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MLB

O’s Owner Angelos, 94

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BALTIMORE – (Wire Service Report) – Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos died Saturday at the age of 94, the team announced.

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“Mr. Angelos had been ill for several years, and the family thanks the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who brought comfort to him in his final years,” the Angelos family said in a statement. “It was Mr. Angelos’ wish to have a private burial, and the family asks for understanding as they honor that request. Donations may be sent to charity in lieu of flowers.”

A successful trial attorney who made his fortune in class-action lawsuits, Angelos led a group of investors that purchased his hometown Orioles from Eli Jacobs for a then-record $173 million in October 1993.

In January, the Angelos family agreed to sell controlling interest in the team to a group led by billionaire David Rubenstein — and including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. — for a reported $1.725 billion.

The Orioles, who have not been to the World Series since winning it in 1983, are coming off the winningest season (101-61) in Angelos’ tenure with the team. Baltimore made the playoffs six times in that span (1996, 1997, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2023).

–Field Level Media

Baseball Starts Season in Seoul

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SEOUL – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball’s regular season begins Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea, and Tuesday the league announced the starting pitchers for that game and the 15 Opening Day games that will be played March 28.

No fewer than 20 of the 30 pitchers named are All-Stars, and four of the Opening Day starters will be appearing with a new team.

Those staff aces making their debuts for their new teams are Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles, Tyler Glasnow of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds and Alex Wood of the Oakland Athletics.

In the Seoul Series opener, at 6:05 a.m. ET, Glasnow and the Dodgers meet Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres with the teams playing again 24 hours later.

MLB Network will have all the preview material for Opening Day covered with nine studio shows airing March 27.

Highlighting the March 28 slate is the lone interleague matchup, ESPN’s national broadcast between last season’s World Series champion Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs in Arlington, Texas.

The Rangers will send right-hander Nathan Eovaldi against Cubs lefty Justin Steele.

The Dodgers, favorites to win the 2024 World Series, return from Seoul to host the St. Louis Cardinals March 28.

Prized free-agent acquisition Shohei Ohtani is expected to play his first home game for the Dodgers in that contest, an MLB Network-televised matchup against Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.

A pair of leading American League contenders meet in Houston when the New York Yankees send Nestor Cortes against the Astros’ Framber Valdez.

There are also six divisional contests, highlighted by the Philadelphia Phillies’ visit to the Atlanta Braves in a rematch of the National League Division Series. The Phillies will send Zack Wheeler to the mound while ace Spencer Strider takes the bump for the Braves.

The Braves and Phillies combined to win 194 games last season.

–Field Level Media

Sox: Bello Reaps $55m Extension

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FORT MYERS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston Red Sox right-handed starter, Brayan Bello, agreed to terms on a six-year, $55 million extension, multiple media outlets reported. Per The Boston Globe, the deal includes a $21 million club option for a seventh season.

The reported contract comes on the heels of Red Sox offseason acquisition Lucas Giolito’s potential season-ending injury. ESPN reported Tuesday that initial imaging revealed a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his pitching elbow for Giolito.

Bello, who turns 25 in May, posted a 12-11 record with a 4.24 ERA in 28 games (all starts) last season. He struck out 132 batters in 157 innings but gave up 24 home runs.

That’s still an improvement from his first season with Boston in 2022. He was 2-8 with a 4.71 ERA in 13 games (11 starts).

“He’s an exciting, young starting pitcher that was acquired and developed internally. I think he embodies exactly what we’re trying to do,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said recently, per The Globe.

“We still think that his best years are ahead of him. We recognize some opportunities to further optimize the repertoire and we’re super excited about having him.”

–Field Level Media

Beltre, Mauer, Helton – Hall of Famers

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COOPERSTOWN – (Staff and Wire Services) – Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton became the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday night, when results of the balloting conducted by voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America was announced by president Josh Rawitch at the plaque gallery inside the museum.

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Beltre, a star third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers from 1998-2018, earned a resounding 95.1 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot.

Fellow first-ballot inductee Mauer, who played his entire career for his hometown Minnesota Twins from 2004-18, garnered 76.1 percent. His 293 votes were four more than the minimum needed to reach the 75 percent necessary for enshrinement.

Helton, a slugging first baseman who spent his 17-season career with the Colorado Rockies from 1997-2013, received 79.7 percent of the vote in his sixth season of eligibility.

Beltre, Mauer and Helton will be inducted along with former manager Jim Leyland — who was elected via the 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Committee on Dec. 3 — in a ceremony scheduled for July 21 in Cooperstown.

Beltre and Mauer are the first pair of first-ballot inductees since Mariano Rivera and the late Roy Halladay were enshrined in 2019. The three-person class elected by the writers is also the largest since 2019, when Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez were also elected.

Billy Wagner just missed with 73.8 percent of the vote in his penultimate season of eligibility. Gary Sheffield, in his 10th and final year on the ballot, finished at 63.9 percent.

Carlos Beltran, in his second year on the ballot, received 57.1 percent of the vote — up from 46.5 percent last year, when many believed he was being punished for his role in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. Chase Utley (28.8 percent) led the remaining debut candidates.

Beltre, the only third baseman to finish with at least 400 homers and 3,000 hits, is sure to wear a Rangers hat on his plaque after he concluded his career with an impressive eight-year stint in Arlington, Texas, that solidified his first-ballot status. While with Texas, he made three All-Star teams, won three Gold Gloves and finished in the top 10 in the American League MVP balloting four times while hitting .304 with 199 homers and 1,277 hits.

Beltre finished his 21-year MLB career as a .286 batter with 477 homers, 1,707 RBIs, 3,166 hits and 848 walks.

Mauer played all 15 seasons with the Twins and built his Hall of Fame case while spending his first 10 seasons behind the plate. The native of nearby St. Paul won three batting titles and three Gold Gloves as well as the AL MVP in 2009, when he set career highs with a .365 average, 28 homers and 96 RBIs. Mauer spent his final five seasons at first base following a series of concussions.

Another one-team icon, Helton earned induction on his sixth year on the ballot and will become the second Colorado Rockies player in the Hall of Fame, joining former teammate Larry Walker in Cooperstown. Helton batted above .300 in his first 10 full MLB seasons and finished his career with a .316 average along with 369 homers. He led the NL with a .372 average and 147 RBIs in 2000.

Wagner’s 422 saves rank sixth all-time. The diminutive left-hander made seven All-Star teams and averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings, the highest figure ever among pitchers to throw at least 900 innings.

Sheffield, a slugger known for his bat waggle and ferocious yet controlled swing, hit 509 homers and finished in the top 10 of the MVP balloting six times for five different teams.

Andruw Jones, a defensive whiz as well as a potent batter, received 61.6 percent on his seventh year on the ballot.

–By Jerry Beach, Field Level Media

TL’s Christmas Notebook | Dec 25th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) Wishes You a Merry Christmas

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Merry Christmas 2023 to all who celebrate the day. To others, this columnist wishes you sincere best wishes and joy for 2024 with peace in the holiday(s) you celebrate.

May we all wish for Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men (and women)!

As in years past, this Christmas-themed column carries the torch of the legendary writings of the late, great Shelby Strother. It also takes a look back at 2023 with a week-by-week listing of what was covered by While We’re Young (Ideas). Also in years past, there’s been some details written about Shelby and his family. Check it out HERE, from this antique December 2013 column.

Let’s get to it.

Each Christmas Day Contains the Past, Present and Future

By SHELBY STROTHER

It did not matter that the wind-chill was life threatening. It was Christmas morning, and a bright sun stabbed the frozen land. And children were playing.

The decision over which to play with – the official World Cup soccer ball or the Turbo Football – never materialized. With all the snow, a soccer match was out of the question. So spirals of pink and black performed in the most sincere imitations of Rodney Peete and Joe Montana floated back and forth in the yard.

What a nice sight.

The Annual Second Chance is near – it’s called New Year’s Eve. It is the window of opportunity where the hopes and fears of all the year (not to mention the mistakes) can be erased.

But Christmas Day is a time of reinforcement and the essence of tomorrow. And children playing with toys are the finest examples of what that tomorrow looks like.

I look out the window. I’ve been in that yard. All young boys have. Sports become such a part of childhood. Santa is aware of all of this, naturally.

This particular day is exquisite, I think to myself. I take personal inventory, not only of blessings and personal satisfaction, but of the presents of Christmas past. Still the kid, I suppose.

I got my first basketball when I was six. I made my first basket a year later. There was a tetherball set; I must have been eight. And a football helmet when I was ten. A Carl Furillo-model baseball mitt at eleven. There were tennis rackets and fishing poles and boxing gloves and shrimp nets and a Mickey Mantle 32-inch Little League bat and one time, even a badminton set.

Every Christmas, I’d play out my dreams and my mind would fly over the rainbow, imagining my propulsion. Of course, I would become a major-leaguer, an All-Star, an all-time great, a Hall of Famer. We all would. My vision extended well beyond the day.

My athletic ability, alas, never kept stride. It was not the worst realization I would ever make.

But I have noticed a direct correlation between Christmas gifts and sporting dreams. The dreams are for the young. So are the gifts. Usually, the two disappear in unison. The rare few who project into greatness discover they do not need imagination to make those lofty flights of fantasy. Hope is not the co-pilot. Expectation is.

It must be a wonderful view.

I was thinking about all of this when another memory nudged me. My 17th Christmas I got a typewriter.

It was about the same time that I’d maneuvered my fantasy a few extra miles. I’d received a baseball scholarship to pitch at a small school in Florida. There were other opportunities, other colleges available. But none that would allow my athletic vision to continue.

I had expected a Christmas of more games in the yard. More dreams to celebrate. I got a typewriter instead.

“What am I going to do with a typewriter?” I asked.

My mother said I’d need it for college. But she also said, “Sometimes you get too old to play games. But you never get too old that you can’t use your imagination.”

Sometimes Christmas is taken for granted. Almost always, in fact. I think Christmas music, and I hear bells. I turn on the radio and I hear someone named Elmo and Patsy lamenting their grandmother’s head-on collision with a reindeer. I think of the meaning of Christmas, and I think of the most special birthday in the history of the world. But I turn on the TV and there are all these Claymation raisins doing Doo-Wop homages to the joys of buying machines wherein a microchip can seize command of entire generations.

Christmas (will soon) be gone, 364 days to go. But children still play. They chase the wonderful image of themselves as they would like to be seen. Christmas is their favorite arena. But they settle for lesser stadia.

But remember this – the present is sometimes confused with the package it comes wrapped in. Sometimes the gift is simply the freedom to imagine. There may be no greater one.

It was a great typewriter. I still play with it.

– A column by Shelby Strother

Digital Sports Desk was founded on January 1, 2012 and was redesigned October 1, 2016. For Sunday Sports Notes columns posted on Christmas or Christmas Eve over the many years, I’ve alternated by posting memorable columns from a few of my all-time favorite writers. This column is, by far, my favorite column of all-time so read on my friends and “followers.” Here is to Shelby Strother and a Peaceful Christmas to his widow, Kim, and to all.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Let’s take a look back at 2023 with Part One to follow and Part Two to come in next week’s missive. Here’s January to June 2023:

Part One – January

1st

  • New Year’s wish for World Peace – the difficulties of today and tomorrow
  • Sentry Tournament of Champions Preview
  • Salute to David Bowie

8th

  • Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin Injury
  • Hamlin’s Toys for Kids charity went from $3,900 to $8,327,000 in four days
  • Duke vs BC at Chestnut Hill
  • College Football Playoff
  • NFL Tanking

14th

  • MSG – World’s Most Famous Arena
  • Favorite Moments/Events at The Garden
  • KC Chiefs Top NFL Power Rankings
  • Salute in Memory of Jeff Beck

22nd

  • Prediction: Red Sox = Cellar Dwellers
  • Boston Bruins = Leading the NHL
  • Major League Pickleball
  • LIV Golf Schedule

29th

  • Pointing fingers at Bill Belichick
  • AFC/NFC Championship Preview
  • Chef of ‘da Future
  • EPL Franchise Valuations

February

5th

  • Dog Days of Winter; 19 NBA Ts in five Days
  • Marty Walsh to NHL Players Association
  • Charlie Baker to NCAA
  • Sports Catch Phrases – “Just Like That”

12th

  • Super Bowl LVII Preview (KC vs Phila)
  • PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open – LODR than LOUD
  • World Baseball Classic
  • Tennis Player Younes Rachidi Banned for Life

19th

  • Mass shooting and murder on campus of Michigan State
  • Coach Ed Cooley Feature
  • 40th Anniversary – Marvin Gaye National Anthem at ’83 NBA ASG

26th

  • PGA Tour Load Management
  • NBA Load Management Issue
  • Ideas for a Better NBA All-Star Weekend – None
  • Music: One Hit Wonders

March

5th

  • Memorial Tribute to David Benner

12th

  • Timeline of the 2023 BIG East Basketball Tournament

19th

  • St. Patrick’s Day Salute
  • March Madness Upsets
  • World Baseball Classic

26th

  • Willis Reed Memorial Tribute
  • Rick Pitino Hired by St. John’s
  • National Lacrosse League Playoffs
  • MLB Opening Day

April

2nd

  • Opening Day at Fenway Park
  • Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Jim Nantz’ Last NCAA Final 4 Broadcast

9th

  • The Masters
  • LIV vs. PGA Tour Golf
  • MLB and Austin Meadows’ Mental Health

16th

  • Boston Marathon
  • Amazing Shohei Ohtani
  • Bruce Springsteen and Last Man Standing

23rd

  • The Curse of the NHL President’s Cup
  • NHL Team Valuations
  • NBA Playoffs and Injuries
  • Suggestion: LIV World Team Golf

30th

  • Sports Gambling in Massachusetts
  • NBA Moves Up Finals Start Times
  • QB Aaron Rodgers to J-E-T-S
  • NCAA, Committees and Charlie Baker
  • Death of Boston Celtics’ veep Heather Walker

May

7th

  • Future Days for Saudi Basketball
  • Euro Soccer Team Valuations
  • Kentucky Derby Review

14th

  • Michael Jordan Barcelona Olympics Jacket Auction
  • Buzzword Bingo
  • MLB’s Oldest Ball Parks

21st

  • World’s 10 Highest Paid Athletes
  • Troubles of NBA’s Ja Morant
  • Beginning of the End for the PAC-12
  • Baseball Buzzword Bingo
  • Set Tribute to Meatloaf (RIP)

28th

  • Send-off to TNT’s Very Best (Tara, TK)
  • Brandel and Brooksie Mix It Up for PGA Tour/LIV
  • Busy Summer of ’23 Listings
  • SBJ Awards
  • TNT’s “Yes” Man

June

4th

  • Connor McDavid, Jack Michael and Nikola Jokic
  • Stanley Cup Final or NBA Finals – “s” or no “s”
  • Sox Chris Sale Out Again
  • NHL Stadium Series – NY/NJ Style

11th

  • Surprise of Potential PGA Tour/LIV Merger
  • Most Beloved USA Athletes
  • Harvard’s/WCVB-5 Mike Lynch Inducted Mass Broadcasters Hall of Fame

18th

  • NYC Father’s Day Fire
  • Ja Morant More Trouble – 25-game suspension (ended 12-19)
  • The Four’s is Closed
  • Bradley Beal shipped to PHX
  • Sports Hall of Fame Line-ups

25th

  • PGA Tour: The Traveler’s Championship
  • 2023 NBA Draft
  • No. 1 Pick: France’s Victor WembanyamaSlamBall is Back (and on ESPN)

(Tune-In Next Week for the rest of 2023 Look Back – July 1st through December 31st)

TIDBITS: You’ve heard of World Team Tennis which debuted in 1974 with Billie Jean King leading the way as player-coach of the Philadelphia Freedom, runners-up to the champion Denver Racquets, coached by Tony Roche. The league had talented stars such as Jimmy Connors who led the Baltimore Banners. Here in Beantown, we had the Boston Lobsters. The team played at the Walter Brown Arena and lost about $300,000 in its first year of operation … Fast forward to the conclusion of the 2021 WTT season and you’ll note the tennis league vanished. The following July, the WTT announced it was seeking expansion franchises at $1 million a clip. That news release was the last we heard of World Team Tennis. “World TeamTennis, the nation’s only professional, mixed-gender team tennis league, has announced that it is accepting expansion proposals from prospective ownership groups and markets that are interested in acquiring a WTT franchise.” … With WTT in the history books, tennis fans now have the World Tennis League, based in Abu Dhabi. Saturday morning, the Tennis Channel aired Taylor Fritz’ extra time match vs Daniil Medvedev and the new version of team tennis, featuring the Kites and Hawks, the Falcons and Eagles. The new league is big on entertainment and concerts, but short on match results and realtime stats. … Sports Business Journal’s media mind John Ourand announced he’s leaving the post he’s held since 2006 to join Puck.

MLB: A week ago we wrote of the urgent need for Major League Baseball to enact a form of maximum team salary after the LA Dodgers broke the bank and the concept of deferred compensation with a $700 million deal to pay for the services of Shohei Ohtani. This week, the Dodgers landed prized free agent in Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto who scored a 12-year, $325 million deal Thursday, per multiple media reports. Yamamato’s deal out-distanced New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s deal by $1 million, making it the largest contract for a pitcher in major league history. The Dodgers will also pay $50.6 million in a posting fee for Yamamoto. … A posting fee is MLB terminology for a transfer fee.

A Dodgers Dynasty to Be

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto Signs with LA for $325m

LOS ANGELES – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After signing reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract earlier this month, the Dodgers have landed star Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million deal Thursday, per multiple media reports.

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Yamamato’s deal would eclipse New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s deal by $1 million, making it the largest contract for a pitcher in major league history. The Dodgers will also pay $50.6 million in a posting fee for Yamamoto.

The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays also pursued Yamamoto.

Yamamoto spent the past six-plus seasons with the Orix Buffaloes, compiling a 70-29 record with one save and a 1.82 ERA in 172 games. He has struck out 922 batters over 897 innings.

In 23 games in 2023, he finished with a 16-6 record and 1.21 ERA with 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. Those numbers helped him to his third straight Triple Crown in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball as he led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

Only three pitchers in Major League Baseball have won the pitching Triple Crown three times — Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Yamamoto also has won the Eiji Sawamura Award, which equals the Cy Young Award, three times.

The 5-foot-10 Yamamoto won a gold medal with Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and another in the World Baseball Classic earlier this year.

–Field Level Media

Castiglione Honored with Frick Award

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COOPERSTOWN – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Joe Castiglione, who has called Red Sox games on the radio for a record 41 seasons, has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

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Castiglione will be honored during the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation as part of Hall of Fame Weekend, July 19-22, 2024. Castiglione becomes the 48th winner of the Frick Award, as he earned the highest point total in a vote conducted by the Hall of Fame’s 15-member Frick Award Committee.

The final ballot featured broadcasters whose main contributions came as local and national voices and whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era. The 10 finalists were: Joe Buck, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Ernie Johnson Sr., Ken Korach, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dan Shulman and Castiglione.

“Bringing knowledge and passion to the booth every day for more than four decades, Joe Castiglione has given voice to the greatest era of Red Sox success in the broadcast era,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Starting with the team in 1983 in Carl Yastrzemski’s final season, Joe has connected generations of Red Sox fans with a delivery that has become part of the New England fabric. His calls of the team’s four World Series wins in the past 20 seasons provided fans with memories that will echo forever throughout Red Sox nation.”

Born March 2, 1947, in Hamden, Conn., Castiglione earned an undergraduate degree at Colgate University and took his master’s degree at Syracuse University – each about an hour from Cooperstown – before beginning his career at WFMJ-TV in Youngstown, Ohio. After moving to Cleveland to work for WKYC-TV, he began calling Indians games in 1979 before working Brewers games in 1981 and then returning to the Indians’ booth in 1982.

Joining the Red Sox radio team in 1983, Castiglione has shared the microphone with partners including Bob Starr, Dave O’Brien, Jerry Trupiano and Will Flemming while also teaching broadcast journalism at Northeastern University, Franklin Pierce University and Emerson College.

Inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2014, Castiglione is the longest tenured broadcaster in Red Sox history and has called historic moments that have included both of Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout games and four no-hitters. In 2022, the home Fenway Park radio booth was named in his honor.

The 15-member Frick Award voting electorate, comprised of the 12 living recipients and three broadcast historians/columnists, includes Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Bob Costas, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Bob Uecker and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists David J. Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (formerly of the Dallas Morning News) and Curt Smith (historian).

The list of 10 Frick Award finalists was constructed by a subcommittee of the electorate that included Brennaman, Costas, Hughes, Halberstam and Smith. The Ford C. Frick Award is voted upon annually and is named in memory of the sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and baseball commissioner. Frick was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970.

For a complete list of Frick Award winners, click here.

As established by the Board of Directors, criteria for selection is as follows: “Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.”  To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two.

The Frick Award election cycle rotates between a composite ballot featuring local and national voices whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era in four consecutive years, followed by a fifth year featuring a ballot of candidates whose broadcasting careers concluded prior to the advent of the Wild Card Era in 1994. The cycle began with the 2023 Frick Award, with composite ballots of local and national voices continuing with the Awards in 2024, 2025 and 2026 before the pre-Wild Card Era ballot is considered for the 2027 Award.

VERDU- GO! – Red Sox Trade Outfielder to Evil Empire

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NASHVILLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The New York Yankees added an outfielder from their fiercest rival on Tuesday, acquiring Alex Verdugo from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for three right-handed pitchers as the MLB Winter Meetings are underway.

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Boston got Greg Weissert and minor-leaguers Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice in the swap.

Verdugo, 27, is arguably better known for how he got to Boston rather than anything he has accomplished on the field. He, catcher Connor Wong and infielder Jeter Downs were acquired in the February 2020 deal that sent superstar Mookie Betts and left-hander David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In four years with the Red Sox, Verdugo hit a composite .281 with a .338 on-base percentage, a .424 slugging percentage, 43 homers and 206 RBIs. He played 142 games in 2023, batting .264/.324/.421 with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs.

Counting the three seasons he spent with the Dodgers, Verdugo has a career .281/.337/.428 batting line with 57 home runs and 255 RBIs in 651 games.

Primarily a corner outfielder, Verdugo also has seen time in center field. He could be a free agent following the upcoming season.

Weissert, 28, made 17 relief appearances for the Yankees this year, netting no decisions and a 4.05 ERA. He broke into the majors with 12 games out of the New York bullpen in 2022, when he finished 3-0 with a 5.56 ERA.

Fitts, 23, spent the 2023 season in Double-A, where he went 11-5 with a 3.48 ERA in 27 starts. He was a sixth-round draft pick in 2021 out of Auburn.

Judice, 22, has yet to make his pro debut after New York selected him in the eighth round of the 2023 draft out of UL-Monroe.

The Red Sox and Yankees have come together for just eight trades since 1969, according to MLB.com.

–Field Level Media

Hyde and Schumaker Honored by BWAA

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde ran away with the American League Manager of the Year honor on Tuesday, while Skip Schumaker won a close vote for the National League award in his first season managing the Miami Marlins.

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Schumaker is the fourth Marlins manager to win the honor from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining Jack McKeon (2003), Joe Girardi (2006) and Don Mattingly (2020).

He won a congested NL vote with 72 points — eight votes apiece for first, second and third place. Five points are awarded for first place, three for second and one for third.

Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell (now with the Chicago Cubs) was second with 51 points (five first-place votes), Atlanta’s Brian Snitker was third with 48 (eight first-place votes), Arizona’s Torey Lovullo was fourth with 42 (four first-place votes) and Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers was fifth with 41 (four first-place votes).

Winning tight contests is nothing new for Schumaker, whose Marlins compiled an MLB-best .702 winning percentage (33-14) in one-run games this season. Miami went 84-78 — a 15-game improvement from 2022 — in qualifying for the postseason for the fourth time in franchise history and the first in a non-shortened season since 2003.

The Marlins lost two straight to the Philadelphia Phillies in their NL wild-card series.

The Orioles went an American League-best 101-61 to win the East Division and were not swept in 52 series the entire regular season, becoming the first in club history and fourth in the MLB since 2000 to accomplish this feat.

Baltimore, among the youngest team in the majors, went down in a three-game ALDS sweep to the World Series champion Texas Rangers.

Hyde, who was runner-up to Cleveland’s Terry Francona in 2022, guided the Orioles to their 10th AL East crown and first since 2014, and their first playoff berth since 2016.

Hyde led the AL vote with 144 points, with 27 first-place votes and three for second place. He was the only manager named on every ballot.

Bruce Bochy of Texas was second with 61 points (three first-place votes), Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash was third (52 points), Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli was fourth (eight) and Houston’s Dusty Baker was fifth (four).

Hyde, in his fifth season, is the fourth Orioles manager to receive the award, joining Buck Showalter (2014), Davey Johnson (1997) and Frank Robinson (1989). The awards for each league began in 1983.

–Field Level Media

Gunnar and Carroll Win Rookie Honors

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Baltimore Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson and Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll were named the American League and National League Rookies of the Year on Monday night, both by a unanimous vote.

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Henderson and Carroll each received all 30 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Henderson, 22, joined a litany of Orioles players to win the award that includes Eddie Murray (1977), Cal Ripken Jr. (1982) and, most recently, Gregg Olson (1989).

After appearing in 34 games in 2022, Henderson retained rookie status for 2023 and split his time between shortstop and third base. In 150 games, Henderson batted .255 with a .325 on-base percentage and a .489 slugging percentage. He hit 28 home runs, 29 doubles, nine triples and 82 RBIs en route to winning a Silver Slugger award.

Behind Henderson, Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee placed second in voting with 67 total points. Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas was third at 25 points.

Carroll is the first player in Diamondbacks history to win Rookie of the Year honors.

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Carroll, 23, also made his MLB debut in 2022 in a limited capacity before becoming an everyday player in 2023. Carroll batted .285 with a .362 on-base percentage and a .506 slugging percentage over 155 games for an Arizona team that reached the World Series.

Carroll hit 25 home runs, 30 doubles and 76 RBIs while stealing 54 bases. He was named to the NL All-Star team.

New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga finished second in voting (71 points) after his first MLB season since coming over from his native Japan. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman finished third with 20 points.

–Field Level Media