EVANS, MUNSON, WHITAKER ON BALLOT
N.Y.» Dwight Evans, COOPERSTOWN,
Thurman Munson and Lou Whitaker have been added to the ballot for the baseball Hall of Fame’s modern era committee to consider next month, and Luis Tiant has been dropped.
Former players’ association head Marvin Miller will be on a Hall of Fame ballot for the eighth time when the modern era committee meets Dec. 8 ahead of the winter meetings in San Diego. Other holdovers on the 10-man ballot announced Monday are Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker and Ted Simmons.
The modern era committee considers candidates from 1970-87, and a candidate needs at least 75% of the vote to be elected. The Hall will announce the members of the committee at a later date.
Anyone picked will be inducted to the Hall on July 26 along with candidates elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in a vote announced Jan. 21. Former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter will be on the ballot for the first time.
Finalists named for baseball honors.
YORK» Los Angeles Angels NEW outfielder Mike Trout, Houston third baseman Alex Bregman and Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien are finalists for the AL MVP award.
Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger and Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich are the top three for the NL honor. Other finalists:
• AL Cy Young: Houston’s Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, and Tampa Bay’s Charlie Morton.
• NL Cy Young: New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom, Washington’s Max Scherzer and the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu.
• NL rookie: Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, Atlanta right-hander Mike Soroka and San Diego shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr.
• AL rookie: Houston designated hitter Yordan Álvarez, Tampa Bay second baseman Brandon Lowe and Baltimore left-hander John Means.
• AL manager: The Yankees’ Aaron Boone, Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash.
• NL manager: Atlanta’s Brian Snitker, Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell and St. Louis’ Mike Shildt.
The winners will be announced next week.
Bumgarner gets qualifying offer.
YORK» Madison Bumgarner was NEW among 10 free agents who received $17.8 million qualifying offers from their former teams, a move that probably will decrease demand for the 30-year-old left-hander.
Bumgarner, the 2014 World Series MVP, went 9-9 with a 3.90 ERA over 34 starts this year after two injuryshortened seasons. San Francisco also made a qualifying offer to lefthanded reliever Will Smith.
Six pitchers received the qualifying offers, including right-handers Gerrit Cole (Houston), Stephen Strasburg (Washington), Zack Wheeler (New York Mets) and Jake Odorizzi (Minnesota). The others given the offers were third basemen Anthony Rendon (Washington) and Josh Donaldson (Atlanta), first baseman José Abreu (Chicago White Sox) and outfielder Marcell Ozuna (St. Louis).
Trump honors Nationals.
President Donald Trump honored the World Series champion Nationals at the White House, though a handful of players skipped the visit.
Amid an impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill and Washington feting its first Major League Baseball champion since 1924, Trump hugged Kurt Suzuki after the catcher put on a “Make America Great Again” hat. Trump received a No. 45 Nationals jersey from first baseman Ryan Zimmerman.
Vela is MLS’s MVP.
Carlos Vela was named the most valuable player of Major League Soccer after his record 34-goal regular season for Los Angeles FC.