Mariners Moose Tracks, 11/8/16: MLB Awards Finalists, An Edwin Diaz Song, and Qualifying Offers

Good morning folks! I hope you're all having a good start to the work week. It's getting to be award season in baseball, with all of the awards finalists being announced yesterday.

No Mariners were included in the final three of any awards races. Some other notable omissions include Chris Sale/Zach Britton (AL Cy Young), Terry Collins (NL Manager of the Year), and Jose Fernandez/Madison Bumgarner (NL Cy Young).

The Britton omission is of particular note. The degree to which he merits votes is up for debate of course. But to me it's more notable because if Britton (0.54 ERA in 67 innings) isn't even a finalist for the Cy Young in a year when the American League race is so wide open, then when will a reliever ever win the award? Perhaps the current crop of voters is turned off from the notion of a reliever winning the award. But barring a drastic shift of philosophy among the BBWAA, don't expect a reliever to earn the honor any time soon.

Now, onto the latest from the sport we all know and love.

In Mariners news...

• For the other side's take on the Carlos Ruiz-Vidal Nuno trade, here's the analysis from True Blue LA.
• The always-great Marc W at U.S.S. Mariner gave his takes on the M's latest set of roster moves.
• Ryan Divish includes some interesting info in his latest report, including Tyler O'Neill's injury status in the AFL, and who the Mariners are currently scouting (like Greg Holland).
• Edwin Diaz has officially made it big, as he's now the topic of a latin urban song written by Luis R. "El Inconforme." This kind of reminds me of the Latvian rap song written about Kristaps Porzingis when he first came onto the scene for the Knicks. You should give it a listen if you need Mike Blowers remixed into a reggaeton song in your life.
  
• Donn Roach has agreed to a deal with a fairly new Korean team, KT Wiz. Reports indicate Roach will slot in as the team's #2 starter, which really illustrates the difference in skill level between the MLB and KBO. Then again, KT Wiz was quite bad last year. I also did not know KBO teams have limits on the number of international players they're allowed to have on their roster, which makes sense.

Other baseball stories...

• Baseball America rounded up a bunch of Instagram videos from baseball players voicing their disagreement with the international draft. Nelson Cruz is among them. His video translates to: "Hello, I'm Nelson Cruz. I, along with many Dominican players and their families disagree with the international draft and the changes it may bring."
• In a really cool story, a community member on Let's Go Tribe saved every voicemail his dad sent him after each win thoughout the 2016 Indians season and uploaded them to a website. Take a listen to a few of them.
• A number of players received qualifying offers before the deadline yesterday, including Mark Trumbo and Ian Desmond.
• MLB Trade Rumors gave its annual list of the top 50 free agents with predictions on where they'll go. The only player picked to go to the M's is lefty reliever Brett Cecil.
• A.J. Pierzynski has decided not to retire after all. He will seek a contract for 2017.

Anders' picks for today...

• I didn't do one yesterday, but here's my song of the day for y'all. It's called "Weight of the World," a song from Jon Bellion's album The Human Condition. It's a pretty great album too, if you have the itching to listen. But here's a taste.

• Time for a personal anecdote: I live in a house just outside of my college's campus. On the walk to campus, there lives a group of feral (but friendly) cats in the bushes outside one of the houses. One day we discovered that a kitten had joined the gang. We've named it Autumn and although we have yet to successfully pet her, we still feed her semi-frequently and she's very cute.