MEDIA CLIPS – Nov. 16, 2018 Arenado finishes third in NL MVP voting Manny Randhawa | MLB.com | Nov. 15th, 2018 Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado finished in third place on the Baseball Writers' Association of America National League Most Valuable Player ballot, as announced Thursday on MLB Network. He finished behind the winner, Christian Yelich of the Brewers, and runner-up, Javier Baez of the Cubs. NL MVP Award voting Christian Yelich, MIL 29 1 415 Javier Baez, CHC 19 4 5 2 250 Nolan Arenado, COL 3 8 9 5 203 Freddie Freeman, ATL 8 8 3 174 Jacob deGrom, NYM 1 7 1 1 4 141 Name, team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Pts. The third-place finish for Arenado marks the third consecutive season that the Rockies slugger finished in the top five in NL MVP voting. He finished fifth in 2016, and fourth in '17. In this year's balloting, he received three second-place votes and eight third-place votes. His total score was 203 (Yelich received 415 points, and Baez received 250). Arenado, 27, turned in another tremendous season, both at the plate and defensively. He hit .297/.374/.561 with an NL- best 38 home runs, despite playing through a right shoulder injury he sustained on a throw in mid-August. His 133 OPS+ was a career high, and his OPS+ has increased in every season of his career. 1 Defensively, Arenado won his sixth Gold Glove Award in six Major League seasons and also took home his second consecutive Platinum Glove Award, an honor given to each league's best defender. "I thank the writers for recognizing my body of work," Arenado said in an Instagram post. "I know that playing in Denver, sometimes it doesn't work out that way. But I really appreciate that they saw the best in me. ... I'm proud to be a Rockie, proud of my team. Congratulations to the other guys, Baez and Yelich; they're unbelievable ballplayers and I love watching them play." Arenado will be entering the final season on his contract with the Rockies in 2019, as the two sides have not yet agreed to an extension. After the Rockies were eliminated from the postseason with a Game 3 loss in the NL Division Series against the Brewers, Arenado expressed his desire to remain in Colorado. Colorado Rockies @Rockies Always classy, always humble, always grateful.#NolanBeingNolan "Obviously arbitration is going to come around, and that topic will come up, but I expect to be in Spring Training with the Rockies next year," Arenado said. "I love it here. This is a business, though, and things can get a little iffy because of the business side of it. But that being said, I expect to be in Spring Training next year." Arenado became the sixth player in franchise history to finish in the top three in MVP voting, joining Dante Bichette (second, 1995), Ellis Burks (third, '96), Larry Walker (first, '97), Matt Holliday (second, 2007) and Carlos Gonzalez (third, '10). 2 Bowden: One move each MLB playoff team must make to get back to October Jim Bowden | TheAthletic.com | Nov 15, 2018 The offseason is underway, and playoff teams will be just as aggressive as those that missed the postseason in trying to improve their clubs. The Yankees have been everywhere, trying to add to their starting rotation while doing extensive research on superstar infielder Manny Machado. The Indians have been searching aggressively for help in both their outfield and bullpen, while the Astros have been digging in hard trying to improve in starting pitching, catching and left field. In the National League, the Braves have been looking to land a right-handed corner outfielder while also trying to find a way to acquire proven veteran pitching. The Brewers know they need starting rotation help, too, while the Colorado Rockies are looking for offense in the worst way. It’s only a matter of time before the press conferences are called. Here is my list of the one “must” move for each of 2018’s playoff teams: Boston Red Sox The Must-do Move: Re-sign free agent Craig Kimbrel, Closer The Red Sox had the best team in baseball this past season and arguably one of the three best teams I’ve witnessed in my lifetime (along with the Big Red Machine and the 1998 Yankees). If they can keep the team together, they should be the favorites to repeat as world champions. However, that’s not going to be easy, since three significant parts of their pitching staff are all free agents: closer Craig Kimbrel, set-up man Joe Kelly and starter/reliever Nathan Eovaldi. Among that group, the one key player the Red Sox have to re-sign is Kimbrel, who is one of the few elite closers in baseball and cannot be easily replaced. Kimbrel, 30, has 333 career saves with a 1.91 ERA. He has saved 108 games for the Red Sox the last three seasons. New York Yankees The Must-do Move: Trade for Indians’ Corey Kluber, RHP The Yankees need to improve the top of their starting rotation if they want to compete in the playoffs next year, and although there are quality starters available in free agency — like southpaws Patrick Corbin and Dallas Keuchel — there aren’t any aces who match up favorably against your Justin Verlanders and Chris Sales. However, Kluber could be had in a trade with the Indians … if the Yankees are willing to pay the huge price of top prospects. That type of trade would be 3 extremely painful, and is the kind of deal that Yankees GM Brian Cashman has not wanted to make over the last few years. However, if New York could land Kluber to go with Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka at the top of the rotation, their chances of getting back to the World Series would improve dramatically. Kluber, 32, is controllable through 2021 and is coming off a 5.8 WAR season where he went 20-7 with a 2.89 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. He has pitched over 200 innings for five straight seasons for the Indians. As much as a Manny Machado or Bryce Harper signing would be exciting — and give the Yankees a lineup to rival their 1927 roster — it wouldn’t be as significant in improving their team as trading for a No. 1 starter like Kluber. Cleveland Indians The Must-do Move: Sign Free Agent A.J. Pollock, OF The Indians have already been hit hard in free agency, having lost key relievers like Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. But they have an even bigger problem, thanks to left fielder Michael Brantley entering free agency and the rest of their outfield up in the air due to injuries, decline and players not living up to their potential. It’s critical that the Indians acquire an All- Star-caliber outfielder this offseason, and their best bet is to take a chance on free agent A.J. Pollock, despite his injury- riddled career. When Pollock was healthy last year, he was playing at an MVP level. In fact, in the first two months of last season, he was getting on base at a 35 percent clip with 11 home runs and nine stolen bases in just the first 40 games of his season. He appears to be completely healthy now, and would really help lengthen Cleveland’s lineup around Francisco Lindor, José Ramírez and Edwin Encarnación. Houston Astros The Must-do Move: Trade for Marlins’ J.T. Realmuto, C The Astros have been trying to find their long-term solution at catcher for several years, but haven’t been able to do it. Brian McCann has become a backup due to age and decline. Houston learned that Martín Maldonado might be a Gold Glove catcher, but he has too many holes at the plate, and the team wants to improve at the position with one of the game’s best. Their most appealing option is to trade for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto. With a farm system loaded with starting pitching, outfielders and, yes, even catching prospects, there has to be an Astros’ package good enough to beat the competition. Of course, Houston GM Jeff Luhnow would like to make the deal with quantity over quality, like he did in the Gerrit Cole and Ken Giles swaps. But things will be different here, because the Marlins can’t afford to make another 4 bad trade for a star player. And Realmuto is probably the player worth giving up an elite prospect for — he’s certainly one of the best three all-around catchers in the sport right now. Oakland Athletics The Must-do Move: Sign free agent Patrick Corbin, LHP The Athletics were the surprise team of 2018 and their head of baseball operations, Billy Beane, was awarded the Executive of the Year trophy as a reflection of that. If he wants to win the award in back-to-back years, Beane’s going have to improve the team’s starting rotation significantly this offseason. Patrick Corbin will have more bidders than maybe any free agent this winter, and I realize it’s a long shot that the budget-conscious A’s would sign him. But Oakland does have enough resources to overpay at least one starting pitcher and given the team’s defense, ballpark and lineup, this would be a perfect spot for Corbin. Most analysts didn’t think the A’s would outbid everyone for Yoenis Céspedes or be able to trade for Jon Lester, but they did.