2018 Award Season

[Eye Black]

To answer the question asked earlier here is a schedule of important dates and calendar events during the MLB off-season (via Cleveland.com)...

 

* One day after World Series ends, eligible players can file for free agency.

 

* The conclusion of the fall classic also starts the clock on a five-day "quiet period" where teams can negotiate exclusively with their own free agents, but are prohibited from signing anybody.

 

* At the end of the "quiet period," clubs must decide whether or not to extend one-year qualifying offers to free agents. The qualifying offer was $17.4 million last year and will likely be around $18 million this offseason.

 

* Also at the end of the five-day quiet period, clubs are faced with a deadline whether or not to pick up player options for the 2019 season.

 

* The day after the five-day quiet period, free agents are allowed to sign with any club, kicking off free agency in the traditional sense.

 

Nov. 5, 2018: BBWAA Awards Finalists announced. The top three finalists in each of the BBWAA's four major awards categories will be revealed on MLB Network.

 

Nov. 6, 2018: Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners announced.

 

Nov. 6-8, 2018: General Managers' meetings, Carlsbad, Calif.

 

Nov. 8-15, 2018: MLB All-Star tour of Japan.

 

Nov. 12, 2018: Rookies of the Year announced.

 

Nov. 13, 2018: Managers of the Year announced.

 

Nov. 14, 2018: Cy Young Awards announced.

 

Nov. 15, 2018: MVP Awards announced.

 

Nov. TBA, 2018: Deadline for free agents to accept qualifying offer (15 days after World Series ends).

 

Nov. 26-29, 2018: MLBPA Executive Board Meeting, Dallas.

 

Nov. 30, 2018: Non-tender deadline (last day for teams to offer 2019 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters).

 

Dec. 9-13, 2018: MLB Winter Meetings, Las Vegas.

 

Dec. 9, 2018: Hall of Fame Today's Game committee vote announced, Las Vegas.

 

Dec. 13, 2018: Rule 5 Draft. Teams can choose non-exempt players from other clubs' minor league systems, but those players must remain on the selecting team's 25-man roster for the duration of the season, or be offered back to their original club.

 

Jan. 11, 2019: Players and teams exchange salary Arbitration figures.

 

Feb. 1-20, 2019: Arbitration hearings.

[RollieTime]

I am not sure how it works in the MLB, but is Hader considered a rookie? Therefore, eligible to win the rookie of the year award? I have not heard him mentioned anywhere for the award. If he is eligible for it, he will most likely be the run away rookie of the year winner.

[Eye Black]

I believe he is technically eligible because he was under 50 innings in 2017, but I also think it’s likely that the NL Rookie of the Year Award is a two horse race: Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr.

[long ball]

I am not sure how it works in the MLB, but is Hader considered a rookie? Therefore, eligible to win the rookie of the year award? I have not heard him mentioned anywhere for the award. If he is eligible for it, he will most likely be the run away rookie of the year winner.

 

it's 50 IP or 45 days of mlb service time (September doesn't count)

 

Per Cot's, Hader had 115 days of mlb service time in 2017. So even removing the 30 days for September he lost rookie status last year.

[djoctagone]

gold glove winners announced tonight at 8:00 central on espn.

[pacopete4]

Cain, ribbed.

[HarveysWBs]

Cain, ribbed.

 

Gold Glove is an absolute joke. We know how good Cain is. It’s a shame for him that he’s unlikely to ever get a Gold Glove, but if he gets another ring, I think he’ll find a way to consider his career fairly successful. Go Crew.

[sveumrules]

Cain was at +20 DRS, +8.7 UZR & 19 Outs Above Average.

 

Inciarte was at +17 DRS, +7.2 UZR & 21 Outs Above Average.

 

That's about as close as you can get given the margin of error inherent with single season defensive metrics.

[NYChez]

If there was a vote on “who had the highest batting average in the National League”, a majority of voters would pick against Yelich.

[brewmann04]

This type of Bs makes me think Baez will win the mvp

[pacopete4]

Cain was at +20 DRS, +8.7 UZR & 19 Outs Above Average.

 

Inciarte was at +17 DRS, +7.2 UZR & 21 Outs Above Average.

 

That's about as close as you can get given the margin of error inherent with single season defensive metrics.

 

Then make it a tie like they did for first base.

[502 to Right]

Cain did win the Fielding Bible award for CF for MLB in 2018. I considering the Fielding Bible award to be more credible than the Gold Glove award.

 

http://www.fieldingbible.com/the-winners.asp

[Patrick425]

Cain, ribbed.

 

Gold Glove is an absolute joke. We know how good Cain is. It’s a shame for him that he’s unlikely to ever get a Gold Glove, but if he gets another ring, I think he’ll find a way to consider his career fairly successful. Go Crew.

 

 

I agree that the Gold Glove awards have been historically inconsistent to say the least. However, the normal knock on them is that the voters tend to pick guys that also have good offensive numbers or "star quality" names over players that actually deserve the award. In this case Inciarte is not a better offensive player than Cain and is really not any more well-known than Cain, so that narrative does not really fit here. As sveumrules pointed out, their numbers are fairly close, so it seems like perhaps the voters actually may have done some homework and Inciarte may have just been able to get an extra vote or two (to they show detailed results anywhere?).

[long ball]

Cain was at +20 DRS, +8.7 UZR & 19 Outs Above Average.

 

Inciarte was at +17 DRS, +7.2 UZR & 21 Outs Above Average.

 

That's about as close as you can get given the margin of error inherent with single season defensive metrics.

 

I did think Cain was going to win and I'm bummed that he didn't, but Inciarte is certainly very deserving as you pointed out.

 

The NL Gold Glove field is really deep at CF. Almora, Marte, and Bader are all fantastic in CF too.

[djoctagone]

manager of the year announced tonight at 5:00 central.

[OnaBadger58]

Brian Snitker wins NL Manager of the Year. I can see why he won it, but I really feel Counsell deserved that award. Imo, Counsel did more with less and molded his coaching strategies perfectly for what the Brewers strengths and weaknesses were.

 

*and Joe Maddon received one first place vote by a Chicago reporter. What a joke.

[KeithStone53151]

Without looking at results, i don't think CCs in game decision making were manager of the year worthy. Probably not top 3. I think his value comes from everything leading up to the game and big picture strategy(a lot of which is probably more stearns than cc). The club house presence with him has always been excellent, and guys have improved individually quite a bit under his tenure. I also think CC will learn from mistakes this season and get better.

 

So i guess all that said, im ok with him not getting the award as i don't think he's the best manager. But based on the metrics all the writers are using, cc probably should have won the award.

[MadScientist]

Without looking at results, i don't think CCs in game decision making were manager of the year worthy. Probably not top 3. I think his value comes from everything leading up to the game and big picture strategy(a lot of which is probably more stearns than cc). The club house presence with him has always been excellent, and guys have improved individually quite a bit under his tenure. I also think CC will learn from mistakes this season and get better.

 

So i guess all that said, im ok with him not getting the award as i don't think he's the best manager. But based on the metrics all the writers are using, cc probably should have won the award.

All of that is part of managing. He mixed data analysis with dealing with real human players without any negative stories coming out of the clubhouse. We can always second guess a manager's decisions, but he took that roster and that staff and turned it into the most wins in the NL. The Braves manager had to have done a good job given how much better the Braves were than expected, but I will always think the writers made the wrong call.

[jerichoholicninja]

Not to take anything away from what the Braves did, but they won the division because the Nats totally flopped and the Phillies choked it away at the end. Also had two other teams in the division that were putting in little effort to win.

 

In the NL Central, the Cubs and Cardinals played about as expected and only the Reds were in tank mode.

 

The Braves have a very talented team and probably should have been a wild card contender this year but they basically had the division gifted to them while the Brewers led the league in wins while playing against the teams with 2nd and 6th most win in the NL. Heck, the Braves would have finished 3rd in every other division in baseball other than the AL Central.

[coolhandluke121]

Manager/coach of the year awards should be renamed "we didn't think they'd be that good and we can't possibly have been wrong about the team's ability, so the manager/coach must have done something extra special to make them better than we thought they'd be" awards. That's all they ever are. Team exceeds expectations? Give the manager credit.

 

Those awards never go to great managers/coaches if everyone thought the team would be good anyway, even if the manager/coach has been there a long time and part of the reason they're always good, whether you realize it or not, is because of the manager/coach. Also, most of those voters probably can't cite a darn thing the manager/coach did differently from what any average manager/coach would do.

 

The Braves have a ton of young talent and they started producing earlier than expected, not to mention playing in an incredibly weak division. I don't think the manager had much to do with it. On the other hand, you can cite all kinds of things Counsell did differently from what most managers do to get the most out of his team, especially in terms of using the bullpen.

[anglotiger]

Manager/coach of the year awards should be renamed "we didn't think they'd be that good and we can't possibly have been wrong about the team's ability, so the manager/coach must have done something extra special to make them better than we thought they'd be" awards. That's all they ever are. Team exceeds expectations? Give the manager credit

 

I was expecting this. To be fair. Snitker was clearly a worthy candidate but the margin was ridiculous. How many of the voters who put Snitker in first place were a part of the (large) majority of the national press who predicted before the season that the Brewers would regress and be .500 or worse? How soon they (conveniently) forget...

 

In the end, while awards are nice, who cares? Counsell, while not perfect, is a really good manager and I (for one) would rather have him as manager than Snitker. What he did this year, with the rotation that he had to work with, due to injuries and the like, was extraordinary and is to be lauded.

[Boomer5]

Counsel is the best manager in the game.

 

Joke of an award taking nothing away from the Braves guy, but he simply do as good a job a CC did.

[danzig6767]

Without looking at results, i don't think CCs in game decision making were manager of the year worthy. Probably not top 3.

So then which managers in game decision making were manager of the year worthy in comparison since you are sure multiple ones were better?

[MrTPlush]

I am shocked you guys just figured out how dumb the COTY award can be. It is so tough to honestly vote on that. How on earth does one accurately quantify a managers meaningfulness? It is all about opinion and usually the guy who shocked the league wins it. I thought Counsell would have had a great chance after Game 163 falling in our favor...but obviously people are very opinionated about how we went about using pitchers etc. and I don't think that was very beneficial to us.

[coolhandluke121]

I am shocked you guys just figured out how dumb the COTY award can be.

 

I am shocked that you think people just now figured it out.