Judge, Bellinger rookies of the year
The only major question was whether it would be unanimous — and it was.
Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are baseball’s Rookies of the Year for 2017 after their record-setting home run binges eliminated any reasonable competition for the honors. Judge led the American League with 52 homers, the most ever by a rookie. Bellinger hit 39 and had to settle for the National League’s rookie record.
Judge and Bellinger received every first-place vote available from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Judge became the first New York Yankees player to receive this award since Derek Jeter in 1996. Bellinger gave the Dodgers a record 18th Rookie of the Year winner.
Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi finished second in the AL vote, followed by Baltimore slugger Trey Mancini. St. Louis infielder Paul DeJong was the NL runner-up, with Pittsburgh first baseman Josh Bell finishing third.
Judge is also a finalist for the MVP award. Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 and Fred Lynn in 1975 are the only players to win the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
The Yankees entered this season with marginal expectations by their standards, but the prodigious power of Judge and catcher Gary Sanchez transformed them almost overnight into an exciting young team with tremendous potential. Judge’s 495foot shot on June 11 was the longest home run in the major leagues this season, according to Statcast. Although he struck out 208 times in the regular season and 27 more in the postseason, the 25-year-old outfielder is one of a handful of reasons why the Yankees suddenly seem to have one of the brightest futures of any team in baseball.
Bellinger is the second straight Dodgers player to win Rookie of the Year. Shortstop Corey Seager did it last year.
Bellinger made his big-league debut in late April. By the time he turned 22 on July 13, he had 25 home runs. The 6-foot-4 first baseman is an appropriate counterpart to the powerful Judge. They even hit from opposite sides of the plate: Judge is a righty and Bellinger swings lefthanded.
This is the first time both Rookie of the Year awards were unanimous since 1997, when Nomar Garciaparra of Boston and Scott Rolen of Philadelphia won.
Marlins have Stanton on the market
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Miami Marlins will spend this week’s general managers’ meetings shopping Giancarlo Stanton, the pricey slugger who led the major leagues with 59 home runs but does not fit into the plans of the new payroll-paring baseball operations staff headed by former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter.
As the meetings began Monday, Marlins president of baseball operations Mike Hill said, “I think over the next few days I’ll get a feel for what the marketplace is for our players.”
Stanton, who turned 28 last week, is owed $295 million over the final decade of his record $325 million, 13-year contract. He has a full no-trade provision, so he can determine his destination.
Beltran retires at 40 after winning World Series title
ORLANDO, Fla. — Carlos Beltran is retiring at age 40 after winning his first World Series title in his 20th major league season.
The outfielder made the announcement Monday, 12 days after the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.
Beltran is a nine-time All-Star who won the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year award and three Gold Gloves.
His production dropped dramatically this year. He hit .295 with 29 homers and 93 RBIs for the New York Yankees and Texas in 2016. He then batted .231 with 14 homers and 51 RBIs for Houston.
He finishes with a .279 average, 435 homers, 1,587 RBIs and 312 stolen bases.