Price comeback complete
Lefty lands award
Finally, an award for David Price.
Price, who was questionably not named the World Series MVP, took home some hardware yesterday when Major League Baseball announced him as the American League Comeback Player of the Year.
The award is voted on by the 30 beat writers from MLB.com.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
Price posted a 2018 season that wasn’t much different from his 2017 season, it just lasted longer.
The 33-year-old lefty had a strong 2017, though elbow issues kept him sidelined for April, most of May and all of August. He finished with a 3.38 ERA in 74⅔ innings before shining out of the bullpen in the Division Series.
Price “bounced back” from the injury-shortened year to go 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 176 innings. It’s unclear if the award is voted on before or after the postseason, but Price certainly sparkled in October again this year, throwing 26 innings with a 3.46 ERA. More importantly, the Red Sox went 4-2 in the six games he pitched.
The Red Sox have captured three of the last eight A.L. Comeback Player of the Year awards. Jacoby Ellsbury won in 2011 and Rick Porcello won in 2016.
J.D. not designated
Depending who votes, there’s a different answer to the question, who was the best designated hitter in 2018?
J.D. Martinez captured the Silver Slugger Award for the DH, as well as a Silver Slugger in the outfield, when those awards were announced earlier this month. Silver Sluggers are voted on by the managers and players.
But the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award was announced yesterday and Martinez was not the winner. The honor went to the Oakland A’s Khris Davis.
The Outstanding DH Award is in its 45th season (it was renamed in 2004 in honor of Edgar Martinez) and is voted on by a variety of folks in baseball including broadcasters, beat writers and the teams’ public relationships departments.
The ballot is sent along with a compilation of statistics from the season, but the stats are only those accumulated by the player while he was acting as the DH.
Though Martinez’ offensive numbers overall on the season clearly out-shined those of Davis, his numbers specifically as a DH were not as convincing.
As a DH, Martinez had 350 at-bats, hitting .297 with 27 homers and 79 RBI while Davis had 535 at-bats, hitting .247 with 46 homers and 118 RBI.
First deal done
The Red Sox made their first trade of the offseason yesterday, acquiring minor
league reliever Colten Brewer from the San Diego Padres for minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz.
With the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft looming at 8 p.m. ET last night, the Padres appeared to be in need of space on their 40-man roster and had no room for Brewer.
The 26-year-old righthander had a 5.59 ERA in 9innings last year in his first taste of big league action. A fourth-round pick in 2011, he had a 3.75 ERA in Triple-A while striking out 63 batters to 15 walks in 48 innings. Brewer has two minor league options remaining, making him a candidate to be on the shuttle between the Red Sox and PawSox in 2019.
Quiroz, 26, is a career minor leaguer who hit .299 in limited action with Double-A Portland last year.
The Sox also outrighted right-hander Austin Maddox, who missed the entire season with shoulder issues, to Pawtucket.
They requested release waivers for William Cuevas so that he can sign in Korea.
They also protected Michael Chavis, Travis Lakins, Josh Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez and Denyi Reyes from the Rule 5 by adding them to the big league roster. The Red Sox 40-man roster is now at 39.