Heroes, goats and maybe GOATs from the 2024 season

Here's how awards season should proceed in November.

Jackson Merrill

The envelopes, please, for the 2024 MLB awards, unless the Yankees have already dropped them:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER, A.L: Bobby Witt of the Royals won the batting title, led the league in hits and games played, and is a fine candidate….for runnerup to Aaron Judge.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER, N.L.: Those who argue for Francisco LIndor should be heard, but Shohei Ohtani came within .005 of winning the batting title and thus winning both the old fashioned Triple Crown and the slash variety (.390 OBP, .646 slugging, 1.036 OPS), along with becoming the first 50-50 man. Ketel Marte was second in OPS at .932. Yes, it would be nice if he’d worn a glove, but he meant the world to the Dodgers.

CY YOUNG AWARD, A.L.: Tarik Skubal won the pitching Triple Crown (wins, ERA and strikeouts) and got better as the Tigers neared the playoffs.

CY YOUNG AWARD,  N.L.: Zack Wheeler of the Phillies had the best WHIP and pitched 200 innings. Chris Sale of the Braves had two more wins than Wheeler and the league’s best ERA. Wheeler had 26 quality starts, six more than anyone else. Sale led the league in strikeouts, one more than Wheeler. Tough call, but give it to Wheeler.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, A.L.: Oakland closer Mason Miller was overwhelming, with a .160 batting average-against, 28 saves in 31 chances, 104 strikeouts in 65 innings, and an 0.88 WHIP.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, N.L.: San Diego’s Jackson Merrill was in the lineup from Day One and slugged .500 with 90 runs batted in. Paul Skenes was terrific on Pittsburgh’s mound, but Merrill was more relevant.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR, A.L.: In his first year Stephen Vogt managed his way through pitching injuries in Cleveland and won the division with a 16-game improvement.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR, N.L.: The Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, the Mets’ Fernando Mendoza and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy are all deserving, but the demands and expectations were higher for Roberts.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR, A.L: Cleveland closer Emanuel Clase led the league in saves for the third consecutive year, but this year he saved 47 out of 50. Last year he blew 12 saves.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR, N.L.: Thanks to injury, Sale won 17 games from 2019-23 and had only 56 starts. In Atlanta, with 29 starts, he went 18-3 and his 2.30 ERA was the NL’s best.

COMEDOWN PLAYER OF THE YEAR, A.L.: Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez went from 37 doubles to 17, from 32 homers to 20, and from 103 RBI to 68. No pitching staff was victimized more by its offense than Seattle’s.

COMEDOWN PLAYER OF THE YEAR, N.L.: He’s only 26 and he’s a proven commodity, but Bryson Stott of the Phillies faded to a .245 average (from .280) and had 57 RBI in 571 plate appearances. 

BREAKOUT PLAYER, A.L.: Oakland’s Brent Rooker slammed 39 homers with 112 RBI and hiked his OPS by .110. Wins a close one over Boston’s Jarren Duran, who led the A.L. in doubles and triples.

BREAKOUT PLAYER, N.L.: Jurickson Profar of the Padres stepped out with a .280 average and an .839 OPS, which is .113 over his career mark.

FIREMAN OF THE YEAR, A.L.: Clase.

FIREMAN OF THE YEAR, N.L.: It didn’t matter in the standings, but the Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley had 11 more saves than any other closer in the league and only coughed up four. 

ARSONIST OF THE YEAR, A.L.: He’ll get Hall of Fame votes someday, but Craig Kimbrel was invited to leave the Orioles after he blew six saves in 29 chances.

ARSONIST OF THE YEAR, N.L.: David Bednar had been a bright spot for the Pirates until this year, when he coughed it up seven times in 30 save chances and took eight losses.

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR, A.L.: Kansas City’s 30-win improvement, and its first trip to the postseason in nine years, can be traced to the veterans whom general manager J.J. Picollo bought in. 

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR, N.L.: San Diego’s A.J. Preller thought he’d put together a dream team in 2023, found out he didn’t, dismantled it, changed managers, wasn’t afraid to deal top players, rearranged his bullpen, and might have had the best team in the league in September.

EXECU-STIFF OF THE YEAR, A.L.: We’ll give Chris Getz of the White Sox aa break because he just got here. Jerry Dipoto, who has won this award with three different teams, did nothing to fix Seattle’s flatline offense, then fired Scott Servais but let him find out through a social-media alert.

EXECU-STIFF OF THE YEAR, N.L.: This goes to the management team of owner Bruce Sherman and GM Peter Bendix in Miami, which actually went to the playoffs in 2023 but lost 100 this year when they ridded themselves of Tanner Scott, J.J. Puk, Luis Arraez and Jazz Chisholm.

MIS-MANAGER OF THE YEAR, A.L.: The Blue Jays had far too much talent to lose 88 games, and John Schneider was the man in charge.

MIS-MANAGER OF THE YEAR, N.L.: Cincinnati mercifully fired David Bell after all of the promise of 2023 collapsed in 85 losses.

HUMAN WINDFARM, A.L.: Siri, tell me who swings for the fences the most times with the fewest results? That would be Tampa Bay’s Jose Siri, who hit 18 home runs and struck out 170 times.

HUMAN WINDARM, N.L.: Will Benson of the Reds stirred up the breeze just north of the Ohio River with 154 strikeouts. That swing produced only 14 homers.

BEST BARGAIN, A.L: Detroit’s Riley Greene made $766K for ranking 12th in league OPS (.874) and producing 24 homers and 74 RBI.

BEST BARGAIN, N.L.: Well, technically, the Dodgers paid Ohtani $2 million for being unprecedented this year, since $68 million of his $70 million is deferred.

BIGGEST RIPOFF, A.L.: It’s not 2017 anymore, and George Springer is getting paid $23 million for something he used to be. He had an OPS of .674, a batting average of .220, and 19 home runs in 145 games for the Blue Jays.

BIGGEST REPORT, N.L.: Arizona waited to the last minute to sign Jordan Montgomery for $25 million. What was the hurry? Montgomery had a 6.23 ERA and gave up 149 hits in 117 innings. Then he blamed his agent. This year’s free agent class of pitchers, destined to be hardballed, will send him no Christmas cards.