Looking to boost their ’pen, A’s trade Healy to Mariners
Looking for help in the bullpen, the A’s made the first big move of the winter by sending first baseman/ designated hitter Ryon Healy to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for righthanded pitcher Emilio Pagan and minor league infielder Alexander Campos on Wednesday night.
Healy hit .271 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs last season, but became expendable with Matt Olson and Matt Chapman locked in at first and third and slugger Khris Davis set to become the full-time designated hitter.
Pagan went 2-3 with a 3.22 ERA through 34 games in his first year in the big leagues last season. He also racked up 56 in 50.1 innings pitched. A 26-yearold right-hander selected in the 10th round of the 2013 draft, Pagan figures to slot into a late-inning role with an A’s bullpen that struggled to hold leads late at times in 2017.
Campos, 17, is rated as the 15th-best prospect in Seattle’s farm system by MLB.com. He played mostly shortstop in the Dominican Summer League last season. Signed as an international free agent in July, 2016, the Venezuelan-born infielder hit .290 with two home runs and drove in 26 runs through 59 games. He also walked 41 times, building up a .413 on-base percentage in 207 at-bats. SCHERZER, KLUBER CAPTURE CY YOUNG AWARDS >> Max Scherzer heard his name and thrust his arms in the air, shouting and smiling big before turning
to kiss his wife.
Corey Kluber, on the other hand, gulped once and blinked.
Two aces, two different styles and now another Cy Young Award for each.
The animated Scherzer of the Washington Nationals coasted to his third Cy Young, winning for the second straight year in the National League. He breezed past Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, drawing 27 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Kluber’s win was even more of a runaway. The Cleveland Indians ace took 28 first-place votes, easily outpacing Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox for his second AL Cy Young.
Scherzer’s win moves him into rare company.
He’s the 10th pitcher with at least three Cy Youngs, and among the other nine, only Kershaw, Roger Clemens and the late Roy Halladay aren’t in the Hall of Fame Kershaw and Halladay aren’t yet eligible.
Scherzer was 16-6 with a career-best 2.51 ERA this year. The 33-year-old righty struck out a leagueleading 268 for the NL East champion Nationals, and in an era noted for declining pitcher durability, he eclipsed 200 innings for the fifth straight season. He had to overcome a variety of ailments to get there.
Kluber missed a month of the season with back pain and still easily won the AL award over Sale and thirdplace finisher Luis Severino of the New York Yankees. Kluber led the majors with a 2.25 ERA, and his 18 wins tied for the most in baseball. He added to the Cy Young he won with the Indians in 2014 and is the 19th pitcher to win multiple times.
JETER, MARLINS LISTENING TO STANTON TRADE OFFERS >> Now a rookie executive instead of a veteran player, Derek Jeter arrived for his first major league owners’ meeting in Orlando, Florida, 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 fivetime 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.
“We’re exploring options, what opportunities are there,” Jeter said. “We’re listening. Teams haven’t only reached out about Stanton. They’ve reached out about a lot of our players, which says a lot about the players in our organization.”
MLB LOOKS TO HAVE NEW POSTING SYSTEM >> Major League Baseball hopes to reach a new agreement on a posting system with Japan by early December, a deal that would allow star pitcher-outfielder Shohei Otani to start negotiations with big league teams.