MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Mookie Betts, Christian Yelich win MVP Awards...

Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts and Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich were announced on Thursday evening as the winners of the 2018 Most Valuable Player Awards as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Betts, 26, led baseball with a .346 batting average, a .640 slugging percentage, and 129 runs scored. He also put together a .438 on-base percentage with 32 home runs, 80 RBI, and 30 stolen bases while ranking among the best defensive outfielders. According to Baseball Reference, Betts was worth 10.9 WAR, the highest total by a position player since Barry Bonds in 2002 (11.8). It was the 21st time a player compiled a 10.9 WAR or better since 1871. The others to do it along with Betts and Bonds: Cal Ripken, Jr., Joe Morgan, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner.

Betts is the first Red Sox player to win the MVP Award since second baseman Dustin Pedroia in 2008. Other members of the Red Sox to win the award include Mo Vaughn (1995), Roger Clemens (1986), Jim Rice (1978), Fred Lynn (1975), Carl Yastrzemski (1967), Jackie Jensen (1958), Ted Williams (1946, ’49), Jimmie Foxx (1938), and Tris Speaker (1912).

Angels outfielder Mike Trout and J.D. Martinez each received one first-place vote with Betts receiving the other 28. Trout finished in second place with 265 overall points, Indians infielder José Ramírez finished third with 208, and Martinez finished fourth with 198. They were followed by Alex Bregman, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Khris Davis, Blake Snell, Justin Verlander, Mitch Haniger, Aaron Judge, Xander Bogaerts, José Altuve, Blake Treinen, Andrelton Simmons, Whit Merrifield, Edwin Díaz, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Jed Lowrie, Trevor Bauer, Aaron Hicks, and Chris Sale.

Trout is now one of four players to finish second in MVP Award voting four times, joining Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols. Trout was the runner-up behind Miguel Cabrera in 2012-13 and Josh Donaldson in 2015.

Yelich, 26, led the National League with a .326 batting average, a .598 slugging percentage, and a 1.000 OPS. He also put up a .402 on-base percentage with 36 home runs, 110 RBI, 118 runs scored, and 22 stolen bases while playing above-average defense in the outfield.

Yelich is the first member of the Brewers to win the MVP Award since outfielder Ryan Braun in 2011. The other Brewers to have won the MVP Award are Robin Yount (1982, ’89) and Rollie Fingers (1981).

Nearly a unanimous choice, Yelich was voted in first place on 29 of 30 ballots with NL Cy Young Award winner getting the other first-place vote. Cubs infielder Javier Baéz finished in second place with 250 points and Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado finished in third place with 203 points. They were followed by Freddie Freeman, deGrom, Paul Goldschmidt, Lorenzo Cain, Trevor Story, Matt Carpenter, Max Scherzer, Anthony Rendon, Ronald Acuña Jr., Aaron Nola, Justin Turner, Max Muncy, Jesús Aguilar, Anthony Rizzo, Nick Markakis, and Eugenio Suarez.

Coincidentally, both MVP Award winners hit for the cycle this season. Betts achieved it on August 9 while Yelich did it twice, on August 29 and September 17. Yelich also finished two home runs and one RBI short of the Triple Crown.

The BBWAA voters submitted their ballots before the start of the postseason, so the fact that the Red Sox won the World Series and that the Brewers made it to Game 7 of the NLCS had no impact on the award results. That the Red Sox won a franchise record 108 games during the regular season and the Brewers won the NL Central tiebreaker over the Cubs certainly could have been factors for many voters, however. (Hardball Talk)

 

The Rangers have signed catcher Jeff Mathis to a two-year contract, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The deal is pending a physical.

Mathis turns 36 years old at the end of March and has a career .564 OPS across 14 seasons, but he is well-regarded for his defense and ability to handle a pitching staff.

The arrival of Mathis could mean the Rangers are moving on from Robinson Chirinos behind the plate, as he is now a free agent. The Rangers could go after another catcher to complement Mathis or just have Isiah Kiner-Falefa back up Mathis. Though Kiner-Falefa mostly played elsewhere, including three spots across the infield, he did rack up over 300 defensive innings behind the plate in 2018. (Hardball Talk)

 

Behold: The new Marlins logo...

The Marlins have not released their new uniform design — at least not yet — but they did release their new logo today. That’s it up top. It’s not too bad? Here’s the secondary logo, which you could maybe imagine on a cap?

The logo appears at the end of the video below which is, until the final few seconds, not about baseball at all. It’s about Miami. A “this is our town” promotional thing which takes you on a tour and shows you people and the culture of the city.

A lot of times when sports teams do this stuff it seems somewhat contrived, but I think it’s pretty cool here. The Marlins have almost never sent much of a “we are a part of our community” message. Jeff Loria lived in New York for Pete’s sake and, of course, they infamously consider themselves a foreign corporation for legal purposes. Before this, the most they ever seemed to want out of Miami is tax subsidies and to be left the hell alone.

You can’t just market your way into a community — and the Marlins have a long way to go before they can earn back any sort of trust from baseball fans in Miami... (in part from; Hardball Talk)

 

well onto the New ERA HOF vote in early december and the winter meetings. where will Harper, Machado, Corbin and others go ????

 

Yankees, of course.

 

ugh. no idea how they can afford stanton and these guys and somehow be under the luxury tax, which they are this year. unreal.

 

Happy Birthday, Catfish!



The Phillies plan to spend money and “maybe even be a little bit stupid about it”...

In an age in which even baseball’s richest teams talk about tight budgets and keeping payroll low, it’s pretty rare to hear anyone connected with a front office talking about freely spending money. Phillies owner John Middleton, however, offered up something rare about the team’s approach to free agency.

“We’re going into this expecting to spend money, and maybe even be a little bit stupid about it,” he told Bob Nightengale or USA Today. He then added, “we just prefer not to be completely stupid.” That save aside, it was a pretty unusual sentiment these days.

“Stupid” could certainly mean Bryce Harper, who the Phillies have long been expected to pursue. It could even mean Harper and Manny Machado. Why not? At the moment the Phillies’ payroll for 2019 is looking to be just a shade above $100 million, so even adding, say, $70 million to that would not put them in an unreasonable position compared to other competitors. And that’s before you figure in any sort of back-loading or deferred money that Harper and/or Machado might agree to.

Or, even if they didn’t get one or both of those guys, they could spend that same kind of money on multiple free agents. Patrick Corbin? Marwin Gonzalez? A handful of others? We counted down the top 100 free agents last week and any number of them could be acquired given the sort of payroll flexibility a large market team like the Phillies appear to have. It merely requires the will to do it. A will which, it seems, John Middleton possesses.

How novel. (Hardball Talk)

 

Predictions:

Machado to the Yanks
Harper to the Dodgers
Corbin to the Astros
Catfish to grumble about the Phillies not being stupid enough

 

lol

 

Report: Washington Nationals sign Kurt Suzuki
Suzuki, 35, is coming off of his two best seasons offensively...

 

Probably not very realistic to expect him to be able to keep that up at his age. Especially going to a less hitter-friendly environment. And generally the best thing about him defensively you've ever been able to say is that he's willing to put the catcher's gear on. But it's a reasonable contract. Especially if they can find someone to split time with him like Flowers did in ATL.

 

Yankees acquire James Paxton from Mariners...

The Yankees announced that the club has acquired starter James Paxton from the Mariners in exchange for three prospects: pitcher Justus Sheffield, outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams, and pitcher Erik Swanson.

Paxton, 30, has been among the game’s better starters over the past few years. In 2018, he went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA and a 208/42 K/BB ratio in 160 1/3 innings. The lefty has two more years of arbitration eligibility remaining after earning $4.9 million this past season.

Sheffield, 22, is the headliner in the Mariners’ return. He made his major league debut in September for the Yankees, pitching 2 2/3 innings across three appearances. Two of those appearances were scoreless; in the third, he gave up a three-run home run to J.D. Martinez, certainly not an uncommon result among pitchers. MLB Pipeline rates Sheffield as the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect and No. 31 overall in baseball.

Thompson-Williams, 23, was selected by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. This past season, between Single-A Charleston and High-A Tampa, he hit .299/.363/.546 with 22 home runs, 74 RBI, 63 runs scored, and 20 stolen bases in 415 plate appearances. He was not among the Yankees’ top-30 prospects, per MLB Pipeline.

Swanson, 25, was selected by the Yankees in the eighth round of the 2014 draft. He spent most of his 2018 campaign between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Overall, he posted a 2.66 ERA with a 139/29 K/BB ratio in 121 2/3 innings. MLB Pipeline rated him No. 22 in the Yankees’ system.

This trade comes as no surprise as the Yankees clearly wanted to upgrade the starting rotation and the Mariners seemed motivated to trade Paxton this offseason. To the Mariners’ credit, they got a solid return for Paxton, as Sheffield likely becomes the organization’s No. 1 prospect. The only worries about this trade for the Yankees is how Paxton will fare in the more hitter-friendly confines of Yankee Stadium compared to the spacious Safeco Field, and Paxton’s durability. Paxton has made more than 20 starts in a season just twice in his career — the last two years (24 and 28). The Yankees are likely not done adding, however. Expect even more new faces before the start of spring training. (NBC's Hardball Talk)

 

Good get for the Yanks if they can keep him healthy. Great return for the M's if Justus hits his ceiling.

 

Wow. See you in Cooperstown in 2024, Adrian.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/adrian-beltre-retires.html

 

if they get none of them i'll never watch phillies baseball again. and gm matt klentak is plenty stupid already with the money he wasted on santana and partially arrieta.

 

surprised he didn't go for 500 hrs. he's a lock for the hof regardless. awesome career.

 

hope u had a great Birthday Will !

 

Braves are signing Josh Donaldson and Brian McCann to 1 year deals.

 

Report: Rangers sign Edinson Volquez to one-year, $2 million deal
The Rangers have reportedly inked veteran starter Edinson Volquez to a one-year, $2 million contract.


Report: Mets, Mariners close on trade involving Robinson Canó, Edwin Díaz
The Mets and Mariners are reportedly close on a trade involving second baseman Robinson Canó and closer Edwin Díaz


Report: Padres sign Garrett Richards to two-year deal
The Padres have reportedly signed pitcher Garrett Richards to a two-year contract.


Angels acquire Tommy La Stella from Cubs
The Angels acquired infielder Tommy La Stella from the Cubs on Thursday.

 

I was kinda hoping the Sox might've been able to work something out on that Cano/Diaz deal, even though it would've pushed them into ridiculous CBT territory.