The Baseball Writers' Association of America begins announcing its award winners tonight with Rookie of the Year in both leagues.
I can't reveal my AL ballot until later this evening. Spoiler alert: The Orioles weren't represented.
The finalists are Houston's Carlos Correa, Cleveland's Francisco Lindor and Minnesota's Miguel Sano. Keep in mind that ballots were turned in before the playoffs.
Six Orioles have been chosen as Rookie of the Year. Can you name them without looking it up? Answer below.
Executive vice president Dan Duquette reiterated yesterday on MLB Network Radio that the Orioles have enough funds to re-sign first baseman Chris Davis despite committing $15.8 million to catcher Matt Wieters. I understand that the proof is in the payroll, but it's just the latest example that they're serious about negotiations.
It didn't sound this way last winter regarding Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz, and they never reached out to Andrew Miller's agent because they had no intention of offering a four-year deal to a set-up man. But ownership is less willing to let Davis walk.
I won't place odds on Davis returning, but it's certainly not out of the question. Take that for what it's worth.
I'm not ready to classify the Orioles as favorites. I'm also not ready to project next year's lineup without Davis.
"We answered a question in terms of our catching depth with Caleb Joseph and Steve Clevenger, and now we've got Matt. So they're all qualified major leaguers," Duquette said. "Once you answer that question, then you can start working on building your team out for the rest of the field. So, from that perspective, we've got that piece in place.
"I think you're probably wondering if we still have resources available to sign another high-price free agent like Chris Davis, and the answer to that question is yes, we do."
Duquette also talked about his desire to add a starter and reliever.
"Hopefully, we'll be active in those markets," he said.
"We'd like to a sign a top-of-the-rotation starter, and by that I mean a one, two or three starter. I don't think there's all that many No. 1 starters, but there's a couple of twos and threes that we could be very competitive on."
Sounds like Chris Tillman remains the favorite to pitch on opening day, with someone new to the organization slotted behind him. We'll see.
"We have pretty good flexibility in our major league payroll," Duquette said.
"If you take a look at our core - and I want people to understand that we do have a real strong core coming back - we've got Wieters and we've got (J.J.) Hardy and we've got (Jonathan) Schoop and we've got (Adam) Jones up the middle, so that's a pretty good start for any ballclub. And we haven't even talked about Manny Machado, who got his second Gold Glove and I think he was second in the Platinum calculation in the American League, so we have a good core coming back and we do have some flexibility in our major league payroll this year.
"So we've got an opportunity to add some good players to our team. We're going to be looking for outfielders and pitchers, and probably a couple of both."
Duquette laughed when asked whether managing partner Peter G. Angelos handed him the checkbook and told him to go have fun.
"You know, these high-priced shopping sprees don't always work out for the benefit of the team. I'd much rather be playing in some of these other markets, and that's really who we are. But this year we do have plenty of resources available," Duquette said.
"Mr. Angelos likes to be active in the team. Of course, he's the chairman and CEO, so he's always involved. And I think our fans understand that we are building a team here that can be good year in and year out, and we're going to have another good team in '16."
Answer: Ron Hansen in 1960, Curt Blefary in 1965, Al Bumbry in 1973, Eddie Murray in 1977, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982 and Gregg Olson in 1989.
Orioles outfielder Rich Coggins finished sixth in 1973. He was traded to the Expos with pitcher Dave McNally and minor league pitcher Bill Kirkpatrick in December 1974 for outfielder Ken Singleton and pitcher Mike Torrez. Coggins didn't play in the majors after 1976.
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