Lind nets final monthly award after strong finish

TORONTO -- Adam Lind picked up the final Blue Jays' Player of the Month Award on Tuesday afternoon for his strong finish to the year with an impressive September.

Lind received the award that is voted on by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Right-hander Sergio Santos finished second in the voting, while outfielder Moises Sierra was third.

The 31-year-old Lind hit .339 (22-for-68) while tying for the American League lead with seven home runs. Additionally, his 20 RBIs and .662 slugging percentage ranked second and third, respectively, in the AL.

Lind also became the only Blue Jays player this season to capture the award more than once. He previously picked up the honor following a strong June. The other winners in 2013 included Edwin Encarnacion (April), Jose Bautista (May), Colby Rasmus (July) and Brett Lawrie (August).

The strong finish is expected to be enough to guarantee Lind's contract for the 2014 season. Toronto currently has a club option on Lind for next year at $7 million, which can also be bought out for $2 million.

Earlier in the year, it appeared that Lind's option was going to be one of the harder decisions for general manager Alex Anthopoulos to make this offseason. That no longer seems to be the case, as Anthopoulos recently hinted that Lind will be back with the club in 2014.

Lind finished the year with a .288 average, 23 homers and 67 RBIs while posting an impressive .854 OPS. It was arguably his best season since he hit 35 homers and racked up 114 RBIs while picking up a Silver Slugger Award in 2009.

The one piece of uncertainty surrounding Lind is the status of his back. The native of Indiana has battled back injuries for the past several years and was forced to miss a few games at the end of the season when the problems resurfaced. Despite the injury woes, he avoided the disabled list for the first time since 2010.