O's get 2023 awards and more should be on the way

Maybe it was the appetizer before the main course. Three members of the Orioles picked up awards via the Sporting News yesterday. Once considered the key authority and publication on baseball, these awards have been handed out by TSN since 1936.

For the second year in a row, Brandon Hyde was named American League Manager of the Year by the outlet. Gunnar Henderson was named AL Rookie of the Year and Mike Elias was named MLB Executive of the Year.

So, Baltimore gets honors for the front office, dugout and clubhouse. Not bad and well deserved after 101 wins and an AL East championship.

All three could win similar honors from other outlets.

The sport's official awards so to speak, from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, come out next month. This year I voted for AL Manager of the Year, and we are asked not to reveal how we voted until the awards are announced.

The BBWAA Manager award has been handed out since 1983 and previous O's winners were Frank Robinson in 1989, Dave Johnson in 1997 and Buck Showalter in 2014. The fact this award was originated in 1983 is one reason Earl Weaver never won it during the O's glory days.

Gunnar is the clear favorite to win the BBWAA AL Rookie of the Year and would be the seventh Oriole so honored. He would follow Ron Hansen (1960), Curt Blefary (1965), Al Bumbry (1973), Eddie Murray (1977), Cal Ripken Jr. (1982) and Gregg Olson (1989). So it's been a minute. 

In recent years, Trey Mancini finished third for ROY in 2017 and John Means was second in 2019. I didn't remember Means finishing so well, but it was a distant second to Houston's Yordan Alvarez who got all 30 first-place votes. In 2020, Ryan Mountcastle got one vote to finish tied for eighth. Still eligible the next year, he finished sixth in 2021. Last year Adley Rutschman was a distant second to Julio Rodriguez of Seattle, who got 29 of 30 first-place votes, with Rutschman getting the other one. 

Just going on offensive stats, Boston's Tristan Casas could get some consideration beyond Gunnar and should be among the leading vote getters. While Henderson posted more homers and RBIs and an .814 OPS, Casas had an .857 OPS with 24 homers and 65 RBIs.

The ROY award for Gunnar, should he get it, will be a plus not only for the player but for the Orioles as a team as well. If he is the winner, the Orioles will get an additional pick in the 2024 MLB Draft via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. This was added in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement and is designed to encourage teams to promote young star talent sooner than later.

To qualify for a pick a player must be in the preseason Top 100 prospects lists in two of the lists compiled by MLB.com, Baseball America or ESPN. And the player must spend a minimum of 172 days on the roster.

Through the PPI, when Rodriguez won the 2022 AL ROY, the Mariners also gained the No. 29 pick in the 2023 draft. That pick came with a bonus slot amount of $2.55 million which would allow the Orioles to both gain a high pick and add some dollar clout to their final pool amount for that draft.

We should keep this all in mind when it comes to Jackson Holliday. If coming out of spring next year the team feels he is just about ready to be on the roster, it could be a tiebreaker in that decision. At a time when the Orioles fully hope and expect to be winning more and drafting later, this could be another way to gain talent to keep the elite talent pipeline humming. 

World Series odds for next year: SportsBetting.ag has posted 2024 World Series odds - the odds on the teams to win the World Series next year.

In such odds at this time last year, coming off 83 wins, the Orioles were 50-1. Now they are 18-1. 

But while that might make some happy around Birdland who follow such things, they should also realize that eight teams have better odds and two reside in the AL East.

7-1: Atlanta
8-1: Los Angeles Dodgers
9-1: Houston, Texas
10-1: Philadelphia
11-1: New York Yankees
14-1: San Diego
16-1: Toronto
18-1: Orioles, Seattle, Tampa Bay

Arizona, the underdog in the Fall Classic that begins tonight, is listed at 20-1 with Boston 22-1. The longest shots on the board are Kansas City and Oakland at 100-1 and Colorado at 150-1.