The Windup: A show about Baseball · The Athletic

The Roundtable | What to make of the new Relief Pitcher of the Year award

·45 min·2 clips

Andy McCullough proposes a Sophomore of the Year award and a platoon award named for Seth Smith.

1. The Windup's Roundtable episode 171 examines the BBWAA's proposed Reliever of the Year award, which all three hosts can vote on as members. 2. Grant Brisby hosts with Andy McCullough and Sam Miller, opening with a rosin bag story in which a sticky hand was rinsed in red Gatorade before a handshake with either Mark Trumbo or CJ Wilson. 3. Grant supports the award as "well overdue," Sam says he voted against it, and Andy says he "definitely voted against" it while offering sarcastic support. 4. Andy proposes mock awards at the winter meetings, including Sophomore of the Year, a single-trophy Platoon of the Year named for Seth Smith, and Bench Coach of the Year. 5. Grant argues the reliever is "a load bearing wall" of the modern game, pointing to the Guardians' bullpen last year, the Padres' bullpen rebuild, and the Yankees' Doval and Jake Bird problems. 6. Sam argues that relievers' shrinking share of Cy Young and MVP votes, noted in Jason Stark's column, reflects "decades of wisdom" and that the award is a workaround for a settled voter verdict. 7. In a hypothetical GM trade of Mason Miller versus Nick Martinez, Andy takes the starter "every single time," and the hosts compare Edwin Diaz's $20 million salary with Martinez's $21.5 million. 8. Andy says the BBWAA awards matter because of history and scarcity, noting that Pete Crow-Armstrong's MVP ties him to Ryan Sandberg, while a "Sandy Koufax pitcher of the year award" would carry no weight. 9. Sam lists 33 current awards and traces the Majestic Athletic Always Game Award (2015 to 2017, won by Nolan Arenado and Jose Altuve), three Comeback Player of the Year awards, and a 2005 Viagra-sponsored MLB version. 10. Baseball fans who enjoy awards-process debates and banter between writers.

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