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sports Thursday 16 November 2017

Twins’ Molitor, D-Backs’ Lovullo win Manager of Year awards

By BEN WALKER make the playoffs following were in the midst of a 5-13
AP Baseball Writer a 100-loss season. slide when the Twins trad-
Paul Molitor and Torey Molitor drew 18 of the 30 ed closer Brandon Kintzler
Lovullo both presided over first-place votes in balloting to Washington for a minor
turnaround seasons, guid- by members of the Base- leaguer less than a month
ed their teams into the ball Writers’ Association of after he made the All-Star
playoffs and won Manager America. team. They also dealt away
of the Year awards by wide Cleveland’s Terry Francona Jaime Garcia after he won
margins. was second and A.J. Hinch his only start since they got
The paths they took, those of the World Series cham- him from Atlanta.
were totally different. pion Houston Astros finished “A little bit of a wrinkle,”
Molitor needed a club- third. Voting was complet- Molitor said.
house talk to calm down ed before the start of the Molitor’s message to the
the Minnesota Twins, his playoffs. Twins at that point was “not
players angered by moves Lovullo got 18 first-place magical,” he said. Instead,
the front office made at votes, too, in earning the it was fairly simple and
the July 31 trade deadline. National League prize. straightforward: Believe in ABOVE: In this July 20, 2017, file photo, Arizona Diamondbacks
“I still believed,” Molitor said Dave Roberts of the Los An- yourselves. manager Torey Lovullo works in the dugout during the seventh
inning of the team’s baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds
Tuesday, recalling how he geles Dodgers was second “I still had a lot of optimism,” in Cincinnati.
helped his team overcome and Colorado’s Bud Black he said. BELOW: In this Sept. 23, 2017, file photo, Minnesota Twins
“that speed bump.” was third. The 61-year-old Molitor was manager Paul Molitor watches from the dugout during the first
No such distractions in the Roberts, Black, Milwau- born and raised in St. Paul, inning of the team’s baseball game against the Minnesota Twins
desert. kee’s Craig Counsell and Minnesota, and got the last in Detroit.
In his first full season as a Dusty Baker, since let go by of his 3,319 career hits with Associated Press
skipper, Lovullo built a cul- Washington, also had first- the Twins in 1998.
ture of communication place votes. Shortly after the playoff loss,
with the Arizona Diamond- Molitor joined Frank Robin- Molitor got a new three-
backs. son as the only Hall of Fame year contract to continue
He often referred to the players to win a manager managing the Twins.
“love” teammates had for of the year award, which The 52-year-old Lovullo
each other — and Lovullo was first presented in 1983. guided the Diamondbacks
certainly loved the midsea- “I was aware of some of to a 93-69 record and their
son deal that brought big- the history,” Molitor said. first playoff spot since 2011,
hitting J.D. Martinez to the The Twins went 85-77 this a year after they went 69-
D-backs. season and captured their 93.
“We are going to be one first playoff spot since 2010 Lovullo was Boston’s bench
year better,” he said, add- before losing to the Yan- coach when he ran the
ing his club would be even kees in the AL wild-card Red Sox for 48 games in
“more united” in 2018. game. Last year, the Twins 2015 while manager John
Molitor won the American led the majors with 103 loss- Farrell underwent cancer Martinez, and led by pitch- They beat Colorado in the
League Manager of the es. treatment. ers Zack Greinke and Rob- NL wild-card game before
Year award after the Twins Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and Powered by Paul Gold- bie Ray, the Diamondbacks getting swept by the Dodg-
became the first team to their Minnesota teammates schmidt, Jake Lamb and made the playoffs this year. ers in the Division Series. q
MLB hopes for new Japan

posting deal by early December

By RONALD BLUM teams. would hold a conference
AP Baseball Writer LB Chief Legal Officer Dan call for an approval vote.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Ma- Halem said Wednesday a Otani, a 23-year-old with
jor League Baseball hopes new framework has been the Pacific League’s Nip-
to reach a new agree- agreed to with Nippon pon Ham Fighters, would
ment on a posting system Professional Baseball and be restricted to a minor
with Japan by early De- that a deal with the Major league contract with a
Dan Halem, chief legal officer of Major League Baseball, cember, a deal that would League Baseball Players maximum signing bonus
answers questions during a news conference at the annual allow star pitcher-outfield- Association could happen of $3,535,000, with each
MLB baseball general managers’ meetings, Wednesday,
Nov. 15, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. er Shohei Otani to start ne- “maybe within a week.” team having different
Associated Press gotiations with big league After that, MLB owners amounts to spend.q