Roberto Clemente Award nominees announced - HardballTalk

The Roberto Clemente Award goes to the Major Leaguer who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.” Yadier Molina won the award last year. This year’s nominees were just announced, and they are listed below.

September 18 will be Roberto Clemente Day, and all the home teams will honor their nominees. Visiting teams will do it for their guys on their next home stand.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be announced during the World Series. He will be selected by a panel that includes MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, representatives from the national networks which broadcast baseball, MLB.com and Clemente’s widow, Vera Clemente. There is also a fan vote component, the winner of which receives one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel. You can vote here from tomorrow through Sunday, September 29.

The nominees:

Arizona Diamondbacks – Eduardo Escobar

Atlanta Braves – Charlie Culberson

Baltimore Orioles – Chris Davis

Boston Red Sox – Brock Holt

Chicago Cubs – Jon Lester

Chicago White Sox – Tim Anderson

Cincinnati Reds – Michael Lorenzen

Cleveland Indians – Carlos Carrasco

Colorado Rockies – Ian Desmond

Detroit Tigers – Miguel Cabrera

Houston Astros – Alex Bregman

Kansas City Royals – Alex Gordon

Los Angeles Angels – Andrew Heaney

Los Angeles Dodgers – Kenley Jansen

Miami Marlins – Martín Prado

Milwaukee Brewers – Chase Anderson

Minnesota Twins – Kyle Gibson

New York Mets – Steven Matz

New York Yankees – CC Sabathia

Oakland Athletics – Liam Hendriks

Philadelphia Phillies – Rhys Hoskins

Pittsburgh Pirates – Trevor Williams

San Diego Padres – Hunter Renfroe

San Francisco Giants – Pablo Sandoval

Seattle Mariners – Dee Gordon

St. Louis Cardinals – Adam Wainwright

Tampa Bay Rays – Kevin Kiermaier

Texas Rangers – Elvis Andrus

Toronto Blue Jays – Randal Grichuk

Washington Nationals – Anthony Rendon

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ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Major League Baseball Players Association has submitted a proposal to the league concerning the 2020 season. The proposal includes a 114-game season with an end date on October 31, playoff expansion for two years, the right for players to opt out of the season, and a potential deferral of 2020 salaries if the postseason were to be canceled.

Passan clarifies that among the players who choose to opt out, only those that are considered “high risk” would still receive their salaries. The others would simply receive service time. The union also proposed that the players receive a non-refundable $100 million sum advance during what would essentially be Spring Training 2.

If the regular season were to begin in early July, as has often been mentioned as the target, that would give the league four months to cram in 114 games. There would have to be occasional double-headers, or the players would have to be okay with few off-days. Nothing has been mentioned about division realignment or a geographically-oriented schedule, but those could potentially ease some of the burden.

Last week, the owners made their proposal to the union, suggesting a “sliding scale” salary structure. The union did not like that suggestion. Players were very vocal about it, including on social media as Max Scherzer — one of eight players on the union’s executive subcommittee — made a public statement. The owners will soon respond to the union’s proposal. They almost certainly won’t be happy with many of the details, but the two sides can perhaps find a starting point and bridge the gap. As the calendar turns to June, time is running out for the two sides to hammer out an agreement on what a 2020 season will look like.

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