Outside the Confines: Unanimous MVP

I hope you’re all doing well on the last Friday before Thanksgiving.

• We interrupt this celebration of the best that MLB has to offer by pointing out that there is definitely going to be a lockout on December 2. How do I know that? Because commissioner Rob Manfred said on Thursday that an off-season lockout could really be a good thing. Or at least he said that “an offseason lockout that moves the process forward is different than a labor dispute that costs games.” I mean, yeah, it’s better to have a work stoppage in the winter when there are no games than in July. But of course, Manfred wouldn’t say that if he didn’t expect the owners to lock the players out. Also at that link, Manfred announced a lot of things that are good like progress towards pitch clocks and pre-tacked baseballs.
• Evan Drellich has more on what Manfred said and tries to put it in some context. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• MLB is also moving forward with its harebrained plan to have the Rays split their time between Tampa Bay and Montreal. However, no actual concrete steps towards such a plan have been taken. Just a lot of talk from the Rays about how awesome it would be.
• And in actual good news coming from the commissioner’s office, MLB has announced that it will provide housing for most minor league players starting in 2022. The only exceptions will be players on the 40-man roster (covered by major league contracts) and minor leaguers with salaries over $100k a year. (Yes, some minor league free agents do sign six-figure deals.) I’ll have more on this in a separate article later today.
• OK, now on to the fun stuff. Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani was unanimously elected American League MVP.
• Sarah Langs has 15 “cool and crazy” stats from Ohtani’s magical season.
• Dayn Perry writes that winning the MVP unanimously puts Ohtani in some rare company and also has some thoughts on his season.
• Dylan Hernández offers his thoughts on Ohtani’s season and asks if the Angels can now surround Ohtani with a wining team and convince him to stick around.
• In a much closer vote over in the National League, Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper was named the NL MVP.
• In winning his second MVP award, Harper joins Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Frank Robinson and Jimmie Foxx as only the fifth player to win MVP awards with two different teams.
• Ken Rosenthal had an NL MVP ballot and he explains his choice of Harper as the NL MVP and the rest of his ballot as well. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Anthony Castrovince has Ohtani and Harper’s reactions to winning the awards.
• MLB also announced the Cy Young Awards since the last time this column ran and Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes won the NL Cy Young in a very close vote over the Phillies Zack Wheeler.
• Corey Seidman looks at the different cases for Burnes and Wheeler for NL Cy Young.
• Once again, the AL wasn’t as close as Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray won easily over the Yankees Gerrit Cole. Cole got one first-place vote to keep Ray from winning unanimously.
• Sarah Langs notes that Ray is the rare Cy Young Award winner to be a free agent after his award-winning season.
• Mike Axisa looks at possible free agent destinations for Robbie Ray.
• The baseball experts at ESPN.com debate whether the voters for each award got it right.
• On to Hot Stove stuff. The Mets finally have a general manager as former Angels GM Billy Eppler has agreed to a four-year deal with the Amazin’s.
• Justin Toscano has Eppler’s biggest priorities for the offseason.
• Ben Clemens has a shopping list for each AL Central and NL Central team.
• Thirteen players who were given a qualifying offer rejected it. Giants first baseman Brandon Belt was the only one to accept it.
• Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rejected his qualifying offer and immediately re-signed with the Astros for one-year and $25 million. The deal also has a player option for another season at $25 million. Brendan Gawlowski evaluates the deal and what the Astros can expect out of Verlander.
• Bradford Doolittle grades the Verlander deal with the Astros. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Luke Hooper checks out Noah Syndergaard’s one-year, $21 million deal with the Angels and what the Angels can expect out of Syndergaard. Basically, they can’t expect anything. He could win the Cy Young and he could miss the entire season with an injury.
• Mark Feinsand explains why teams are trying to sign pitching so quickly—i.e. before the lockout.
• Earlier, the Blue Jays had signed pitcher José Berríos to a seven-year extension. Keegan Matheson explains why Berríos is such a great fit for Toronto.
• The Rockies signed catcher Elias Diaz to a three-year contract extension.
• Jake Mailhot likes the Marlins’ trade for reliever Louis Head.
• Jonathan Mayo has a list of top prospects who need to be added to the 40-man rosters today or expose them to the Rule 5 draft.
• If you want more ominous baseball news, Bill Shea looks at what might happen if the Sinclair regional sports networks declare bankruptcy next season. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, in a bit of satire, Ben Carsley has a list of jokes that super-agent Scott Boras didn’t make at the GM Meetings last week. (Free registration req.)

And tomorrow should be a better day than today, Buster.