Hot Stove Lunch: Jacob deGrom's historic season; O's finally find a GM

Tonight, when Jacob deGrom wins the National League Cy Young Award, it will unofficially mark the end of the starting pitching win as a meaningful statistic.

To be sure, the stat has been on life support for some time. Its decline began when Felix Hernandez won the AL Cy Young Award in 2010, despite a 13-12 won-loss record. That marked a turning point in how we evaluate starters, with the understanding that a starting pitcher has little say in whether he gets a win out of a start. That's far more connected with the offense, whose job it is to score runs, which his teammates failed to do on a consistent basis, averaging just 3.5 runs in his outings.

Instead, we look at ERA, and of others metrics (ERA+, WHIP, FIP, SO9, etc.) to determine a starter's effectiveness.

deGrom won just 10 games in 2018 while losing nine, and until his last few starts, was in danger of finishing with a losing record. But with his 1.70 ERA and a WHIP of just .912 to go along with 269 strikeouts in 217 innings, he was clearly the most effective starter in the NL. He held opponents to three earned runs or less in a remarkable 29 straight starts.

The race in the American League is less clear-cut among the finalists with Justin Verlander, Blake Snell and Corey Kluber in the running.

AL EAST 

It appears as though the Orioles have finally found their GM.

Joel Sherman wonders if the Yankees might revert back to their big-spending ways in the wake of the Red Sox winning another title.

It's been speculated that the Jays could non-tender second baseman Devon Travis. That would be a mistake.

Here's the case for Blake Snell as the AL Cy Young winner.

AL CENTRAL

The Tigers need a shortstop to replace old friend Jose Iglesias. Here's one possibility.

The White Sox have let it be known that they'd be willing to move Avisail Garcia.

As Joe Mauer rides off into the sunset, the Minnesota Twins need to find his replacement at first base.

AL WEST

Bob Melvin won his third MOY award, beating out Alex Cora.

A former employee has made some ugly allegations about the Seattle Mariners.

The Texas Rangers have moved on from pitching coach Doug Brocail after three seasons.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Arizona Diamondbacks are said to be looking at unloading starter Zach Greinke. Here are three potential landing spots.

HOT TAKE I MIGHT SOON REGRET

Today and tomorrow, MLB owners are meeting in Atlanta and reportedly, they'll get some feedback from commissioner Rob Manfred on, among other things, pace-of-place initiatives. This could be the start of some significant rule changes for 2019 and beyond, with Manfred known to favor a pitch clock.

Baseball shaved more than five minutes off its average game time this past season, but at just over three hours, the game time is too long. Something must be done to improve the pace, and a pitch clock is a good start.

Manfred is apparently reluctant to unilaterally implement the change -- though he has the right -- for fear of alienating the Players Association. But sadly, the PA has moved into an obstructionist phase and had signaled a willingness to fight any meaningful changes designed to speed up games.

It would be best, obviously, for the PA to be on board with this initiative. But if the union has dug in its heels, then Manfred must act alone.