MLB trade rumors and news: Snitker, Melvin rewarded for their teams’ surprising seasons

The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we’re running here at MLBDD that rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us up at @mlbdailydish on Twitter or @MLBDailyDish on Instagram.

• Bud Black, Craig Counsell, Kevin Cash, and Alex Cora put together strong campaigns to win this year’s Manager of the Year awards, but ultimately it was the Braves’ Brian Snitker and the Athletics’ Bob Melvin who came away with the prizes on Tuesday night. There’s a strong argument to be made that Cora did the best job of changing a team’s culture and that Cash and Counsell displayed the greatest strokes of tactical genius, but voters almost always opt for the managers who made the playoffs while most significantly exceeding preseason expectations — thus the Snitker and Melvin picks.
• This year’s MVPs will be announced on Thursday night. Our Anthony Spaulding breaks down the cases for each of the American League candidates.
• Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, director of player development Andy McKay, and manager Scott Servais are in hot water after Dr. Lorena Martin, the organization’s recently-ousted high performance coach, accused the trio of racist and sexist treatment. The team put out a statement unequivocally denying the allegations, but Major League Baseball has announced that it will investigate the situation.
• Speaking of the Mariners, it looks as if they may be getting ready to begin a full-fledged youth movement, and that may result in them dealing left-handed ace James Paxton. Which team provides the best fit for The Big Maple?
• Of the seven players that received qualifying offers, only a couple had a realistic chance of accepting it. Once the dust settled yesterday, only Hyun-Jin Ryu accepted the offer and the other six will become free agents.
• The Rookie of the Year awards were announced Monday night and, as expected, Ronald Acuna Jr. won in the National League while Shohei Ohtani took down the awards in the AL.
• The Cubs are reportedly open to dealing third baseman and former MVP Kris Bryant, inciting heartbreak and skepticism across the land.
• The Yankees’ offseason is off to a depressing start as star catcher Gary Sanchez had to have shoulder surgery and will be on the mend for the next three months as he recovers.
• Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer announced his retirement after 15 years of good, wholesome baseball.
• The Pirates made an interesting move to bring back Jung Ho Kang back on a one-year deal despite legal issues that kept him out of action and detained in South Korea for the better part of two seasons.
• The Marlins have reportedly talked with eight to 10 teams about the possibility of making a trade for All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Derek Jeter does not sleep, he simply waits.
• The Giants have finally settled upon a new man to steer the ship, hiring Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations. Talk about stepping onto enemy turf. Zaidi became interested in the mechanics of baseball after reading Moneyball and reached out to the A’s front office soon after — so remember that next time you want to go out on a limb and then chicken out.
• Anthony Spaulding is making the cases for this year’s NL Cy Young Award candidates, and yes, there are some players who have a decent chance and aren’t named Jacob deGrom.
• CC keeps pitching well for the Yankees, and New York keeps bringing him back on one-year contracts. Sabathia, who completed what ended up being a nine-year pact after the 2017 season, signed a one-year deal with the Yankees for the second straight offseason on Tuesday after posting a 3.65 ERA and 1.31 WHIP over 29 starts this year. The new deal will pay him $8 million in 2019.
• Our Eric Cole writes that there are plenty of realistic potential destinations for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado — and maybe they’ll even end up on the same team.
• The Yankees have floated the idea of trading Sonny Gray for a while now, so Andersen Pickard decided to take a look at what potential trade partners New York could find for the starter.
• The women of SB Nation’s MLB team brands look back at the 2018 season.
• Bryce Harper’s free-agent suitors should include the Phillies, Giants, and ... Brewers?
• Cleveland will listen to offers for veteran players, and the internet has subsequently spiraled into a rabbit hole of “what ifs.”
• Winter is here...and with it, hot stove season. Here’s a look at the biggest free agents this offseason and what we might see go down when baseball hits the Winter Meetings in Vegas.