Yeah, setup men need not apply for the Rivera and Hoffman awards

The report from this morning is now official: the MLB awards going to relievers will be named after Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. And, as I suspected, setup men need not apply. Get the voting committee for the award:

The voters: Rivera, Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Rich “Goose” Gossage, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, John Franco and Billy Wagner.

— MLB (@MLB) April 9, 2014

Most of us agree RBI is a flawed stat and thus basing awards on RBI totals is dumb. Well, save totals is a pretty flawed stat too, but I imagine it will be everything when it comes to this award. Closers have a different mentality, you see. Or so we’re told. And so those who save games tend to believe and pride themselves upon.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports that Phillies owner John Middleton flew to Las Vegas for a meeting with Bryce Harper on Friday. Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, it’s “more of a meet-and-greet than a sign-a-deal” affair, but as the club is still at the forefront of trade rumors involving the All-Star slugger, there remains a possibility (however slight) that something could be completed in the days to come.

Even now, the Phillies aren’t alone in the race to sign Harper, but recent rumors have helped whittle down the competition from five or more teams (Phillies, Nationals, White Sox, Giants, and Padres) to three strong contenders. The Giants are said to be interested in a lucrative short-term deal with the outfielder, while the Padres remain in the conversation despite inking Manny Machado to a mammoth 10-year, $300 million contract this week. It’s not yet clear just how far either team would go to outbid Philadelphia as talks with Harper intensify.

As for the Nationals and White Sox, the former officially bowed out earlier today, and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds that the latter won’t make a strong play for Harper as they feel the asking price and competing offers are “getting too high” for the 26-year-old’s services. If a mystery team is still in the mix, there’s been no word on their standing with Harper in the last month or so.