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March 16th Spring Training Notes: Florial, Sabathia, Gregorius, Higashioka, King, Wagner

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The Yankees hammered the Blue Jays this afternoon. Thirty-one runs the last two days. Seems good. Aaron Judge hit another home run, his sixth of the spring. He also has four doubles and zero singles. Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Matt Lipka, Jorge Saez, and Zack Zehner all went deep as well. Urshela, Thairo Estrada, and Tyler Wade all doubled while Estrada and Clint Frazier tripled. Ten of the team’s 19 hits went for extra bases.

J.A. Happ started and allowed three runs (two homers) in three innings. He’s allowed six homers in 11.1 innings this spring. Going to be a fun home run race between Happ and Judge this season. Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman threw well on the second day of back-to-back days (Britton threw a simulated game yesterday). Phil Diehl got hit hard for the first time this spring, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings. Meh. It happens. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the day’s notes from camp:

  • Estevan Florial left this afternoon’s game after crashing into the center field wall. He’s going for precautionary x-rays on his right wrist. That’s the wrist he had surgery on last year. “We think it’s something minor … He hit his wrist a little bit on that play off the wall. They don’t feel like it’s anything big, but we’re going to make sure of it,” said Aaron Boone. [Coley Harvey, Bryan Hoch]
  • As scheduled, CC Sabathia threw two innings and 32 pitches in a simulated game today. Here’s some video. Normally the next step after a two-inning simulated game would be a Grapefruit League appearance. With Sabathia, I’m guessing it’ll be another simulated game. [Conor Foley]
  • Didi Gregorius (Tommy John surgery) is currently making 50 throws from 90 feet as part of his throwing program. He’ll stretch it out to 120 feet next week. Gregorius doesn’t know his target return date, which isn’t surprising given how much more rehab he has ahead of him. [Jack Curry]
  • Kyle Higashioka was optioned down and sent to minor league camp after catching Sabathia’s simulated game, the Yankees announced. I unofficially count 49 players in big league camp now. I reckon there could be another round of cuts following tomorrow’s split squad road games.
  • Prior to today’s game, the Yankees named Mike King and Brandon Wagner the 2018 Kevin Lawn Award winners as their Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Year. Congrats to them. Miguel Andujar and Domingo Acevedo won it last year, Aaron Judge and Chance Adams the year before.
  • Tony Clark and the MLBPA team were in camp today for their annual song and dance. The players held their meeting on a backfield rather than in the clubhouse because they’re worried about surveillance. Several teams have done that this spring. [Jack Curry, Buster Olney, Marc Carig]

Today’s game will be replayed on YES (5:30pm ET) and MLB Network (9am ET), if you’re interested. The Yankees have a pair of split squad road games tomorrow. James Paxton will start against the Phillies and Jonathan Loaisiga will start against the Orioles. Both games will be televised live.

Judge, Stanton, Gregorius, Hicks all receive 2018 MVP votes

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(Presswire)

As expected, Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts was named the 2018 AL MVP earlier tonight. He received 28 of 30 first place votes. Mike Trout finished second in the voting and Jose Ramirez finished third. Trout has two MVPs, four second place finishes, and one fourth place finish in his seven big league seasons. That is pretty nuts.

Betts of course had a marvelous season, hitting .346/.438/.640 (185 wRC+) with 32 homers and 30 steals. He led all players with +10.4 fWAR and +10.9 bWAR. That’s position players and pitchers, AL and NL. Betts led them all. Trout was right behind him though. Trout hit .312/.460/.628 (191 wRC+) with 39 homers in addition his defensive and baserunning excellence.

Aaron Judge received two seventh place and two tenth place votes to finish 12th in the overall AL MVP voting. He was the runner-up to Jose Altuve for last year’s AL MVP, as I’m sure you remember. Judge would’ve been a more serious MVP candidate this year had he not missed seven weeks with a fractured wrist. The injury put an end to his MVP chances.

Also receiving votes were Giancarlo Stanton (one eighth place, one tenth place), Didi Gregorius (one ninth place, one tenth place), and Aaron Hicks (one tenth place). This is the first time four different Yankees received MVP votes in the same season since 2012, when Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Rafael Soriano, and Raul Ibanez drew votes. The full voting results are at the BBWAA’s site.

No Yankees won an award this year. Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres finished second and third in the Rookie of the Year voting, respectively, and Aaron Boone finished fifth in the Manager of the Year voting. Luis Severino received a token fifth place in the Cy Young voting. Now, back to the offseason.

Luis Severino finishes ninth in the 2018 AL Cy Young voting

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(Getty)

Earlier tonight, MLB and the BBWAA announced Rays southpaw Blake Snell is the 2018 AL Cy Young award winner. The Yankees hit him pretty well this year. Nine runs and four homers in 13.1 innings across three starts. Justin Verlander finished a close second in the voting and trade target Corey Kluber finished third.

Luis Severino received one fifth place vote and finished ninth in the voting in his second full big league season. He finished third behind Kluber and Chris Sale last year. Severino is the first Yankee to get Cy Young votes in back-to-back years since (who else?) CC Sabathia, who had three straight top four finishes in the voting from 2009-11. The full voting results are at the BBWAA’s site.

Severino of course had an uneven season this year, pitching incredibly well in the first half and pretty terribly in the second half. The end result was 3.39 ERA (2.95 FIP) with 220 strikeouts in 191.1 innings, which is obviously quite good. Only 26 AL pitchers threw enough innings to qualify for the ERA title this year. Severino’s ranks:

  • ERA: 3.39 (ninth)
  • ERA+: 129 (seventh)
  • FIP: 2.95 (fifth, tied with Snell)
  • Strikeout Rate: 28.2% (seventh)
  • K/BB Ratio: 4.78 (fourth)
  • WAR: +4.8 (eighth)

Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres finished second and third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, respectively, and Aaron Boone finished fifth in the AL Manager of the Year race. The MVPs will be announced tomorrow. The Yankees do not have a finalist but I would expect some of their players to get down ballot votes, most notably Aaron Judge.

Aaron Boone finishes fifth in AL Manager of the Year voting

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(Mike Stobe/Getty)

In his first season as a manager or coach at any level, Aaron Boone finished fifth in the AL Manager of the Year voting. MLB and the BBWAA announced earlier tonight that A’s skipper Bob Melvin has been named the 2018 AL Manager of the Year. Not a surprise given their improvement from 75-87 last year to 97-65 this year. Red Sox manager Alex Cora finished second in the voting and Rays skipper Kevin Cash was third.

For all intents and purposes, the Manager of the Year award is the “manager of the team that most exceeded expectations” award, and that doesn’t fit Boone or the Yankees at all. The Yankees came into the season as World Series contenders and they were very good, going 100-62 and finishing with the third best record in baseball. Generally speaking, they met expectations, and meeting expectations doesn’t win this award.

Boone received received two third place votes and finished behind Melvin, Cora, Cash, and Astros manager A.J. Hinch. This is the tenth straight season the Yankees’ manager received Manager of the Year votes. Joe Girardi did not receive any votes in 2008, his first season with the team, but he received votes every year from 2009-17. Girardi won the NL award with the 2006 Marlins and topped out with a third place finish in 2009 with the Yankees.

The full voting results are available at the BBWAA’s site. As a reminder, these are regular season awards only. Ballots are cast before the postseason. No one asked me, but I would’ve voted for Cash. Cash got his team to buy into the “opener” strategy and it was a big reason they won 90 games. The opener machinations are one of the few tangible pieces of evidence we have of a manager making a difference on the field. Shrug.

Miguel Andujar finishes runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for Rookie of the Year

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Yankees will not have back-to-back AL Rookies of the Year. Earlier tonight, MLB and the BBWAA announced Angels slugger-slash-pitcher Shohei Ohtani has been named the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year. Ohtani received 25 of 30 first place votes. Miguel Andujar came in second and received the other five first place votes. Gleyber Torres finished third. Here are the full voting results.

Although Torres was the better all-around player this past season, Andujar was widely regarded as the biggest challenger Ohtani, who was simply incredible. The guy hit .285/.361/.564 (152 wRC+) with 22 homers and threw 51.2 innings with a 3.31 ERA (3.57 FIP) and 29.9% strikeouts. A deserving Rookie of the Year through and through. I would’ve voted for him.

Andujar and Gleyber both started the season in Triple-A and ended the season as important players for the Yankees. Andujar hit .297/.328/.527 (128 wRC+) with 27 homers and tied Fred Lynn’s AL rookie record with 47 doubles. He was probably the team’s most consistent hitter. Torres hit .271/.340/.480 (120 wRC+) with 24 homers. If you’re interested, here are the AL rookie WAR leaderboards:

Baseball Reference WAR
1. Joey Wendle: +4.3
2. Shohei Ohtani: +3.9
3. Brad Keller: +3.5
4. Gleyber Torres: +2.9
5. Jaime Barria: +2.6
6. Miguel Andujar: +2.2

FanGraphs WAR
1. Shohei Ohtani: +3.8
2. Joey Wendle: +3.7
3. Miguel Andujar: +2.7
4. Brad Keller: +2.5
5. Ramon Laureano: +2.1
6. Jose Alvarado: +2.0
t-7. Gleyber Torres: +1.9

Even though Andujar (or Torres) didn’t win, the Yankees did have two of the top three finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting, and that’s pretty darn cool. This is also the third straight year they’ve had a top two finisher in the voting. They’d never done that before. Gary Sanchez was the runner-up in 2016 and Aaron Judge of course won the award unanimously in 2017.

The last team with two top three finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting was the Dodgers with Corey Seager and Kenta Maeda in 2016. The last AL team to do it was the 2013 Rays with Wil Myers and Chris Archer. This is the first time since 1949 (Jerry Coleman third), 1950 (Whitey Ford second), and 1951 (Gil McDougald won) that the Yankees had a top three Rookie of the Year finisher in three straight years.

Furthermore, the Yankees have now had multiple players receive Rookie of the Year votes in one season for the third time in the last five years. Andujar and Torres did it this year, Judge and Jordan Montgomery did it last year, and Dellin Betances and Masahiro Tanaka did it in 2014. Hopefully Justus Sheffield and someone else (Jonathan Loaisiga? Mike King?) can do it again in 2019.

The Yankees do not have any finalists for the other major awards. Some of their guys will get votes, for sure, but they won’t finish in the top three. Managers of the Year will be announced tomorrow with the Cy Youngs and MVPs coming Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Andujar and Torres among AL Rookie of the Year finalists

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(Presswire)

Earlier tonight MLB and the BBWAA announced finalists for 2018’s major awards. That is the Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young, and Most Valuable Player. The league has been announcing three finalists for each award in each league for a few years now. They’re trying to drum up interest.

As expected, both Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres are among the AL Rookie of the Year finalists. They’re up against Angels righty-slash-slugger Shohei Ohtani. Here are all the award finalists. The Yankees did not have any other finalists, which isn’t surprising. Having two Rookie of the Year finalists is pretty cool though.

Andujar and Gleyber both started the season in Triple-A before quickly taking over as cornerstone infielders. Andujar hit .297/.328/.527 (128 wRC+) with 27 homers and an AL rookie record 47 doubles. Torres hit .271/.340/.480 (120 wRC+) with 24 homers. Here are the AL rookie WAR leaderboards:

Baseball Reference WAR
1. Joey Wendle: +4.3
2. Shohei Ohtani: +3.9
3. Brad Keller: +3.5
4. Gleyber Torres: +2.9
5. Jaime Barria: +2.6
6. Miguel Andujar: +2.2

FanGraphs WAR
1. Shohei Ohtani: +3.8
2. Joey Wendle: +3.7
3. Miguel Andujar: +2.7
4. Brad Keller: +2.5
5. Ramon Laureano: +2.1
6. Jose Alvarado: +2.0
t-7. Gleyber Torres: +1.9

I am pretty sure Ohtani is going to win Rookie of the Year, folks. The guy hit .285/.361/.564 (152 wRC+) with 22 homers and threw 51.2 innings with a 3.31 ERA (3.57 FIP) and 29.9% strikeouts. That is straight up bonkers. And Ohtani did that while adjusting to a new league and a new country. He was incredible. I’d vote for him. Sorry, but it’s true.

The last team with the first and second place finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting was the 2011 Braves with Craig Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman. The last AL team to do it was the 1984 Mariners with Alvin Davis and Mark Langston. The Yankees are guaranteed to have a top two finisher in the Rookie of the Year voting for the third straight season. Gary Sanchez was the runner-up in 2016 and Aaron Judge won the award last year.

As for the other awards, it’s no surprise the Yankees did not have any finalists. Judge’s wrist injury took him out of the MVP race and Luis Severino’s second half fade took him out of the Cy Young race. Aaron Boone never had much of a chance in the Manager of the Year voting. Not with some of the other things that happened around the league.

Next week is awards week. Manager of the Year will be announced on Monday, Rookie of the Year on Tuesday, Cy Young on Wednesday, and MVP on Thursday. They’ll all be revealed during a live MLB Network broadcast at 6pm ET.

Update: Gardner, Judge, and Tanaka do not win Gold Gloves

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(Presswire)

November 4th: The Gold Glove awards were announced tonight and neither Gardner nor Judge nor Tanaka won. Gordon won in left field, Betts won in right field, and Keuchel won at pitcher. Here are all the Gold Glove winners. Too bad Tanaka didn’t win. I thought he deserved it.

October 25th: Earlier today MLB and Rawlings announced the finalists for the 2018 Gold Glove awards. They’ve been announcing finalists for a few years now, I guess as a way to drum up interest. There are three finalists at each position in each league.

Anyway, here are all the Gold Glove finalists. The Yankees have three:

  • Left Field: Brett Gardner (up against Andrew Benintendi and Alex Gordon)
  • Right Field: Aaron Judge (up against Mookie Betts and Kole Calhoun)
  • Pitcher: Masahiro Tanaka (up against Dallas Keuchel and Corey Kluber)

Gardner and Judge were finalists last season as well, when they lost to Gordon and Betts, respectively. Mookie will win his third straight Gold Glove in right field for sure. He’s unreal out there. Also, Judge missed all that time with the wrist injury and that’ll hurt him. Gardner could beat out Benintendi and Gordon. Left field is up for grabs.

As for Tanaka, I’m very pleased his defense is finally getting some attention. Luis Severino is sneaky good in the field as well, but Tanaka is the best fielding pitcher the Yankees have had in quite some time. Of course, Tanaka made a pretty terrible error in the final week of the season. Remember this?

Good grief. That was the first and so far only fielding error of Tanaka’s big league career. (His only other error came came on a thrown away pickoff throw.) For what it’s worth, Tanaka led all AL pitchers with +7 Defensive Runs Saved this year. It wasn’t close. If he wins, he’d become the first Yankees pitcher to win a Gold Glove since Mike Mussina (2001, 2003, 2008).

The only Yankees who deserve Gold Glove consideration aside from Gardner, Judge, and Tanaka are Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks, and neither is among their position finalists. Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, and Andrelton Simmons are up at shortstop. Jackie Bradley Jr., Adam Engel, and Mike Trout are up in center. Engel, man. That guy’s so annoying.

The last Yankee to win a Gold Glove was Gardner in 2016. The Yankees haven’t had multiple Gold Glove winners in a single season since Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano in 2012. The Gold Glove winners will be announced live during an ESPN broadcast on Sunday, November 4th at 9pm ET. They’re announcing them at 9pm ET on a Sunday? Whatever.