Morning Briefing: 2020 Silver Slugger Awards Announced

Good Morning, Mets fans! MLB announced the winners of this year’s 2020 Silver Slugger Awards last night. Former Met Travis d’Arnaud won for the Braves, the first of his career.

Today could also be an exciting day for the Mets as there is a potential that Steve Cohen’s purchase of the Mets could be closed by the end of the day today. Should this happen, Cohen plans to hold a press conference next week.

Latest Mets News

Per Steve Cohen on Twitter, if his purchase of the Mets closes today, their will tentatively be a press conference on Tuesday.

Five members of the New York Mets are up for All-MLB Team Honors. Vote for Dominic Smith, Robinson Cano, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, and Edwin Diaz at https://www.mlb.com/fans/all-mlb-team.

Per the New York Post, Marcus Stroman is leaning toward rejecting the Mets’ qualifying offer.

Per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post if the New York Mets go after Francisco Lindor, it could ignite Steve Cohen’s first clash with the Yankees.

Latest MLB News

The Baltimore Orioles announced yesterday that they received infielders, AJ Graffanino and Greg Cullen as the players to be announced later from the Atlanta Braves to complete their trade of left-handed pitcher Tommy Milone.

Per Joe Trezza of MLB.com, Trey Mancini of the Orioles returned to the batting cages yesterday. Mancini posted a video of him hitting to his Instagram live story yesterday, roughly seven to eight weeks after completing his final chemotherapy treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer. “We’re back,” it says.

Per Corey Brock of The Athletic, the Seattle Mariners have agreed to minor league deals with right-handed pitchers, Gerson Bautista, Brady Lail, and Matt Magill.

Baseball Digest has named outfielder Kyle Lewis of the Seattle Mariners, their 2020 American League Rookie of the Year.

Per the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Diamondbacks acquired infielder Ronny Simon from the Chicago Cubs as the player to be named in the August 31 trade involving Andrew Chafin.

Per the Oakland Athletics Public Relations department, the Athletics have acquired minor league outfielder Junior Perez from the San Diego Padres as the player to be named later in the June 30 trade in which they dealt infielder Jorge Mateo to the Padres.

Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres announced that outfielder Junior Perez has been traded to the Oakland Athletics to complete the deal for infielder, Jorge Mateo; Right-handed pitcher, Ddylan Coleman has also been traded to the Kansas City Royals to complete the deal for right-handed pitcher Trevor Rosenthal.

MLB 2020 Silver Slugger Awards

American League:

Catcher, Salvador Perez – Kansas City Royals

Designated Hitter, Nelson Cruz – Minnesota Twins

First Baseman, Jose Abreu – Chicago White Sox

Second Baseman, DJ LeMahieu – New York Yankees

Third Baseman, Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians

Shortstop, Tim Anderson – Chicago White Sox

Outfielder, Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels

Outfielder, Teoscar Hernandez – Toronto Blue Jays

Outfielder, Eloy Jimenez – Chicago White Sox

National League:

Catcher, Travis d’Arnaud – Atlanta Braves

Designated Hitter, Marcell Ozuna – Atlanta Braves

First Baseman, Freddie Freeman – Atlanta Braves

Second Baseman, Donovan Solano – San Francisco Giants

Third Baseman, Manny Machado – San Diego Padres

Shortstop, Fernando Tatis Jr. – San Diego Padres

Outfielder, Juan Soto – Washington Nationals

Outfielder, Mookie Betts – Los Angeles Dodgers

Outfielder, Ronald Acuna Jr. – Atlanta Braves

Latest NL East News

Per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic and MLB.com, the Washington Nationals have re-signed right-handed picher, Aaron Barrett to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. They have also invited Adrian Sanchez and Brandon Snyder to major league camp in 2021.

Per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, the Philadelphia Phillies announced yesterday that they have acquired right-handed pitcher Rodolfo Sanchez from the Tampa Bay Rays as the player to be announced later for right-handed pitcher Edgar Garcia.

Per the Atlanta Braves, former Met Travis d’Arnaud won his first Silver Slugger award last night.

Latest Professional Sports News

Per Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, ESPN is laying off 300 employees and will not fill 200 currently open positions. Network president, Jimmy Pitaro informed employees this morning in a memo obtained by the New York Post.