What is the story about?
Good
morning.
- Awards season has started and Brewers manager Pat Murphy won the National League Award for the third season in a row. That’s a record. White Sox manager Will Venable took home American League honors.
- The Rookie of the Year Awards went out on Monday and Reds first baseman Sal Stewart got the NL nod and Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle won the AL honors.
- The AL award wasn’t controversial, as McGonigle got 28 of 30 first-place votes. Still, Jordan Shusterman explains why he voted for Guardians left-hander Parker Messick.
- Cody Stavenhagen talks to the coaches and others who know McGonigle best about what makes him great. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Mark Sheldon asks if the Reds will sign Stewart to a long-term extension.
- The NL Rookie race had more disagreement, as Stewart got 20 of 30 first-place votes. Andrew Trednnick explains why Mets starter Carson Benge should have won.
- The Athletic’s Keith Law was one of the ten who didn’t vote for Stewart and he explains his vote for Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Matt Kelly ranks every Rookie of the Year winner. He seems to have forgotten Henry Rowengartner.
- Andrew Simon writes that by fWAR’s estimation, at least, 2026 was the best year for rookies ever.
- Michael Baumann notes that Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt had a very good rookie season and earned a long-term extension. But Pratt is not going to be the Brewers long-term shortstop, so what else could he do?
- Mike Axisa predicts the 2027 Rookie of the Year candidates.
- The Cy Young Awards will be handed out today and here’s the case for each of the six candidates.
- Before we get to all the speculation about the Hot Stove market, the Tigers have signed reliever Emilio Pagan to a one-year, $11 million deal. I think that’s the first major league deal of the season. Or at least the first major, major league deal. But not that major.
- Bob Nightengale has five executives to watch and ten players who could get dealt.
- Mark Feinsand has five teams to watch during the General Manager Meetings.
- There is this problem with the trade market, however:
- Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo have various tidbits from the GM Meetings, including the market for free agent Tarik Skubal. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Bob Nightengale argues that if the Dodgers want Skubal back, he’s going back to the Dodgers. And he can’t think of any reason the Dodgers wouldn’t want him back.
- Orioles team president Mike Elias said that the team is very unlikely to trade any of their “core” players. Now define “core players.”
- On the other hand, Ranger team president Chris Young said the Rangers are “open-minded” about trading anyone.
- Ken Rosenthal posits that it would be very difficult—but not impossible—for the Rangers to trade Corey Seager. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Braves team president Alex Anthopolous said Atlanta will not trade star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. There have been lots of rumors that they’d consider it, and he said he doesn’t know who came up with that. It always seemed far-fetched to me as well.
- Michael Baumann thinks that any team should want to sign left-hander Adrián Morejón, but whoever signs him should use him as a multi-inning reliever, not a starter. Or a closer, for that matter.
- Mark Feinsand gets some scouting reports on NPB Triple-Crown winner Teruaki Sato.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman responded to the criticism of the team coming from fans, the media and even former players.
- Yankees pitcher Max Fried had surgery to remove some bone spurs from his elbow. The team says he should be ready for Spring Training which to tell you the truth, doesn’t tell us much about Fried’s recovery schedule.
- Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said he and the team is disappointed in outfielder Anthony Santander after he shared anti-Muslim social media posts. Atkins said he’s spoke to Santander and told him to address the matter publicly.
- One of the new Padres’ owners said that the Padres are about “inclusion.” But then he added “not in a woke sort of way,” which just means everyone is likely to take offense to his statement. Kurt Badenhausen with the story.
- Jared Greenspan has the best pure skills available on the free-agent market.
- Matthew Roberson has his 2026 Underappreciated All-Stars.
- Ben Clemens dives deep into Royals pitcher Michael Wacha losing his superpower of preventing home runs in 2026. Wacha had kept his fly ball-to-home run ratio quite low over the past few years, until last year.
- Sad news as former All-Star catcher Bob Boone has died at 78. Boone was one of three generations of major leaguer players as his dad Ray and his sons Bret and Aaron were all major leaguers. Our condolences go out to Boone’s friends and family.
- And finally, the United States Postal Service announced that they will issue a Willie Mays stamp in 2027.
