Here we go ! THE Emilio Pagan the signing didn’t make headlines, but it’s the first somewhat significant step of the offseason. More on Detroit’s new tie-up below.
1. Venable named AL Manager of the Year
White Sox skipper Will Venable earned the highest honor as a manager last night. He beat Kevin Cash of the Rays and Chad Tracy of the Red Sox. Venable has completed an impressive turnaround in Chicago. The White Sox had lost more than 100 games for three straight years, including Venable’s first campaign. The club went 84-78 this season and clinched an AL Wild Card berth. Chicago beat the Astros in the Wild Card round, but narrowly fell short in the ALDS against the Guardians.
2. Murphy wins NL Manager of the Year (again)
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Brewers skipper Pat Murphy has won the Dutch Manager of the Year award for the third season in a row. He dominated Don Mattingly of the Phillies and Walt Weiss of the Braves this year. Murphy won the NL Central every year at Milwaukee’s helm. His club had the best record in the league in 2026. The Brewers racked up 103 wins in the regular season, then reached the playoffs. They won the franchise’s first World Series by winning four of the Rays’ five games.
3. Pagan towards the Tigers
Detroit had a vacancy to fill the bullpen Kenley Jansen heading to free agency. The club chose Pagan to be its new closer. The veteran right-hander enjoyed a resurgence in 2025 in Cincinnati, saving a career-high 32 games. He was effective again last season, but missed nearly two months with a serious hamstring injury. Pagan declined his $10 million player option with the Reds to enter free agency. He got an additional $1 million in his deal with the Tigers.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
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