MLB

MLB Offseason Round-Up: Award Predictions, Astros New Manager

Published

6 months ago

November 13, 2023

Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, MLB offseason

In what’s bound to be an exciting week of the MLB offseason, Major League Baseball will announce the winners of their major awards.

On Monday, the American League and National League Rookies of the Year will be named, followed by the Managers of the Year on Tuesday. Cy Young winners are revealed on Wednesday and MVPs on Thursday.

The finalists for all four awards in both leagues were recently revealed. Who will the winners be? Here are my predictions.

Rookie of the Year

American League Finalists: Tanner Bibee (Guardians), Triston Casas (Red Sox), Gunnar Henderson (Orioes)
Predicted Winner: Gunnar Henderson

Henderson’s 28 home runs were the most amongst all rookies. His 82 RBIs were good for second-most and he put together an OPS of .814. Henderson was a key reason the Orioles won 101 games and the A.L. East.

National League Finalists: Corbin Carroll (Diamondbacks), James Outman (Dodgers), Kodai Senga (Mets)
Predicted Winner: Corbin Carroll

Of rookies with at least 400 at-bats, Carroll led in OPS (.868) and slug (.506), was second in average (.285) and third in OBP (.362). He also hit 25 homers, drove in 76 runs and went 54 for 59 in stolen base attempts.

Manager of the Year

American League Finalists: Bruce Bochy (Rangers), Kevin Cash (Rays), Brandon Hyde (Orioles)
Predicted Winner: Brandon Hyde

This was a really, really tough choice between Bochy and Hyde for me. I ultimately chose Hyde because of the regular season success the Orioles had and how well Hyde managed all their young players.

National League Finalists: Craig Counsell (Brewers), Skip Schumaker (Marlins), Brian Snitker (Braves)
Predicted Winner: Skip Schumaker

This is admittedly the race I feel least confident in choosing. However, very few had the Marlins in the playoffs, so I went with Schumaker.

Cy Young

American League Finalists: Gerrit Cole (Yankees), Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays), Sonny Gray (Twins)
Predicted Winner: Gerrit Cole

The final four awards, to me, are fairly straightforward. Cole could have arguably won the Cy Young while with the Astros in in 2019, but I think he takes home the award for the first time in his career this year.

National League Finalists: Zac Gallen (Diamondbacks), Blake Snell (Padres), Logan Webb (Giants)
Predicted Winner: Blake Snell

Snell’s terrific 2023 campaign puts him in line to take home some hardware after leading baseball with a 2.25 ERA. He’s also looking at quite a payday on the free agent market this winter.

MVP

American League Finalists: Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Corey Seager (Rangers), Marcus Semien (Rangers)
Predicted Winner: Shohei Ohtani

Despite missing the final stretch of the season, Ohtani looks like he will win his second MVP. He was an All-Star caliber player as a hitter and a pitcher. As a free agent, the 29-year-old is looking at the biggest contract in league history.

National League Finalists: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Freddie Freeman (Dodgers)
Predicted Winner: Ronald Acuña Jr.

While Betts and Freeman had excellent seasons — as did Matt Olson — Acuña did things we haven’t seen in a long time. He stole an eye-popping 73 bases and oh by the way, hit 41 homers and totaled 106 RBIs.

New Manager in (H) Town

According to multiple reports, the Houston Astros have a new manager. They will be promoting bench coach Joe Espada to replace Dusty Baker. Espada had been serving as the Astros’ bench coach since the start of the 2018 season and was a part of the 2022 World Series championship team.

The San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers are the two teams left with managerial vacancies this MLB offseason.

Stay tuned as there should be plenty to talk about in what will be one of the busier weeks of the MLB offseason.