Wednesday’s baseball: Scherzer wins third Cy Young
Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals coasted to his third Cy Young, winning Wednesday for the second straight year in the NL.
Scherzer breezed past Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, drawing 27 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
“Yes!” Scherzer shouted, thrusting his arms up when was announced on MLB Network.
Scherzer earned the NL honor last year with Washington and the 2013 AL prize with Detroit. He became the 10th pitcher with at least three Cy Youngs.
Scherzer was 16-6 with a career-best 2.51 ERA. The 33-year-old righty struck out a league-leading 268 for the NL East champion Nationals.
Kershaw has already won three NL Cy Youngs, and was the last pitcher to win back-to-back. He was 18-4 with a league-best 2.31 ERA and 202 strikeouts.
Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians easily won his second AL Cy Young Award earlier in the day. He got 28 of the 30 first-place votes, with Boston’s Chris Sale finishing second.
Kluber led the majors with a 2.25 ERA and his 18 wins tied for the most in baseball. He added to the Cy Young he won with the Indians in 2014. Kluber was 18-4 and struck out 265.
Kluber and Scherzer both had rough outings in the playoffs. Voting for the awards was completed before the postseason began.
The final BBWAA honors will come Thursday evening when the MVP awards are announced in both leagues.
Jeter shopping Stanton
Now a rookie executive instead of a veteran player, Derek Jeter arrived for his first major league owners’ meeting and said the Miami Marlins are listening to trade offers for slugging outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.
Jeter became the Marlins’ chief executive officer when a group headed by venture capitalist Bruce Sherman bought the team Oct. 2 from Jeffrey Loria. The former New York Yankees captain, a five-time World Series champion, said Miami needed to turn around both on and off the field. Payroll will be cut, and Stanton could be dealt after hitting 59 homers — the highest total in the majors since 2001.
“We’re exploring options, what opportunities are there,” Jeter said Wednesday. “We’re listening. Teams haven’t only reached out about Stanton. They’ve reached out about a lot of our players, which says a lot about the players in our organization.”
Stanton a 28-year-old outfielder, is guaranteed $295 million over the remaining decade of his record 13-year contract.
He will earn $25 million next season and has a full no-trade provision, giving him power to control any deal.
The Cardinals and Red Sox are said to be among the teams that are interested.
Mets moves
The New York Mets have filled out their coaching staff, adding Gary DiSarcina (bench coach), Dave Eiland (pitching) and Ruben Amaro Jr. (first-base) under Mickey Callaway.
Callaway replaces Midland native and Eastern Michigan alum Terry Collins, who has moved to the front office.