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Ronald Acuña Jr. Wins NL MVP

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For the first time in his career, Ronald Acuña Jr. is an MVP. The Baseball Writers Association of America announced this evening that Acuña was unanimously selected as the National League’s top player. Dodger teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman finished second and third, respectively.

Acuña has been a star for years. The sport’s #1 prospect before he reached the majors in 2018, he won Rookie of the Year and finished 12th in MVP voting during his debut campaign. He got onto MVP ballots in each of the next two seasons and has been named to the All-Star Game in every season since his rookie year (excluding the 2020 campaign in which there was no Midsummer Classic).

In 2023, he firmly cemented himself as one of the top three to five players in the game. Acuña turned in an unbelievable .337/.416/.596 batting line over an NL-high 735 trips to the dish. He led the majors in hits and runs scored from the top of a loaded Atlanta lineup and paced the Senior Circuit in OPS. The Venezuela native tied his career high with 41 home runs and stole a major league leading 73 bases.

That power-speed impact was unparalleled in baseball history. Acuña became the first player ever to go 40-70. One could quibble with his NL-leading 14 times caught stealing or middling defensive grades in right field, but the sheer offensive dominance and unprecedented nature of Acuña’s stat line made him the clear choice in the eyes of voters.

While this was his career season to date, Acuña could be a perennial MVP candidate He won’t turn 26 until December and is squarely in the midst of his prime. Only adding to the appeal for the Braves is that they have their superstar outfielder on perhaps the game’s most team-friendly contract. Acuña is signed for a total of $61MM over the next three years, while the team has options that could (and very likely will) keep him in Atlanta through 2028.

Acuña winning the award was expected. That he received all 30 first-place votes is a bit more surprising. Betts ranked second on every ballot, hammering home how clearly that duo had separated themselves from the pack. The Dodger star hit .307/.408/.579 over 693 plate appearances. He played solid defense in right field and handled the middle infield with aplomb, logging action at second base and shortstop.

Freeman and Matt Olson were third and fourth on every ballot, with Freeman picking up four more third-place nods to secure the #3 spot overall. Corbin Carroll, Juan Soto, Austin Riley, Luis Arraez, Cody Bellinger, William Contreras and Blake Snell all received at least one fifth-place vote. Others receiving votes: Francisco Lindor, Bryce Harper, Fernando Tatis Jr., Ha-Seong Kim, Ozzie Albies, Logan Webb, Pete Alonso, Marcell Ozuna, Devin Williams, Dansby Swanson, Kyle Schwarber, Zac Gallen, Christian Walker, TJ Friedl and Nick Castellanos.

As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB.com (on X), this is the first time in MLB history in which both MVP selections were unanimous. Shohei Ohtani took all 30 first-place nods in the American League. Full voting results are available courtesy of the BBWAA.

Image from USA Today Sports.

Wisconsin Legislature Approves Brewers’ Stadium Renovation Plan

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The Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill approving stadium renovations at Milwaukee’s American Family Field on Tuesday, as covered by Jessie Opoien of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While the bill still needs approval from governor Tony Evers to officially pass, he has already announced his intent to sign off.

Under this funding plan, the state is agreeing to pay just under $366MM to support the stadium upgrades through 2050. Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee will each contribute $67.5MM. The Brewers are expected to pay roughly $150MM — around $100MM of that via rent and approximately $50MM devoted to discretionary upgrades. In total, the public funding amounts to a little over half a billion dollars over the course of 26 years.

Once signed into law by the governor, the plan will put to rest any questions about the Brewers’ future in Milwaukee. The team’s lease at American Family Field, which had been set to expire after the 2030 season, will be extended through 2050. In August, team officials floated the possibility of relocation if a lease extension weren’t agreed upon this fall. That’ll no longer be a concern for Brewer fans, at least for the better part of the next three decades.

“We now can all go to sleep tonight knowing the Brewers are going to be here for the next generation in a great, beautifully maintained ballpark that is worthy of the fans’ support,” the team’s business operations president Rick Schlesinger told reporters (including Opoien) on Tuesday.

Some residents will surely have qualms about committing significant public funding to stadium upgrades. There was opposition among the state senate, with the bill passing by a narrow 19-14 margin.

The Brewers have played in Milwaukee since 1970. The franchise began as an expansion team in Seattle but spent only one season there before moving to Wisconsin. With the Rays and Brewers reaching agreements on stadium deals, the A’s are the only franchise that will be relocating in the near future. MLB’s owners unanimously approved the Athletics’ application for relocation to Las Vegas this morning.

A’s Acquire Abraham Toro

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The A’s have acquired infielder Abraham Toro in a trade with the Brewers. Minor league pitcher Chad Patrick is headed back to Milwaukee. Oakland already had four vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no further move was necessary.

Toro, 27 next month, has now been traded three times in his career. The former Astro draftee went to the Mariners in the Kendall Graveman deal at the 2021 deadline. Toro didn’t find consistent offensive success over a season and a half in Seattle. He hit only .213/.276/.342 in 605 plate appearances (roughly one full year of playing time) through the end of the 2022 campaign.

As a result, the Mariners looked to upgrade at second base. They sent Toro alongside designated hitter Jesse Winker to Milwaukee for Kolten Wong. The trade didn’t work out for anyone involved. Wong was released by August while Winker slumped to a .199/.320/.247 line before hitting free agency. Toro barely played for the Brew Crew, getting into just nine MLB contests.

Toro spent most of the season on optional assignment to Milwaukee’s Triple-A team in Nashville. The switch-hitter had solid numbers there, running a .291/.374/.471 batting line over 414 plate appearances. He only hit eight home runs but walked at an excellent 11.8% clip while striking out 17.6% of the time. Despite the solid numbers, Milwaukee stuck with light-hitting rookie Brice Turang at second base and rotated through a number of third base options. 26-year-old rookie Andruw Monasterio and scuffling veteran Josh Donaldson got looks at the hot corner instead of Toro.

That limited usage made him a non-tender candidate approaching Friday’s deadline. While his projected $1.3MM arbitration salary isn’t exorbitant, it’s almost twice the league minimum rate. Toro is also out of minor league option years. Milwaukee would have had to keep him on the MLB roster or designate him for assignment at the beginning of next season.

Oakland is apparently more willing to take that shot. The A’s have almost nothing locked down in the infield. Second baseman Tony Kemp hit free agency. A’s third basemen (primarily the since-traded Jace Peterson, Jordan Diaz and Aledmys Díaz) combined for dreadful .192/.271/.285 batting line. Toro has a solid minor league track record and is eligible for arbitration through 2026. The A’s can afford to give him some run in what’ll be another uncompetitive season to see if he can hit MLB pitching.

The move for Milwaukee is mostly about clearing the roster spot and projected salary. Rather than a straight non-tender, they’ll pick up a mid-tier pitching prospect. Patrick joined the A’s before the trade deadline in the deal that sent Peterson to the Diamondbacks.

A former fourth round pick, Patrick spent the 2023 campaign in the upper minors. He logged a 5.59 ERA over 124 innings between the Arizona and Oakland organizations. The Purdue-Northwest product struck out 23% of opponents while issuing walks at a slightly high 9.4% clip. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until next offseason, so Milwaukee can keep him in Nashville as non-roster rotation depth.

Diamond Sports Group Could Drop Guardians, Rangers Broadcasts

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The ongoing Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy could soon affect another two franchises. Evan Drellich and Mike Vorkunov of the Athletic report that the broadcasting corporation is considering dropping its in-market TV deals with the Guardians and Rangers before the 2024 season.

Diamond, which operates the Bally Sports networks, already severed contracts with the Padres and Diamondbacks during the 2023 campaign. MLB stepped in to handle in-market broadcasting for those clubs. Diamond had sought to pay reduced rights fees to the Twins, Reds, Guardians and Rangers during the year as well. The bankruptcy court eventually awarded those teams their full rights fees.

If Diamond officially drops two more agreements, the Cleveland and Texas organizations will have to find alternate means of broadcasting within their local markets. MLB could step in to ensure those games aren’t blacked out, as it did for the Padres and D-Backs. Perhaps the franchises could line up an agreement with a new regional sports network during the offseason. In any event, it’s a suboptimal situation — albeit one which team executives were surely anticipating at this point.

“Our intention is to broadcast almost all of (our) Major League Baseball teams next year,” one of Diamond’s attorneys said in today’s bankruptcy proceedings (relayed by Drellich and Vorkunov). “There are a few, a very few, for which we do not have agreements in place. And that, frankly, at this point, are too expensive for us to broadcast without concessions. I am told that those discussions are taking place, there have been reach-outs to both of the teams involved.”

Diamond has local broadcasting deals with 11 teams. That figure was 14 at the beginning of the ’23 season. In addition to the lapsed deals with San Diego and Arizona, Bally’s contract with the Twins expired at the conclusion of the year. Dan Hayes of the Athletic wrote yesterday that a new short-term deal with Diamond to carry Minnesota’s 2024 broadcasts hasn’t been ruled out.

The Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers also have existing contracts with Diamond. Jonathan Randles and Steven Church of Yahoo! Finance write that attorneys for both Diamond and Sinclair — the media conglomerate which had acquired Diamond in 2019 — indicated in today’s court proceedings that Diamond might be liquidated entirely at the end of the 2024 MLB season. (Sinclair and Diamond now operate independently after Diamond accused Sinclair of siphoning funds from the subsidiary.)

The uncertain TV rights picture could impact the spending habits for those franchises. The Twins are scaling back payroll this offseason. Only the franchise’s ownership and front office know precisely how much that’s a result of the TV picture, but Minnesota president of baseball operations Derek Falvey has called it a contributing factor.

While the Twins have run almost exactly average player payrolls, Cleveland and Texas have been on opposite ends. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Guardians ranked 25th in Opening Day payroll this year. The Rangers opened the season ninth and have the fifth-highest projected outlay for 2024 on the heels of their World Series win.

Padres, Cal Mitchell Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Padres are signing outfielder Cal Mitchell to a minor league deal, reports Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic (X link). He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

It’s a homecoming for the San Diego native. A product of Rancho Bernardo high school, he was a second round pick of the Pirates in 2017. Mitchell hit well enough in the low minors to hold a spot among the top 30 prospects in the Pittsburgh system for a few years. He carried that offensive success as high as Triple-A, where he posted a .339/.391/.547 line in 63 games in 2022.

That earned the left-handed hitter his first MLB opportunity. Mitchell didn’t produce much in that initial look, posting a .226/.286/.349 showing across 232 trips to the plate. The Bucs kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis for the majority of 2023. He didn’t find the same kind of success as he had there a year ago.

Mitchell hit .261/.333/.414 over 78 Triple-A contests this past season. His strikeout rate doubled, ending at an alarming 29.4% clip. He played in only two big league games and was designated for assignment in September. Mitchell cleared outright waivers and became a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Still just 24 (25 in March), Mitchell will battle for a spot in the San Diego outfield in exhibition. He’s limited to the corners. San Diego has Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. there but limited depth otherwise. Taylor Kohlwey occupies a 40-man roster spot after hitting .276/.390/.437 in Triple-A.

Mariners To Add Brant Brown To Coaching Staff

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The Mariners are hiring Brant Brown in an unspecified coaching role, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com (X link). Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported this afternoon that Brown was interviewing with Seattle.

Brown, 52, spent the 2023 season as hitting coach with the Marlins. He’d previously served as a hitting coach with the Dodgers before joining eventual NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker’s first staff in Miami. Brown has spent the past half-decade coaching major league hitters. Before joining Los Angeles, he had worked for the Mariners as a minor league coordinator.

Specifics of his new role in Seattle are unclear, although Mish indicates it’s a bigger role on the hitting staff than Brown had held in Miami. Considering he was already the hitting coach with the Fish, it’s possible he’ll take on something like an offensive coordinator role with Seattle.

The Marlins were a slightly below-average offensive team this past season. They finished 19th with a .316 on-base percentage and .405 slugging mark. Miami was only 26th in overall run scoring, although their pitcher-friendly ballpark surely plays a role in that. That’s also true of the roster, which was still built primarily around pitching. Miami’s 2023 numbers were improved on those from the preceding season; they finished 27th in OBP and 28th in slugging the year before Brown’s arrival.

Miami will look for a hitting coach for a second straight offseason. John Mabry and Jason Hart held assistant hitting coach roles this past season. Mabry has a fair amount of prior experience as a lead hitting voice. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald indeed floats him as a possibility to step into Brown’s place.

Gerrit Cole Wins American League Cy Young Award

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As expected, Gerrit Cole is the 2023 Cy Young winner in the American League. The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the Yankee star has won the award. Former Minnesota right-hander Sonny Gray was the runner-up, while Toronto’s Kevin Gausman took home third place.

There wasn’t a ton of intrigue, as Cole received all 30 first-place votes. While he’s a six-time All-Star and two-time ERA champion, this is his first career Cy Young. No AL pitcher topped Cole’s 209 innings, while he led Junior Circuit pitchers (minimum 150 innings) with a 2.63 ERA. He was sixth among that group with a 27% strikeout rate and trailed only Gausman and Pablo López with 222 punchouts overall.

That well-rounded dominance made Cole an easy call as the AL’s best pitcher in the eyes of voters. It’s his sixth top five finish and the third time he has been a finalist, as he’d twice before finished as runner-up. Having at least one Cy Young on his résumé could go a long way towards burnishing an eventual Hall of Fame case.

For now, the 33-year-old will look to replicate this year’s success in hopes of leading the Yankees back to the postseason. Despite Cole turning in one of the best seasons of his career, New York floundered midseason and finished barely above .500. Cole will be in the Bronx for at least one more year. He’s headed into year five of a nine-year, $324MM free agent contract. He has the ability to opt out after next season.

Gray received 20 second-place votes to earn the highest Cy Young finish of his career. It was well timed for the three-time All-Star, who hit free agency a couple weeks ago. Gausman secured seven second-place votes and was the most common selection for third. Stray second-place votes went to Luis Castillo and Zach Eflin, although Baltimore’s Kyle Bradish edged out that duo for fourth in overall balloting.

Others to receive at least one vote: López, George Kirby, Framber Valdez, Chris Bassitt, Félix Bautista and Chris Martin. The full results are available at the BBWAA website.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brewers To Add Rickie Weeks To Coaching Staff

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The Brewers are adding Rickie Weeks to the major league coaching staff, as first reported by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. A coaching position is opening with the reported promotion of bench coach Pat Murphy to manager.

It isn’t clear if Weeks will receive Murphy’s old title. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that the 41-year-old is taking on responsibilities that would traditionally fall to the bench coach, however.

Whatever the specific role, it’ll be the first MLB coaching gig for the longtime second baseman. The #2 overall pick of the 2003 draft, Weeks played in the big leagues for nearly a decade and a half. Eleven seasons came in Milwaukee, where he made an All-Star Game in 2011. Weeks hit .249/.347/.424 as a member of the Brew Crew. He later suited up with the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Rays before finishing his playing days in 2017.

Weeks returned to his original organization in February 2022 — this time as a player development assistant. He clearly impressed in that role, as he lands an MLB coaching job two seasons later. Weeks was floated as a candidate for the managerial job between Craig Counsell’s departure and the agreement to hire Murphy. It isn’t known if he received a formal interview for that position.

Promoting Weeks directly to manager would have been a bit of a surprise given his limited coaching experience (although the Guardians tabbed Stephen Vogt just one year removed from his retirement as a player). Working on Murphy’s staff could position Weeks well for managerial opportunities down the line. In the interim, he’ll be back in the dugout at American Family Field.

Latest On Shohei Ohtani’s Free Agent Timeline

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An offseason defined by Shohei Ohtani’s free agency hasn’t been especially active within the first couple weeks. For most of the game’s top spenders, the winter may well be defined by whether they land the two-way superstar.

Those clubs may not have to wait long to learn the answer. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote this morning that teams involved in the Ohtani market believe the expected AL MVP might make his decision early, potentially before the Winter Meetings begin on December 4.

Despite that possibility, there haven’t been many teams substantively linked to Ohtani. That’s by design, as it seems his camp isn’t interested in spotlighting his free agent process. Passan writes that clubs pursuing the three-time All-Star believe that if word of a sit-down with Ohtani were made public, “it will be held against the team.”

Even in the absence of substantive reports of teams meeting with Ohtani, it’s not hard to identify the likelier suitors. The incumbent Angels have made no secret of their hope of keeping him around. Teams like the Padres and Cubs have been mentioned in more speculative fashion.

Passan unsurprisingly lists the Dodgers, Rangers and Red Sox as teams likely to be involved. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto danced around an Ohtani question at last week’s GM Meetings but acknowledged the Seattle front office would “presumably” need to try to value a free agent who is without precedent. Dipoto subsequently indicated the team was open to bringing in a designated hitter, saying they’d “love to have a full-time DH, a banger who just goes out and bangs” (link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com).

The Giants are clearly searching for a star player. Both New York franchises figure to be involved. Passan indicates that the Blue Jays, not as frequently speculated as an Ohtani landing spot because of geography, could look for a way to make a splash this offseason (although he doesn’t specifically link Toronto to Ohtani beyond what seems a loosely speculative tie). Other teams could kick around ways to get involved on a player this unique. It’d be a real surprise if he didn’t land with a club accustomed to running a player payroll in the upper third of MLB, though.

Ohtani officially rejected a qualifying offer from the Angels this afternoon. That doesn’t affect his chances of returning to Anaheim. He was never going to consider a $20.325MM salary. Having to relinquish a draft choice and potentially international signing bonus room isn’t much of a factor for a player of this magnitude. Organizations considering a record-shattering contract may know within the next few weeks whether they’ll get that opportunity.

Brandon Hyde, Skip Schumaker Named Managers Of The Year

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The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the results of the Manager of the Year balloting. Miami’s Skip Schumaker and Baltimore’s Brandon Hyde were the respective winners in each league. It’s the first such honor for both.

That’s apparent in Schumaker’s case, as the 43-year-old takes home the hardware for his first season on the job. The Marlins hired him off the Cardinals’ coaching staff last offseason. Miami was coming off a 69-93 showing but improved by 15 games in Schumaker’s first year. The Fish went 84-78 and secured the second Wild Card spot in the National League. It marked their first playoff appearance in a 162-game season since 2003.

Few anticipated Miami making that kind of run. They were widely perceived as the fourth-best team in the NL East entering the season. Their success came despite a -57 run differential, as Miami went a staggering 33-14 in one-run contests. How much of that is attributable to good sequencing is up for debate, although it stands to reason voters are giving Schumaker credit for his successful handling of the bullpen in so many late-game situations. The Fish were bounced in the Wild Card round by the Phillies.

While the Marlins were a surprise playoff team, the Orioles claiming the #1 seed in the Junior Circuit might have been even less expected. Baltimore had clearly positioned itself as a team on the rise following an 83-79 showing in 2022. Yet few projected them as favorites in what looked like a stacked AL East going into the year.

Hyde’s club nevertheless improved by 18 games, jumping to a 101-51 season. They ran down and held off the Rays to claim the division title. Baltimore stuck by Gunnar Henderson through some early-season struggles and saw the talented infielder blossom into a star. He was a unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year, while Adley Rutschman reinforced his place as an elite catcher in his second big league campaign. Kyle Bradish stepped forward as an unexpected staff ace, while top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez had a promising second half.

The season didn’t end as the organization hoped. The O’s were swept in the Division Series by the eventual champion Rangers. (That’s not relevant for awards purposes, as the voting is conducted before the postseason.) Hyde’s club nevertheless made a clear statement they’re positioned as consistent contenders entering what’ll be his sixth year at the helm.

Schumaker edged past Craig Counsell (then of the Brewers) and Atlanta’s Brian Snitker in the NL voting. The finalists were joined by Torey Lovullo, Dave Roberts and David Bell in receiving at least one first-place vote. Hyde’s victory was moire resounding, as he picked up 27 of 30 first-place nods. The Rangers’ Bruce Bochy, who finished in second, got the other three selections. Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash finished in third place.

Full voting results: National League, American League

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