On Sunday, Seattle Mariners second baseman Cole Young earned his first career Gold Glove Award, defeating Michael Massey of the Kansas City Royals and Chase Meidroth of the Chicago White Sox.

At 76-86 this season, the Mariners were one of baseball's biggest disappointments, but Young's development was one of their biggest positives.

Offensively, he hit .246 with 17 homers and 66 RBIs. And while his OPS+ was 99, suggesting he was slightly below average, it didn't feel that way. He hit .253 in the first half of the season and he hit .295 in June, getting exceptionally hot and having a flare for late and clutch hits. He hit just .196 in May and .175 in August which helped bring down his overall numbers, but he was bordering on an All-Star selection this summer.

Defensively, the gains were noticeable and the Gold Glove is validation of that. He led all American League second baseman in games played, putouts, assists and Defensive Runs Saved (16).

As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB.com, he's the youngest second baseman to win the Gold Glove since 1962, based on age at the end of the season. Young just turned 23 years old. Only Ken Hubbs (1962) and Bill Mazeroski (1958) were younger.

He's only the third Mariners' second baseman to ever win the award, joining Harold Reynolds and Bret Boone.

The Mariners were among the worst defensive teams of the last decade this season, so the team needs to improve defensively without question. However, the hope is that with Cal Raleigh, Young, Colt Emerson and Julio Rodriguez anchoring the middle of the field that they can make that improvement.

Rodriguez had a down year defensively and will be looking to get back to his prior form. Emerson is regarded as a better defender than JP Crawford, who is now a free agent.

Monday is a critical day for the organization, potentially in a number of ways.

1) Seattle has to be in 40-man roster compliance by 2 p.m. PT. Entering the day, the M's 40-man roster is at 43, which means that they have to make three roster moves. Once the 40-man roster is set, then the full offseason can start.

2) The Mariners are expected to offer Randy Arozarena a qualifying offer of one-year, $23-ish million. The deadline for that is also Monday at 2 p.m. PT. If they do, Arozarena has until Nov. 17 to accept or decline.

3) And oh yes, the Mariners still need to hire a manager. They did hire hitting coach CJ Gillman on Friday.