Scherzer, Kluber win Cy Young Awards
MLB hopes for new Japan posting deal
WASHINGTON, Nov 16, (Agencies): Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer won his second consecutive Cy Young Award as the National League’s top pitcher on Wednesday while Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians took home American League honors.
Scherzer earned 27 of the 30 firstplace votes from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to finish ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, 201126.
For Scherzer, who led the NL with 268 strikeouts and ranked second in ERA (2.51) and fourth in wins (16), it marked the third Cy Young Award of his career having also won it in 2003 while playing for the AL’s Detroit Tigers.
Kluber returned from a back injury that limited his starts early in the season and put together a stunning second half to overtake Boston ace Chris Sale in the AL Cy Young Award race to capture the award for the second time in four seasons.
The Indians right-hander led the AL in wins (18) and ERA (2.25) and was rock-solid during his team’s AL record-setting 22-game win streak from late August to mid-September.
Kluber earned 28 of 30 first-place votes for 204 points compared to 136 for Sale, who seemed to be a lock for the award until struggling over the final two months of the season.
Major League Baseball’s awards week concludes on Thursday with the Most Valuable Player Award for each league.
Major League Baseball hopes to put in place a new posting system agreement with Japan by early December, a deal that would allow star pitcher-outfielder Shohei Otani to start negotiations with big league teams.
MLB Chief Legal Officer Dan Halem said a new framework has been agreed to with Nippon Professional Baseball and has been given to the Major League Baseball Players Association for its approval.
After that, MLB owners would hold a conference call for an approval vote.
Otani, a 23-year-old with the Pacific League’s Nippon Ham Fighters, would be restricted to a minor league contract with a maximum signing bonus of $3,535,000, with each team having different amounts to spend.
Halem also hopes to have a separate deal with the players’ association by mid-January on pace-of-play changes such as a pitch clock, limits on mound visits. Baseball also is considering split screens to allow commercials on broadcasts as halfinnings start.
“Proposals have been exchanged and in-person meetings have taken place,” he said. “I would characterize those discussions as being in the beginning. We have a ways to go. In terms of the calendar, I think we would need to complete those discussions by mid-January in order to effectively roll them out and explain them to umpires and our clubs.”
Nine-inning games averaged a record
In this May 31, 2017 file photo, Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer works in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in
San Francisco. (AP)
3 hours, 5 minutes during the regular season and 3:29 in the postseason.
Now a rookie executive instead of a veteran player, Derek Jeter arrived for his first major league owners’ meeting and said the Miami Marlins are listening to trade offers for slugging outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.
Jeter became the Marlins’ chief executive officer when a group headed by venture capitalist Bruce Sherman bought the team Oct 2 from Jeffrey Loria. The former New York Yankees captain, a five-time World Series champion, said Miami needed to turn around both on and off the field. Payroll will be cut, and Stanton could be dealt after hitting 59 home runs — the highest total in the major leagues since 2001.
Stanton a 28-year-old outfielder, is guaranteed $295 million over the remaining decade of his record 13-year contract. He will earn $25 million next season and has a full no-trade provision, giving him power to control any deal.
New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner says the decision to replace manager Joe Girardi had long been discussed before the move was made last month.
Speaking Wednesday ahead of a major league owners’ meeting, Steinbrenner says “this is not something that came from two or three weeks.” Steinbrenner says he consulted regularly with general manager Brian Cashman about the decision and adds “it came from two, three, four years and everything we observed in that time period.”
New York, in the midst of a move toward youth, came within one win of its first World Series since 2009, losing Game 7 of the AL Championship Series to Houston.
Steinbrenner says, “You’ve got to consider the fact that you have a young team and that maybe a different type of leadership perhaps is needed for a younger team than it is for a veteran team.”