Morning Briefing: Jacob DeGrom Captures Second Straight Cy Young

Good morning Mets fans! On Wednesday, Mets ace Jacob deGrom won his second straight Cy-Young award accumulating 29-out-of-30 first place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America.

DeGrom is the first Met to earn back-to-back Cy Young Awards, and the seventh National League pitcher to accomplish this feat in the history of baseball.

DeGrom first put up a historic season in 2018 leading the league in ERA (1.70), FIP (1.98), and ERA+ (218) to go along with a 0.91 WHIP and 269 strikeouts en route to his first award. Somehow, he was almost just as stellar in 2019 going 11-8 with a 2.43 ERA, 7.9 fWAR, 2.67 FIP, 0.97 WHIP, while leading the league with 255 strikeouts (11.25 K/9) to earn his second straight title as the best pitcher in the N.L.

It has without a doubt been a very successful week for the Mets two best players as Pete Alonso took home the National League Rookie of the Year award, as well.

Let’s take a look at what else went on around the league yesterday!

Latest Mets News

Carlos Beltran was one-of-three current managers connected to the electronic sign-stealing allegations against the Houston Astros in 2017, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Beltran of-course played the final season of his 20-year career with the Astros that year.

The other two managers, who were named include Astros skipper A.J. Hinch and Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who served as bench coach during this season.

The Mets are bringing back hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater on multi-year deals, as Andy Martino of SNY first reported.

Former Met Hall of Famer Mike Piazza has been named the new manager of the Italian National Baseball team will lead them in the upcoming World Baseball Classic in 2021, per Jon Paul Morosi of MLB Network.

As Anthony DiComo of MLB.com noted, the Mets expect the soon-to-be married Tim Tebow to be fully recovered from his finger laceration by spring training. Tebow will likely return to Triple-A Syracuse this season.

Former Kingsport Mets manager Bobby Floyd has been elected into the Appalachian League Hall of Fame.

Latest MLB News

Houston Astros veteran Justin Verlander took home the American League Cy-Young after going 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA, 3.27 FIP, and fWar of 7.8 while leading the league in WHIP (.803), starts (34), and innings pitched (223).

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, the Yankees have “checked in” on starting pitchers Zack Wheeler, Gerrit Cole, and Stephen Strasburg.

Katie Strang of The Athletic investigates whether Rawlings tried to pass off older “commercial” baseballs to be used in the postseason by falsely marking them with 2019 authentication stickers.

Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal discusses Mike Trout‘s historic eight-season run and how the Angels have failed their star player throughout these years.

The San Diego Padres are planning to work on an extension this off-season with their young star studded shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.following his rookie season, per Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union Tribune.

According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, with both contracts expiring in 2021, the Minnesota Twins have extended general manager Thad Levine and chief baseball officer Derek Falvay through 2024 in the wake of an 100-win season and the team’s first division title since 2012.