MLB Notebook: Price, Dickey win Cy Young; big trade for Marlins, Jays

Price barely beat out 2011 winner Justin Verlander for the American League prize in one of the closest votes ever. Dickey was an easy choice for the NL honor in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Dickey, 38, became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.

Runner-up two years ago, Price was the pick this time by the slimmest of margins. He received 14 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 153 points to 149 for Verlander, chosen first on 13 ballots.

Other than a 1969 tie between Mike Cuellar and Denny McLain, it was the tightest race in the history of the AL award.

Rays closer Fernando Rodney got the other first-place vote and came in fifth.

Price went 20-5 to tie Jered Weaver for the American League lead in victories and winning percentage. Price, 27, had the lowest ERA at 2.56 and finished sixth in strikeouts with 205.

Verlander, also the league MVP a year ago, followed that up by going 17-8 with a 2.64 ERA and pitched the Tigers to the World Series. He led the majors in strikeouts (239), innings (238 1/3) and complete games (six).

Weaver was third with 70 points

Dickey garnered 27 of 32 first-place votes and easily outdistanced 2011 winner Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gio Gonzalez of Washington finished third.

Marlins, Blue Jays make blockbuster trade

MIAMI - The attendance-challenged Marlins have antagonized fans again by deciding a low-budget team is good enough for their new ballpark.

A blockbuster trade sending three stars to Toronto could save Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria $150 million, which prompted a backlash from South Floridians angered by the team's latest payroll purge.

"Everybody in the world wants to talk about the Marlins and the fact they're now a Triple-A team," said city commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who was an opponent of the ballpark project. "The Marlins have lost pretty much all credibility with fans. Even if this trade is a positive move from a baseball standpoint, it won't be viewed by the general public as a positive move."

Miami traded All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, left-hander Mark Buehrle and right-hander Josh Johnson as part of the deal, which awaited final approval Wednesday pending physicals for the players. Among the players the Blue Jays gave up were shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria, right-hander Henderson Alvarez and several top minor-league prospects.

Loria declined to talk with reporters as he passed through the hotel lobby at the owners meetings in Chicago.

"Not today, boys," he said. "If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not going to figure it out for you."

Team president David Samson said the trade improved the Marlins, who have finished last in the NL East each of the past two years. This season they expected to contend for the playoffs with the highest payroll in franchise history but instead went 69-93, their worst record since 1999.

"We sat down after the season and talked about the team and said we cannot keep finishing in last place," Samson said on his weekly radio show on WINZ-AM. "We found a way to possibly in one fell swoop get a whole lot better. I recognize that the names coming back in a potential trade are not names people are familiar with, but in the baseball world, people are familiar with them."

When asked about fans feeling betrayed, Samson said, "I think that people should feel betrayed by the fact we're losing so much, and that they wouldn't want us to stand pat and keep losing."

Samson's description of the roster shakeup as an upgrade failed to mollify fans. Radio talk show host Jeff DeForrest began fielding calls from irate listeners shortly after news of the trade broke Tuesday.

"The next move obviously is to have Fidel Castro throw out the first pitch next year," DeForrest said. "That's the only way they could alienate the fans more than they have."

Castro became a source of acrimony last April, when Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen's praise of the former Cuban leader infuriated team supporters. That was shortly after the new ballpark opened in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, and attendance never recovered from the tempest.

Management had projected the rebranded team would win and draw nearly 3 million fans, but instead the Marlins were out of contention by midseason, and attendance barely topped 2.2 million.

With revenue falling short of projections, Loria decided to end the franchise's brief era of big spending. The players traded by the Marlins have combined guaranteed salaries of $163.75 million through 2018, including $96 million due Reyes. The deals he and Buehrle signed when they joined Miami a year ago were heavily backloaded.

Salaries for 2013 include $13.75 million for Johnson in the final year of his contract, $11 million for Buehrle and $10 million for Reyes. The net in guaranteed salaries coming off Marlins' books is expected to be $154 million, which does not account for any cash that may be involved in trade.

Three years ago, the Marlins reached an agreement with the players' union to increase spending in the wake of complaints team payroll had been so small as to violate baseball's revenue sharing provisions. But the trade with Toronto leaves the Marlins with an estimated opening day payroll of $34 million, which would be their lowest since 2008. Oakland had the lowest payroll in the majors last year at $59.5 million.

Of the lineup that took the field for the festive first game in the new ballpark less than eight months ago, only two players remain - Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison.

Stanton tweeted that he was angry about the trade and changed his Twitter photo in an apparent protest, swapping out his Marlins uniform for a black shirt.

"I'm not saying fans can't be upset," Morrison tweeted to his 123,000 followers. "I'm saying I'm not going to get upset. I can't control it. So don't expect me to be upset."

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AP Sports Writers Ron Blum in New York and Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.

AP

11/14/12 18:33

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Affeldt, Giants complete $18 million, 3-year deal

Eds: Updates with Affeldt quotes.

By Janie Mccauley

AP Baseball Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Jeremy Affeldt wanted some job security - and the reliable reliever got it.

The left-hander and the World Series champion San Francisco Giants completed an $18 million, three-year contract Wednesday. Bobby Evans, the team's vice president of baseball operations, said the deal had been finalized to keep Affeldt in the Bay Area.

"We are so happy to be back with our San Francisco family," Affeldt said.

Affeldt, who returned home to Washington State from San Francisco after taking his physical Tuesday, realizes few relievers can say they will have spent seven years with the same team. The 33-year-old Affeldt went 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 67 appearances covering 63 1-3 innings this season for the Giants.

"It's an awesome opportunity to stay in that city for a few more years," he said. "This is what I was looking for - not one year, not one year with an option. When you can get a multiyear deal in one city and give your family some stability, it's a good thing."

When the season ended, he publicly said he wanted to stay but would not accept a one-year deal because he wanted to provide some stability for his family - he has a wife and three young sons. Affeldt also was a key member of the bullpen during the club's 2010 run to the franchise's first championship since 1954.

"I'm glad it got done," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He is such a key swing guy who can be used in the sixth inning on. That was an important sign for us. I'm excited to have the crazy left-hander back. He's getting better with age, his stuff, his command. He is a more complete pitcher now than when we got him. He's doing what you want your players to do: keep getting better."

General manager Brian Sabean called re-signing Affeldt one of his top offseason priorities. Affeldt lives on the West Coast in his hometown of Spokane, Wash., so re-signing with the Giants was appealing from that standpoint as well.

"It's great to retain such a big piece to our bullpen puzzle," Sabean said.

He has spent the past four of his 11 major league seasons with San Francisco, going 10-9 with a 2.73 ERA in 237 1-3 innings and 184 outings.

Affeldt dealt with two bizarre, non-baseball injuries the past two seasons.

In late April, he sprained his right knee and went on the disabled list after he reached out to catch his son, Walker, as the 60-pound 4-year-old jumped off the couch to hug his arriving father.

On Sept. 8, 2011, the pitcher sliced his non-throwing hand nearly to the artery while separating frozen hamburgers during an outdoor barbecue with his family on an off-day. The paring knife he was using pushed through a hamburger patty and deep into his hand. Affeldt came within a millimeter of an artery and underwent surgery about eight hours after the injury to repair nerve damage in his pinkie.

"Those are fluke injuries," Bochy said. "These guys have to live their lives. We let these guys live their normal lives - that's the way it should be. We're all occasionally going to have them, and he has a knack for the good ones."

AP

11/14/12 17:45

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A's manager Melvin will welcome back Bartolo Colon

Eds: Updates with details, quotes. With AP Photos.

By Janie Mccauley

AP Baseball Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Bartolo Colon will be welcomed back to the Oakland Athletics with no hard feelings - at least by newly crowned AL Manager of the Year Bob Melvin.

Melvin said Wednesday he is "thrilled" the right-hander will return to the club next year after his 2012 season ended with a 50-game suspension Aug. 22 for testing positive for testosterone.

Colon received a $3 million, one-year contract Nov. 3, though he still has five games remaining on his suspension when the 2013 season starts. While the new deal includes incentives for starts and innings, he also has potential bonuses for relief appearances - though Melvin said Colon would prepare as a starter and will be "embraced" by the reigning AL West champions.

"He's gone through his penalty," Melvin said. "It's one thing if it's a guy who might be a little bit of a bad guy, but his is a true gentleman, a great guy who just made a mistake. He'll be embraced back here again. He was very important for us. Guys like that can kind of get lost in the shuffle when they're not here and you get to the postseason, but he was a key guy for us, he really was."

The former Cy Young winner went 10-9 with a 3.43 ERA in 24 starts for Oakland last season, his 15th in the majors.

A's general manager Billy Beane said finding a veteran pitcher to be part of a young rotation - and for the financial value - Colon was the perfect fit.

Melvin said he last spoke to Colon about three weeks after the suspension began, and they will talk again before the start of spring training in February.

"I don't need to talk to Bart. I will call him at some point in time," Melvin said. "I got very close to him, and we had a nice conversation and he was very remorseful when all that went down. I think in the back of his mind he was hoping this situation would arise for him again, and it did."

A's assistant general manager David Forst said Wednesday the team remains in contact with shortstop Stephen Drew. Oakland declined to pick up their half of a $10 million mutual option late last month. Drew is seeking a long-term deal.

"We're still in touch," Forst said. "We're looking to do something at that position, and he's still an option."

AP

11/14/12 17:43