Rosenthal: Braves interested in Sonny Gray

He was also All-MLB First Team DH, and he’s the clear favorite to be named AL MVP on Thursday. We hope he cleared a shelf. His NL counterpart for the Hank Aaron Award was Pete Crow-Armstrong, while Zack Wheeler got NL Comeback Player of the year.

After taking a one-year deal with a mutual option from the Cardinals last winter, May seems in better position to command a two- or three-year pact this time around. He certainly wasn’t great in posting a 4.70 ERA for the Brewers and Cardinals, but he was able to stay healthy and make 31 starts and his velocity and strikeout rate both ticked up.

Hill, who turns 37 in February, generates grounders as well as anyone in the league, but he is coming off a season in which his ERA jumped to 4.60 and his strikeout rate fell to a career-low 10.4 percent. The Yankees didn’t even include him on their ALDS roster for the series against the Rays. He will come fairly cheap, though.

“I think there’s an emphasis (for Adames) to really structure his workouts to increase his athletic movements,” Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said. “The way I’m thinking is less bulky muscle mass and a little bit more -- still explosive -- but twitchy and helping with the range.” That’s probably the right call for the Giants; they need Adames’ defense to bounce back even more than they do his offense. It probably doesn’t bode well for Adames making another run at 30 homers, though.

Bohm probably makes more sense as a first baseman on a lesser team than for whatever the Yankees might have in mind here. He doesn’t work as a third baseman on a team that wants to improve defensively, and while he’d probably be fine as a platoon starter at first base against lefties, it seems doubtful that he’ll need to settle for that kind of role just yet.

Cristopher Sánchez finished second, a mere one point ahead of Chris Sale. Sánchez got six more second-place votes than Sale (17-11), but only three voters listed Sale lower than third, compared to seven for Sánchez. Behind Sánchez at 99 points and Sale at 98 were Yoshinobu Yamamoto at 63 points and Jesús Luzardo at 34. Mason Miller (four fifth-place votes) and Eduardo Rodriguez (two fifth-place votes) were the only other pitchers named on ballots. Misiorowski joins Rollie Fingers (1981), Pete Vukovich (1982) and Corbin Burnes (2021) as Brewers to win the Cy Young Award. Fingers and Vukovich, though, got the AL version of the award before the Brewers switched leagues in 1988.

Miller was an easy call here after posting a 1.67 ERA and striking out a whopping 129 batters on his way to tying for the NL lead with 38 saves. Jhoan Duran was the runnerup for the inaugural edition of the award, placing second on 24 ballots and third on the rest. Trevor Megill barely topped Adrian Morejon for third place, beating him 66 points to 64 even though Morejon had more second place (4-2) and third-place votes (12-11). Alas, five voters couldn’t overlook his lack of saves and left him off their ballots entirely. Raisel Iglesias was a distant fifth at 17 points.

Varland got 16 first-place votes and finished with 146 points to top Cade Smith (seven firsts, 133 points) and Bryan Baker (six firsts, 111 points). The remaining first-place vote went to Josh Hader, though he still finished fifth behind Aroldis Chapman. Varland posted a 1.27 ERA in 78 innings and saved 35 games after replacing Jeff Hoffman as Toronto’s closer last season. Smith and Baker both had six more saves apiece, but Varland still seemed like the right choice here.

Cease received 22 second-place votes, with Messick receiving seven and finishing third. Drew Ramsussen got the remaining second-place vote and finished fourth, with Sonny Gray in fifth place. Closers Cade Smith and Bryan Baker got two and one fifth-place votes, respectively. Schlittler is the 13th unanimous AL Cy Young winner and the seventh Yankee to win the award. Gerrit Cole in 2023 and Roger Clemens in 2001 were the only Yankees to win since 1980.

At least that’s what he’s hearing from sources with rival teams. The 27-year-old Goodman hit homers last season and is under control for three more years, so he’d net quite the hefty return if the Rockies aren’t planning on trying to contend any time soon. The Yankees, Rays and Red Sox were among the teams thought to be interested in him at the deadline, though the Red Sox can probably be crossed off the list now after acquiring Adley Rutschman.