Best of 2013 Lookout Landing: Finalists

The first order of business in 2014 would naturally be to look backwards, right? You've submitted a bunch of articles for nominations, and it's time to vote on the winners. I've looked over all of the nominations and added a few more that we might have missed, thanks to suggestions from our staff and articles that have been featured in other places around the web. I've added links to all of the nominations for you to look over.

Feel free to submit your own personal ballot, or just revisit to enjoy. There won't be any specific winners. This is about reminding us of all of our most memorable experiences on this site, and honoring those who did great work. I would nominate dozens of more articles if it were reasonable to do so. Thanks to everyone on staff for all their work and all the readers/commenters who make writing this stuff so much fun. Here's to even better in the year to come.

Best article (overall):

• A glimpse inside the Mariners analytics department (Colin O'Keefe)
• Lookout Landed (Jeff Sullivan)
• So we beat on (Scott Weber)
• About that whole Mariners being out of money thing (Scott Weber)
• Ken Griffey Jr. and me (Nathan Bishop)
• 71-91: The End (Patrick Dubuque)

Best article (analysis):

• The Lookout Landing off-season plan (Scott Weber + staff)
• The evolution of bunting series (Patrick Dubuque)
• The impatient projection system (Eric Blakenship)

Best article (humor):

• A brief history of Brian McCann, Fun Cop (Scott Weber)
• Choose your own (Mariners) adventure (Jesse Knutson)
• Anatomy of a play: Grounder to Justin Smoak (Jesse Knutson)
• Baseball blogger scouting report: D.J. Peterson (Kyle Davis)

Most convincing article:

• Sign Bartolo Colon to a two-year deal (Scott Weber)
• Making Kendrys Morales a qualifying offer is the right move (Scott Weber)
• The Mariners don't need a bat (Logan Davis)
• Considering Jose Quintana as a trade target (Scott Weber)

Best commenter:

• CapSea
• Corco
• paulcl
• FGChoo
• ThundaPC

Best Fanpost:

• Trade target: Ryan Hanigan (Andrew McQ)
• Why extending Jack Z is a bad thing (CapSea)
• The perfect Mariner (Jesse Knutson)

Best podcast:

• Episode 8 with Aaron Goldsmith
• Episode 10 with Ryan Rowland-Smith
• Episode 7 with Scott, Nathan, Patrick, and Logan
• Episode 5 with Brandon Bantz

Best comment thread:

• Robinson Cano afternoon update
• Carlos Peguero's wife charged with stealing from Felix Hernandez's wife
• Lookout Landed

Most polarizing topic/best debate:

• John Jaso/Mike Morse trade
• Mariners sign Cano for 10 years, $240 million
• Is Mike Zunino being rushed?
• M's front office destroyed, painted as dysfunctional

Biggest celebration:

• Robinson Cano signs blockbuster deal
• Kyle Seager hits extra-innings grand slam against White Sox
• Felix signs extension

Most depressing moment(s):

• Jeff stepping down
• Gutierrez being hurt all year yet again
• Nick Franklin's late season fade
  
• Justin Smoak's late season fade
• Tom Wilhelmsen falling apart

Best non-LL Mariners blog:

• USS Mariner
• Seattle Sports Insider
• Prospect Insider
• Seattle Clubhouse (Scout/Fox)

Best SB Nation team blog (non-LL):

• Minor League Ball
• Beyond the Box Score
• Field Gulls
• McCovey Chronicles
• Bless You Boys

Best Twitter account:

• Brandon McCarthy
• Old Hoss Radbourn
• Fernando Tatis

Baseball GIF of the year:

• Chad Qualls tripping
• Ibanez ball spike
• Yu Darvish pitch arsenal
• R.A. Dickey knuckler (OC)
• Tulowitski/Fernandez (did you catch that?)