Judge & Ohtani Were No Brainers to Win AL & NL MVP

(Getty Images)

To the surprise of absolutely no one, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani were named AL and NL MVPs on Thursday evening.

Their respective wins are no-brainers. 

Judge earned his second AL MVP in three years leading the Junior Circuit in HR (58), RBI (144), walks (133), OBP (.458), SLG (.701) and OPS (1.159). Not to be outdone, Judge hit a career high .322 collecting 180 hits, also a career high. 

Ohtani earned his third MVP award in four seasons, but first NL MVP joining Frank Robinson as the only players to win the honor in both leagues. The Japanese phenom became the first 50-50 player in MLB history leading the Senior Circuit in HR (54) RBI (130), runs scored (134), OBP (.390), SLG (.646) and OPS (1.036) while hitting a career high .310 along with 197 hits, also a career high. His Dodgers debut began inauspiciously amid reports about gambling but has seemed to emerge unscathed. 

Judge and Ohtani are arguably the two best players in the game and they faced off against each other in this year's World Series though it was Freddie Freeman who stole the show for the Dodgers. 

Yet it would not surprise me if Judge and Ohtani would win MVPs in their respective leagues again next year and perhaps the year after that and maybe more.

Tarik Skubal & Chris Sale Close Deal on AL & NL Cy Young Awards

Unlike the AL and NL Manager of the Year balloting, I am in full agreement with the BBWAA's choices for the AL and NL Cy Young Awards.

The BBWAA awarded the AL Cy Young to Detroit Tigers southpaw Tarik Skubal while Atlanta Braves hurler Chris Sale won the NL Cy Young in a renaissance season. 

For Skubal, the Cy Young was a present for his 28th birthday. It was coming of age season for Skubal who was arguably the most crucial figure on a Detroit team which unexpectedly clinched an AL Wild Card berth. A 9th round draft pick by the Tigers in 2018, he would make the ballclub during the COVID shortened 2020 season. While a member of the starting rotation since 2021, Skubal captured lightning in a bottle in 2024 with an 18-4 record with an ERA of 2.39 along with 228 strikeouts in 192 innings pitched capturing the pitching triple crown in wins, ERA and strikeouts earning him a unanimous Cy Young selection. Eligible for arbitration in 2025, Skubal is going to get a big pay raise. The question remains if he can sustain his success.

Chris Sale was a perennial Cy Young contender during his days with the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox finishing in the top six in AL Cy Young balloting for seven consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2018 making him arguably the greatest lefthander in the AL, if not all of MLB. Then came the injuries. After missing all of the COVID shortened 2020 season, Sale pitched fewer than 150 innings between 2021 and 2023. Consider what I wrote when the Braves acquired Sale from the Red Sox last December:

Sale, who turns 35 in March, joins a Braves rotation which includes 20-game winner Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder, Max Fried and 40-year-old Charlie Morton. As such, Sale is not expected to be the ace of the staff. If Sale can pitch 150 innings and win 10 games, the Braves would be very happy with that indeed.

Well, Sale would exceed all expectations stepping up when the Braves lost Strider with season ending elbow surgery. Sale went 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA with 225 strikeouts in 177.2 innings pitched. As with Skubal, Sale would win the pitching Triple Crown as well.  

I think Sale benefited tremendously from a change of scenery which took him closer to home. In addition to the NL Cy Young, Sale was also named NL Comeback Player of the Year last week.

Had Sale been healthy all this time, he would be closing in on 3,000 strikeouts. However, Sale's renaissance and his opportunity to build upon it resumes the Cooperstown conversation. Should that not come to pass, Sale has good reason to be proud of the season he just completed.

Matt Quatraro & Carlos Mendoza Should've Been Named AL/NL Manager of the Years Instead of Stephen Vogt & Pat Murphy

I have to admit I am surprised both Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and Milwaukee Brewers skipper Pat Murphy were named AL and NL Managers of the Year, respectively. 

While both Vogt and Murphy led their clubs to divisional titles in the first year as full-fledged big-league managers, I think the AL and NL honors should have gone to Matt Quatraro of the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza, respectively.

The Royals had a 30-win improvement in 2024 going from 106 losses to an AL Wild Card berth making their first post-season appearance since their 2015 World Series triumph. No one was predicting October baseball for the Royals this year. The fact that they did speaks well of Quatraro. Although the Guardians certainly exceeded expectations this season, the Royals had a far steeper climb in the AL Central.

Meanwhile, Mendoza had the unenviable task of replacing Buck Showalter, a manager with more than 1700 career wins under his belt. While it's true that Vogt was in a similar situation in Cleveland succeeding Terry Francona, he had built his reputation as a player. Mendoza had been part of the New York Yankees coaching staff but had not managed in any capacity since 2012. 

When Mendoza was hired a year ago, the press was lamenting that the team did not nab Craig Counsell, the longtime Brewers manager who jumped ship to the Chicago Cubs and was replaced by Murphy. While Murphy faced some challenges, the Brewers did repeat as NL Central champions. By contrast, the Mets were one of baseball's most disappointing teams in 2023 and Mendoza made them a force again.

Alas, the BBWAA saw it differently.

Who Will Be The Better Pitcher Going Forward? Luis Gil or Paul Skenes?

(Associated Press)

Today, New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil won the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year honors while Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes won the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Award.

This marks the first time two starting pitchers have won Rookie of the Year honors in both leagues since 1981 when Dave Righetti won AL Rookie of the Year with the Yankees while the late Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela won NL Rookie of the Year honors (as well as the NL Cy Young Award). 

After cups of coffee with the Bronx Bombers in 2021 and 2022, Gil had a breakthrough campaign going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts. Gil fanned 171 batters in 151.2 innings pitched though he did lead the AL in walks with 77. Still, Gil was an integral part of the Yankees AL championship this past season. 

Meanwhile, Skenes was just about the only thing Pirates fans had to cheer about in 2024. In 23 starts, Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA fanning 170 batters in 133 innings pitched. Skenes might have won the ERA title but was 29 innings short of eligibility.  Skenes was also the NL starting pitcher in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.

The question is who the better pitcher from will be here on out.

I'm sure conventional wisdom would be on Skenes as he reached MLB less than a year after being the number one pick in the 2023 MLB draft. At 22, Skenes hasn't reached his ceiling. Gil, 26, has been a pro for almost 10 years since he signed with the Minnesota Twins out of the Dominican Republic before joining the Yankees organization in 2018.

Of course, a lot of it has to do with health. Gil missed much of 2022 and all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Will this be in Skenes' future as well?

At least for the foreseeable future, Gil and Skenes will loom large in respective pitching plans of the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Three Reasons Why Mike Johnson Won't Release The House Ethics Report on Matt Gaetz

(Associated Press)

House Speaker Mike Johnson has come under fire for refusing to release the House Ethics Committee Report on Matt Gaetz who abruptly resigned from Congress last week after being appointed as Attorney General by President-elect Donald Trump. Gaetz's appointment was announced shortly before report was to be released.

Johnson has come under scrutiny for his decision by Fox News anchor Shannon Bream and Senate Republicans such as Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin who want the House to share the report with the Senate.

But I suspect Johnson isn't going to budge for three reasons.

First, Johnson wishes to do President-elect Trump's bidding. Trump wants retribution, and he wants Gaetz to dish out that retribution and Johnson isn't about to cross him. I mean Johnson wants to continue to tag along with Trump's entourage at UFC events. I also think Johnson knows that Senate Republicans, whatever their concerns about Gaetz, aren't going to want to be on Trump's bad side either and will eventually back down. Johnson just does a better job at playing the role of a quisling.

Second, Johnson wouldn't be Speaker if Gaetz hadn't engineered Kevin McCarthy's ouster earlier this year while pouring cold water on Marjorie Taylor Greene's subsequent attempt to oust Johnson only months later. Is it any wonder that Johnson called Gaetz "one of the brightest minds of Washington or anywhere"?

Finally, Johnson has no desire to release the report because no good can come of it for Republicans. Word has it the report contains witness accounts of Gaetz having sex with minors. The release of the report will make Gaetz even more of a scuzzball than he already is and will reflect poorly on Johnson's leadership. 

This is what happens when you have a Speaker of the House who is answerable to Donald Trump rather than to the American people and our Constitution.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Lose 3rd Consecutive Grey Cup Championship Game

I feel bad for football fans in Winnipeg. 

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have just lost their third consecutive Grey Cup championship as they were on the wrong end of a 41-24 loss to the Toronto Argonauts who have won a CFL record 19 titles.

Winnipeg also fell short to the Argos two years ago and last year to the Montreal Alouettes. The Blue Bombers had won back-to-back Grey Cup championships against the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 2019 and 2021 (there was no Grey Cup in 2020 as the CFL season was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic). Thus, they have represented the CFL West Division in the Grey Cup for five consecutive seasons but have now come up short more often than not. 

Indeed, the Blue Bombers have appeared in 28 Grey Cups, more than any other CFL team but have won only 12 times. Alas, it is not the first time the Blue Bombers have lost three consecutive Grey Cup finals. They did so between 1945 and 1947 all at the hands of the Argos. 

The only other team in CFL history to lose three consecutive Grey Cup finals were the Alouettes who fell each time to the Edmonton Eskimos (now known as the Edmonton Elks) between 1954 and 1956. 

Perhaps the Blue Bombers will have better luck next year. Should they reach the Grey Cup final in 2025, the game will be held in front of the hometown fans in Winnipeg. 

Who is Trump's Worst Cabinet Pick?

(via CNN)

President-elect Donald Trump has spent the past week making appointments to the White House and the cabinet.

Several of these appointments have dropped jaws, raised eyebrows and caused hands to smack foreheads. Here are the five which stand out the most.

Secretary of Homeland Security - South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem

Secretary of Defense - FOX News personality Pete Hegseth

Director of National Intelligence - Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard

Attorney General - Former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz

Secretary of Health and Human Services - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

Noem is more knowledgeable about killing dogs than she is about homeland security. Hegseth served in uniform, but the Pentagon doesn't trust him as far as they can throw him. Gabbard is a pro-Assad apologist and a Russian asset who cannot be trusted with anything. Gaetz is more practiced at plying teenaged girls with drink than he is at practicing law and his appointment has made Republicans cringe though they are likely to go along with whatever Daddy Donald says. 

But I think the RFK, Jr. pick is the worst of them all. There is reason to believe that he would see fit to ban all vaccines and with it we can give a warm welcome to measles, mumps, polio and perhaps even smallpox. With RFK, Jr. as HHS Secretary, America could see a death toll which surpasses that of COVID-19. 

This isn't to say that Trump's "conventional" picks couldn't do their share of damage. Future Secretary of State Marco Rubio could broker Ukraine's surrender to Russia and, with it, an invitation to Russia to march across Europe killing millions more people. 

Still, the fact remains that RFK, Jr. is the worst of a bad bunch as he has claimed COVID was invented to spare the Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews, that chemicals in water makes people gay and HIV does not cause AIDS.

But this is what America wanted and now we're going to get it and get it good.