As the offseason continues to roll along, here are three things we’ll be watching throughout the day today:
1. Qualifying Offer Decisions Due Today
The 14 players who received qualifying offers must either accept or decline the offer by 3:00p, central time this afternoon. While most of these players will make the easy and obvious decision to reject the QO, a few players have a more interesting decision on their hands. Rangers lefty Martin Perez is an example of someone who may accept a QO, though he joins Red Sox righty Nathan Eovaldi as someone who is in negotiations with his 2022 club on a multi-year deal, which could be ironed out in place of the one-year, $19.65MM QO contract. Such a deal could even occur after this deadline as passed, as was the case for Jose Abreu and the White Sox after the 2019 season. Giants outfielder Joc Pederson, Dodgers lefty Tyler Anderson and Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo are among the other candidates to accept the offer, though Rizzo has already reportedly drawn strong interest from the Astros even in spite of his QO.
2. Rule 5 Deadline Looms This Evening
Teams must set their 40-man rosters in advance of the upcoming Rule 5 Draft by 5:00pm central time this evening. Seeing as there was no major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft last offseason, teams will have more prospects than usual in need of protection, potentially resulting in a larger roster crunch than usual for many teams. The Rays have already made a pair of moves to clear roster space, and are expected to make more trades before the deadline tonight. While they may be among the most active teams today, it’s safe to say most teams will be making roster moves throughout the day leading up to this evening’s deadline.
3. Manager Of The Year Results Announced Tonight
Awards season continues tonight with the AL and NL Manager of the Year awards being announced this evening. In the AL, Terry Francona of the Guardians, Brandon Hyde of the Orioles, and Scott Servais of the Mariners are the finalists, while in the NL, it’ll be either Brian Snitker of the Braves, Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, or Buck Showalter of the Mets. Each finalist has an interesting case for the award to set themselves apart from the rest of the field. Francona’s Guardians achieved a surprise division title, overtaking the favored White Sox and Twins despite an extremely young roster and a far lower payroll than either of their division rivals. Hyde and the Orioles, despite not making the postseason, also massively overperformed expectations, staying in the postseason hunt through most of September after years of 100 loss seasons. Servais, meanwhile, led a Mariners club that ended the longest active playoff drought in the sport, bringing playoff baseball back to Seattle for the first time since 2001. Roberts and the Dodgers delivered a monster 111-win season that stands among the best in history, while Buck Showalter returned to the dugout to lead the Mets to a 100-win season of their own. Snitker, meanwhile, makes his case through Atlanta’s impressive September in which they ran down Showalter’s Mets for the division title. Results will be announced at 5:00pm central time this evening.
It’s Brandon Hyde, hands down.
Oh really, I think it’s Francona hands down.
The Guardians had the youngest roster in all of MLB AND as a matter of fact, they had the youngest roster of ALL the minor league AAA teams. Francona advanced his team in the playoffs farther and won more games than either of his opposing managers.
That is called SCOREBOARD
The Guardians more or less matched expectations, the Orioles completely shattered theirs. Hyde wins and it’s not even really close tbh.
Neither Team was expected to make the playoffs. Orioles lived up to that expectation, while Cleveland exceeded it. Hyde did good, but I chose the playoff manager, Francona.
A 12 win improvement in a weak division where they were the only team with a winning record vs. a 31 win improvement in a stacked division with 3 playoff teams.
The latter is easily more impressive.
I think the orioles season was more out of left field and impressive.
Not to dump on what the Guards did. Great year and a great manager.
I told you Francona would win
Oh yeah???
Francona, who led the Guardians — the youngest team in baseball — to the American League Central division title, amassed 112 total points with 17 first-place votes. Baltimore’s Brandon Hyde finished second with 79 points, including nine first-place votes while Servais finished third, garnering 43 points and one first-place vote.
I’m glad the debate has ended.
SCOREBOARD
The wrong guy won, but it’s not like Francona was unworthy or anything. He did a great job too.
Tito wins it. I was looking at the rosters of the A’s in the early 70’s on Baseball refrence. Francona’s father and Tony LA Russa were on those teams. Something I never knew.
That is called easy division.
Regular season award.
Philly Rob was sadly robbed of a MOTY award 🙁
It’s Manager of the YEAR, NOT manager for only part of the year.
Hey, 65-46 and getting your team to the World Series is pretty impressive after taking over a team that was going 22-29. I think Showalter should win it tbh.
Showalter wins Manager of the Year, everyone will shriek “WHY???” Roberts or Snitker wins Manager of the Year, everyone will say “damn right!”
Another reason why LOLmets endures.
MoTY. The most pointless and inaccurate award given yearly.
I think you mean Gold Gloves 😉
I think you mean all star appearances
Definitely Gold Gloves are a joke. Hunter Renfroe makes 12 errors in the OF, in ’21 and gets nominated for a GG. Good arm or not, that shouldn’t happen.
Rafael Palmiero once won a GG in a year he where he DH’d 128 games lol.
Vlad jr won a gold glove this year. Guys defense is terrible
More to do with the popularity of the name than the quality of glove.
Jeter won GGs and is the worst defensive SS in baseball history by the metrics.
Of course he had to play a lot to become the worst of all time.
Marmol in the NL.
Tito in the AL, followed real close by Hyde.
If managers get credit for their team’s performance/record, how on Earth can it be anyone but Hyde?
Tito had a younger roster that got farther.
The Guardians were largely expected to be in the hunt for a playoff spot, and they matched that expectation; the Orioles were expected to be in the hunt for another 100 loss season and a draft lottery spot, and instead were a only handful of wins short of a playoff spot.
I’m not really a Cleveland fan but the fact they even got too the playoffs without much star hitters outside Jose Ramirez then Francona would get my vote for the AL. I might be biased as a Braves fan but after being 10.5 games out of 1st place then edging out the Mets team Cohen basically bought I have to go with Snitker in the NL.
Plenty of people thought the Guardians would compete for a playoff spot based on the strength of their rotation, and they did just that.
Nobody- and I mean NOBODY- thought the Orioles would have the best non-playoff team record in the AL.
In fact, if the owners had gotten their way in the new CBA, the O’s would have actually been in the playoffs this year. That’s insane considering what Hyde and his coaches had to work with.
Tough call. Tito gets it done with little O firepower. Os lose Lopez to the Twins which moved Bautista to closer splitting up the Tate- Bautista dynamic tandem that set up Lopez. They both deserve it.
Not true
Fake news
The White Sox and Twins were both much heavier favorites
Cleveland was expected to be slightly under .500
In a easier division.
But they did not make the playoffs
It’s called “manager of the year,” not “manager of a team that made the playoffs of the year.”
Francona is obviously a great manager, his resume speaks for itself, but what Hyde and the Orioles did this year is objectively far more impressive. Taking a team that lost 110 games last year and made no major outside additions to a winning record and the brink of the postseason is a far greater achievement than what the Guardians did.
He got farther in a much weaker division. I don’t care either way personally, but it’s difficult to compare the two when one guy had to face NYY, Toronto, TBR, and even the Bosox more often than the Royals, Tigers, Twins and Chisox.
I do not think you are able to look at it objectively. You are entitled to your opinion, and have a nice argument. Both WS and TWINS were supposed to be ahead of CLEVELAND this year. I still go Francona. Did he have to make the playoffs to be considered? No, but it adds to his resume.
The Guardians were not the ALC favorite but they weren’t given up as dead either due to their strong starting rotation, and the teams ahead of them in the preseason rankings all fell well short of expectations due to their own poor play. The Orioles, OTOH, were expected to lose 100ish games again.
King Floch
The Guardians were largely expected to be in the hunt for a playoff spot,
==========================
They finished 13 out last year, I was definitely not expecting a playoff team. I definitely wouldn’t argue against Hyde, but Tito’s development of young kids is off the charts. That should show up in the voting.
King Floch–no body had Cleveland winning the division. The story of the central was the White Sox were the clear favorites, the Twins may compete with Sox and the Tigers were going to take their first decent step up the ladder with the rebuild. Most people had Cleveland finishing last in the division. Seriously. Google it.
“The Guardians were largely expected to be in the hunt for a playoff spot’
You can keep saying this a million times, it doesn’t make it true.
You must not have seen this:
twitter.com/CleGuardians/status/157416056651972608…
incorrect twitter.com/CleGuardians/status/157416056651972608…
I didn’t say that they were picked to win the division, but they were definitely mentioned by some prognosticators as potentially in the wildcard hunt because of their rotation.
And virtually nobody had the Royals finishing ahead of the Guardians.
mate. did you even watch the video i posted (twitter.com/CleGuardians/status/157416056651972608…)
it shows like 4 outlets saying the Royals would finish above CLE
He also hasn’t submitted any sources that had Cleveland as potential playoff contenders. I’ve looked at all the old articles with predictions for the 2022 season I could find and no one had Cleveland as legit playoff contenders.
King Floch you’re just making stuff up at this point.
sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/five-big-questions-al…
sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mlb-predictions-2022-…
I don’t think a single outlet had them above 80 wins and most had them as the under for Vegas which was 76.5 i think
They won 92 games
CLE exceeded their vegas odds by 16 wins
BAL exceeded their vegas odds by 21 wins
I have no issue with Hyde winning because yes, they far exceeded their expected output as a team, and it was a very impressive year for them.
But CLE was most certainly also extremely impressive and no one thought they would win the central. Saying that is just not accurate.
I did not watch it, but fair enough. Perhaps my own opinion of Cleveland as an organization is coloring my perception (I think they’re run pretty darn well and have a really solid foundation, just wish they’d spend a little more).
Regardless, a 12 win year-over-year improvement in arguably the weakest division in MLB is not nearly as impressive of an accomplishment as a 31 win year-over-year improvement in arguably the toughest division in MLB.
eh, i don’t really think that year over year results should really matter.
expectation into year is more important imo.
BAL exceeded vegas odds by 21.
CLE by 16.
Pretty close. CLE wins division. Makes it closer imo.
It’s 50/50 for me. They both far exceeded what they were expected todo
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33647294/2022-mlb-season-p…
All 3 managers are deserving. But I will say this if you asked any baseball fan in the spring which was more likely to happen cleveland to go to the playoffs or the orioles to be above .500. Everyone including me would say cleveland and I’m a true baltimoron…
“…no body had Cleveland winning the division.”
RodBecksBurnerAccount;
I did. So did MLBTR writer Mark Polishuk. Sure there were others.
Part of my thinking was Tito and the Guardians FO – easily the best manager in MLB and one of the best FO’s; most of that was how outrageously overrated the White Sox were by the national baseball media and fans that also don’t understand how baseball is played on the field.
As for Manager of the Year……
I think Tito would be happy if Brandon Hyde won it.
Tito’s won the award before, and is regarded by most as the best manager in MLB and future HOF’er. Antonetti was given Executive of the Year. It’s close enough to give it to either one – Hyde is deserving.
Hyde did what Tito did – had a young team that played hard, hustled, and always ran out ground balls to 1B. Hyde used his coaches well. His strategies were fine. What most impressed me was that he called Jorge Mateo into his office in Spring Training, told him to relax and just play ball – he would be the starting SS all year (Mateo spent whole career on edge as he’d get pulled if he had a bad stretch). Hyde lived up to his part, and Mateo’s D helped that pitching staff as much as when Adley Rutschman came up and started catching fulltime. Plus Mateo hit at times, and his speed on the bases messed up opposing teams defenses.
And they finished where in the division?
Ask any Mariners fan the same question and we will tell you its Scott Servais for the very same reason. So it CAN be someone other than Hyde! Haha
Both teams fans feel their skipper is fully deserving. The M’s have the best record in MLB in one Run games over the past 2 seasons. In those close games the skippers mgmt of the bench and the BP are crucial to preserving leads and come from behind wins.
Besides if the MOY award IS based solely on the team’s performance/record how did Servais NOT win it last year? He clearly did ‘more with less’ than last yrs MOY- Tampa Bay’s skipper.
FWIW, I agree that Servais was robbed last year.
I believe all 3 are deserving, if I had a vote it would be a coin flip between Tito and Hyde. It’s the closest of all awards in my opinion. To say any one gets it hands down is foolish. But 17 players making a major league debuts and playing significant roles…not the number 1 overall prospect twice in one year. Tito definitely has done plenty to deserve it
Francona is great, don’t get me wrong, but 52-110 to 83-79 in a single year is pretty much unheard of.
Marmol? What are you smoking?
Thank goodness for the NL finalists that the votes were tallied before the playoffs, because all 3 of them managed their teams to some of the bigger choke jobs in recent history. On top of that, I think everyone knows who the real NL MOY is.
Joe Girardi?
Dave Roberts is a finalist but not Rob Thompson??? Am I in the twilight zone? Why the heck is Dave Roberts even in the running? Everyone knew the Dodgers would steamroll that division. Giants last year was an anomaly.
Dave Roberts has one of the easiest jobs in the world, especially now that pitchers don’t hit in the NL anymore.
Had he managed for the ENTIRE year, he would be a finalist, but he didn’t. He only managed for part of the year.. it’s called manager of the year. That means the entire year not manager of partial year
Francona only managed for part of the year
I don’t think that is true. My recollection is that Tito was only out for a few games this year. In previous years he missed a ton, but not this year, as I recall.
Hyde in AL, Thompson should be NL but he will be robbed.
The ONLY manager who won his division
TITO by a landslide
To be fair, Chicago and Detroit kind of imploded.
AL Central is a cakewalk
Thompson isn’t a finalist in the NL, so he certainly won’t win it. But I agree, he should have been one of the 3 finalists given the turnaround he led the Phillies through.
The award is not called. Come back manager of the year. It doesn’t matter what he did when he took over. He wasn’t the manager when the team started the year. It’s really not that difficult to understand All you people that are sitting there saying oh Thompson’s getting robbed. He’s not getting robbed because he wasn’t manager for the entire year
Neither was Tito
I’m trying to remember how many games Tito missed this year. I don’t think it was that many. LAST year and the year before he missed a ton – but I think he was only out for a couple games in 2022.
Just because he missed a few games doesn’t mean he wasn’t he the manager. Thompson was never the manager until Girardi was fired. Big difference from being the manager and missing a few games to being the interim manager and then getting an extension. Matter of fact, he wasn’t even named the manager until after the season was over. Again, this is the manager of the year award, not the interim manager of the year award
Your logic makes zero sense. He took a 22-29 team to game 6 of the World Series. I understand that playoffs don’t count, but even so what he did was remarkable. Mike Trout seems to always win MVP even when he’s hurt half the freaking year, so why should it be different for manager of the year? By your logic is it just because it isn’t called “MVP of the year”??? Give me a break man. Even if you don’t want to choose Rob Thompson, fine. There’s other managers that deserve it more than Dave Roberts managing a Dodgers team that is always incredibly successful in the regular season.
Thompson was not the manager for the entire year. It’s called manager of the year which means the entire year not part of the year.
TLR, if for no other reason, to right a wrong.
Likely another award for postseason choker Buck I see
The Marty Schottenheimer of MLB
Rizzo is NOT a candidate to accept the QO!
Pederson will and Anderson is basically the same story as Perez (who just accepted) so I can see it.
As for MOY, it should be Melvin or Thomson. Of the guys who are still in the running, I’d go with Buck. Dodgers have been elite for years and Braves are the defending champs so their expectations were higher.
In the AL idk how you don’t go with Hyde or Servais.
How can this be called The Opener if it doesn’t come out until almost noon?
Congrats to Tito for winning MOY. Very deserving.
It’s also not called “manager of a team that didn’t make the playoffs of the year” so what’s your point?