As we prepare for one of the first major deadlines of the offseason, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Rule 5 draft protection deadline:
This evening marks one of several deadlines in the early part of the offseason: the deadline for protecting prospects from next month’s Rule 5 draft. Though the Rule 5 draft won’t take place until the Winter Meetings, today at 5pm CT is the deadline by which teams must add prospects they wish to protect from the draft to their 40-man rosters. The deadline typically sparks plenty of movement as teams look to clear space on their 40-man rosters for prospects in need of protections, and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi suggests that this year will be no different, reporting that trade talks are picking up all around baseball in advance of today’s deadline.
2. Qualifying Offer deadline:
The Rule 5 draft protection deadline isn’t the only deadline scheduled for today, however. At 3pm CT this afternoon, the seven players who received qualifying offers earlier in the offseason will have to decide whether to accept the one-year, $20.35MM offer or reject it and test the open market. All seven players — Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Matt Chapman, Josh Hader, and Sonny Gray — are expected to decline the QO and test free agency. Players that do so will attached to draft pick compensation, providing their previous team with an outgoing draft pick should they sign elsewhere while forcing their new club to give up draft capital and international bonus pool space. The details on what teams stand to lose or gain from the signing of qualified free agents were covered by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk last month.
3. Manager of the Year announced:
Awards season around MLB continues at 5pm CT this evening with the AL and NL Manager of the Year awards set to be announced. In the AL, Bruce Bochy of the Rangers, Kevin Cash of the Rays, and Brandon Hyde of the Orioles are the three finalists for the award. Cash skippered the Rays to a 99-win season that saw them win their first 13 games of the season, tying the modern record, while Hyde and Bochy both guided their clubs to a postseason appearance despite the Orioles and Rangers both entering the season expected to be little more than fringe contenders. It would be Hyde’s first time winning the award, while Cash has won the award twice previously. Bochy, meanwhile, has never won in the AL but won in the NL with the Padres back in 1996.
Meanwhile, the NL features a relatively unusual bit of drama; alongside Brian Snitker of the Braves and Skip Schumaker of the Marlins, Craig Counsell is nominated for the award for his work with the Brewers this season despite having departed the organization for the division rival Cubs last week. For all his accolades as one of the league’s finest managers, Counsell has never won a Manager of the Year award. Schumaker, of course, hasn’t either as a rookie skipper who just concluded his first season in the role. Snitker, on the other hand, won the award previously in 2018. His work with the Braves that year led him to finish just ahead of Counsell, who was the runner-up for the award.
What irony if Counsell wins and is no longer with that team.
Where’s the irony? If the award was given to the org and not the individual, maybe it could be construed as ironic?
Where is the irony, exactly?
When is the last time a Manager of the Year was not with the team the following year?
Dave Johnson maybe?
The fact that Bochy never won Manager of the Year during the Giants’ title runs is beyond stupid.
I agree 10000%
I’m an Orioles fan, but Bochy all the way!
It’ll be Hyde. For some reason, they love doling out awards to Orioles. Case in point, Aurelio Rodriguez was a far better fielding third baseman than Brooks Robinson, but Robinson won the Gold Glove award every year.
Back before all these defensive metrics, the gold glove was simply a popularity contest, hence why Jeter won so many.
Like the Gold Glove, this is another one of those awards that the most deserving doesn’t necessarily win.
Bacon – You probably don’t realize the award is based on regular season only, votes are gathered prior to the World Series.
Which of the three title years did you think he deserved it?
2010 he won 5 less games than Philly, and just barely won 2 more games with a Top Ten payroll than a SD team that had the second lowest payroll in MLB.
2012 there were three other NL teams that had the same or better records, and the Nats won 4 more games with a much lower payroll.
2014 he didn’t deserve the award at all, finishing 6 games behind the Dodgers and 8 games behind Matt Williams’ Nats.
Fever, thank you, I do realize that.
Joe Girardi won it in 2006 with the Marlins, and had a losing record. It’s not just about record, it’s managing your team to that record.
Payroll does not equate roster efficiency at all.
And the Winner is……………….David Ross!
Bacon – The criteria for winning the award can be fickle, but in general it’s all about the manager that takes his team the farthest beyond expectations.
In 2010 NOBODY expected Bud Black to take the Pads to 90 wins, a team that was 75-87 the prior year. And yeah payroll absolutely does matter, when you have the second lowest payroll in MLB it’s a safe bet you don’t have several well paid established star players on the team.
There’s no guarantees in anything, but managing a high payroll team (which usually means established talented players) is almost always easier than managing a tiny payroll team (which usually means young and inexperienced)..
I think all three AL managers have a compelling case for winning the award, but I think Hyde gets it because he took a very young and inexperienced team and won 101 games and the division title despite being in a very tough division.
Regular season award.
Hopefully the stove gets turned on for some trades today. Interested to see what the twins do with Farmer
I think the deadline for tendering arbitration offers may still be a few days away. But Farmer could certainly get traded or even non-tendered today if the Twins need the roster spot.
Luvullo is deserving of something other than being ignored. I’d vote for him over the the others nominated.
Lovullo’s team was outscored during the regular season. Fell under .500 in August, recovered but then closed the season losing 5 out of 8 and their last 4 straight barely clinging to a playoff spot.
The voting is based on the regular season, not playoff magic.
If it was up to the crews that covered the NLCS and WS, he would have gotten it right then and there. Fox’s coverage of him greatly overshadowed Bochy.
—Spoiler alert for the Qualifying Offers—
DECLINE
DECLINE
DECLINE
DECLINE
DECLINE
DECLINE
DECLINE
Didn’t you mean Qualifying Offer?
40+ year Os fan here… I think Hyde has done a remarkable job with the Orioles, but that he actually should have won it for his work last season. This year, I really can’t argue with Bochy winning. He’s honestly been one of the best managers in MLB for many years, and the Rangers improvements this year over 2022 – not even factoring in the playoff success – give good reason for this long overdue recognition.
That said I’d of course be ecstatic if Hyde won.
It’s a regular season award. The Rangers’ playoff success has nothing to do with it.
Which is why I said not even factoring it in.
how many manager of the year awards did dusty baker win? i wouldn’t be surprised if it is zero. tremendously overrated
Hyde gets my vote. Dominated AL in regular season with less experienced team.
I wonder if the RS fans are going to go postal again this year if Song & Politi aren’t protected?
I think Oli Marmol should be in the final three for his absolute magic trick of still having a job.
MOTY should be voted on by the players and the managers, not the corrupt BBWAA who can easily be lobbied and bribed. Some of these writers are making 30/40k a year and are driving around in 100k cars purchased in cash through a shell company established either in Nevada or Virginia. If you know, you know.
This “finalists” stuff is absurd. It isn’t the “Miss America” pageant.
“Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of a sentence, set off by two commas—it needs to be at the start. How do you mess this up and then get it right in the next sentence? Maybe learn a new word, Deeds.