Bird Watching - Buck Up For Manager Of The Year, Mark Trumbo Gets Qualifying Offer, And Zach Britton Gets Snubbed

The MLB offseason kicked off this week with the deadline for teams to offer free agents a qualifying offer. Only 10 players were offered a QO, one of them being an Oriole, we will get into that later on. Free agency also started this week, but nothing usually gets going with that for a few weeks. I went over the Gold Glove candidates a few weeks back, and it’s a crock of shit that Manny Machado and Chris Davis were shut out.

Now it is time for the other awards to get underway, and we found out the 3 finalists for MVP, Manager of the year, and Cy Young. Maybe the most deserving guy was left out of the running for Cy Young, wonder who that could be?

Zach Britton Was Snubbed

You know it, I know it, the fans know it, every hitter in the American League knows it. Zach Britton had the most dominant season for a reliever in MLB history. 47-47 in save opportunities, a 0.54 ERA, the lowest in MLB history for pitchers with at least 50 innings. The three guys who were named finalists over him all had great seasons, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, and Rick Porcello. I get why starters who pitch over 200 innings are more valuable than guys who pitch 70. But the Cy Young is given to the best pitcher in each league, Zach Britton did his job better than anyone else in the league. And if I hear one more “Looks like the writers left Britton in the bullpen like Buck did” joke, I’m going to kill myself.

If he blows one save, the O’s don’t make the playoffs, plain and simple. He had to get the three hardest outs of the game, and he did it, over and over and over and over. Seriously, what else did he have to do?  Harold Reynolds called it “the worst omission I’ve ever seen” about Britton being left off. Talk to any scout, GM, manager in the league, and I guarantee you they will say Britton deserved to be there. If Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, or Craig Kimbrel have these numbers, I bet my big toe that they would be a finalist. It’s unreal that he was overlooked. He may not have the innings pitched the starters do, but he was doing it every day, back-to-back, and several times a week.

The guy allowed ONE earned run after April, and some 79 year old guy who hasn’t watched a baseball game since color tv was invented felt that a guy with those stats wasn’t one of the top three pitchers in the American League. This just goes to show how flawed this system is. I get that people don’t want to vote for relievers for Cy Young, I get it. Then make them ineligible for it. Make the Mariano Rivera award a more prestigious award, and leave the Cy Young just for starters. That way we don’t have to have this argument. Maybe make it do DHs can’t win the MVP, they don’t do the same thing position players do, maybe they should be looked down upon like relievers are the Cy Young. Bottom line is that Britton was one of the three best pitchers this season, zero doubt about it.

Buck Showalter Is A Finalist For American League Manager Of The Year 

Saw this one coming, Buck is a finalist for the award along with Cleveland’s Terry Francona, and Texas’ Jeff Banister. Banister lead the Rangers to the best record in the AL at 95-67, Francona managed the Indians to a 94 win season. While Francona led his team to the World Series where they dropped the series in 7, Banister’s club got swept by Toronto in the ALDS. Yeah, I know voting was before the playoffs, and if the votes were counted after the playoffs, Buck may not be in the running. Showalter is looking to take home his fourth Manager of the year award this season.

I think Francona wins this award, and rightfully so. The Indians had a fantastic year, surprised some people, and really put the American League on notice. They did it without Michael Brantley for most of the season, and did it with a ragtag group of guys. Mike Napoli had a great comeback year, they made the trade for Andrew Miller, and got left at the alter by Jonathan Lucroy. Banister and the Rangers got off to a hot start, and never looked back. They were a popular pick to make it to the World Series before the bats got cold in October. They made the moves to make a postseason run, but it just didn’t come together for them.

Buck did what Buck does, he gets the most out of his guys. Every sports publication wrote the Orioles off, said they only hit the long ball, can’t pitch with the big guys, no way the pitching will hold up. We heard every excuse in the book. I saw them picked to win anywhere from 69-80 games, most places had them finishing in last place, behind the Rays and Yankees, those writers should be put down. He lead them to an 89 win season, and a playoff spot for the third time in five years. Buck did a fantastic job with the pieces he had, the guy stuck with Ubaldo when I wanted his head above my fire place, and got some great starts from him. Any manager that can make the playoffs with Yovani Gallardo starting for you, has to get a vote or two.

Mark Trumbo Is Offered A Qualifying Offer, Matt Wieters Was Not

You have to like this move for the Orioles, offering Silver Slugger Mark Trumbo the qualifying offer. It jumped to $17.2 million this season, and that isn’t cheap for a one-year deal. If he accepts it, they keep a top 5 power hitter in the game, if he declines it, they get the draft pick from whoever signs him. They couldn’t risk letting Trumbo walk and not getting anything in return, like what happened after 2014 with Nelson Cruz. He now has less than a week to let the Orioles know if he will be back. I don’t think he will take it, and he shouldn’t. He is hitting free agency for the first time, is still relatively young, and can easily cash in on a big deal, hopefully not from a division rival. I hope he comes back, but it doesn’t seem likely. They could always work out a multi-year deal with him, which I am all in favor of, but I don’t blame him for looking for a long-term deal to finally get paid.

It wasn’t a surprise that Matt Wieters was not offered a qualifying offer. We did this song and dance with him last year, and everyone assumed he would decline and walk. Wrong. He accepted, made $15.8 million for this season, and many fans felt that money could have gone to a pitcher, or to another outfielder. That is the risk you take with these. It seemed likely that Wieters would not be offered one again, because let’s be real, $17.2 for one year of service is a steal for him. He won’t get close to that on the open market. They can still re-sign him in free agency, and you have to think DD will at least attempt to do that. Wieters is the best catcher in a weak free agent class, so he will likely be in demand, and with Scott Boras representing him, you know he is going to try and get the most for Matt.

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It will be interesting to see where he ends up, Atlanta, Washington, the Mets, and White Sox are assumed to have an interest in him. He never quite lived up to the expectations here, but he was a key member on some good Orioles teams, and was part of the core that helped bring winning baseball back to Baltimore.

I’ll be back throughout the offseason with plenty more updates as they come in.