers

The Twins announced their annual Diamond Award Winners today. The following were voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America:

Most Valuable Twin (Calvin R. Griffith Award): Joe Mauer

Twins Pitcher of the Year (Joseph W. Haynes Award): Carl Pavano

Most Improved Twin (Charles O. Johnson Award): Delmon Young

Twins Most Outstanding Rookie (Bill Boni Award): Danny Valencia

Upper Midwest Player of the Year (Dick Siebert Award): Mauer

Bob Allison Award (determination, hustle, tenacity, leadership): Michael Cuddyer

Those players will be honored at the sixth annual Diamond Awards dinner, on Jan. 27, 2011 at Target Field. It's a great event with proceeds benefiting the University of Minnesota's research on ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).

The Twins will also honor their Minor League Player of the Year (Joe Benson), and Minor League Pitcher of the Year (Kyle Gibson), along with the Carl Pohlad Community Service Award winner (Jesse Crain) and the Kirby Puckett Award winner (Bert Blyleven).