This is the 25th year that we're celebrating the Hank
Aaron award. 25 years commissioner. What is this
meant for baseball? I I it's amazing. It's
become an important part of our tradition. You know
, it, it, for a player you think
about it, it's being selected as the best offensive
player in your league by the fans and the Hall
of Famers. That's big enough. But I think
it's really special because of the association with Hank Aaron
. He was a legend as a player and a
man and it makes the award so important. And
Mookie, you got a chance to spend some time
with Hank. I tell, tell him a little
bit about that. Yeah, I mean, you
know, to your point, you know, Hank
Aaron is, is a, is a legend and
when you get to meet someone like that is you
just really kinda look, it's kinda awkward. A
little, it was a little awkward for me,
uh a little bit at first. But uh you
know, meeting him and getting to talk to him
and pick his brain a little bit. It was
just AAA special moment that I'll never forget the 2024
Hank Aaron Award, American League, Aaron J simply
outstanding. Oh, judge. When you stun the
professionals, you're doing stunning things for the captain.
What a shot. That was a judge in black
. All right, here comes the judge. Hello
Las Vegas. I wish I could be there with
you guys tonight, but I'm honored and humbled to
accept the American League Hank Aaron award. Hank was
one of the greatest hitters of all time. And
to be mention in the same breath as in the
same sentence is truly an incredible accomplishment that I don't
take lightly. So I just wanna say, thank
you, thank you to all the fans, all
the voters for all your support. And I wish
you guys the best National League Shohei Otani. He's
simply the best baseball player we've seen. You don't
dare take your eyes off of him. Kids are
going to be doing that in the back yard 476
ft. No player in the history of baseball has
done what he has done main season. Thank you
. It's an honor to win an award named after
the legendary Hank Aaron. My deep appreciation and gratitude
goes out to all the fans and hall of famers
who voted for me. Your support means everything to
me. See you in 2025 in Las Vegas.
Thank you for having me. It is an honor
to be the NF of Menu League baseball award honoring
baseball best T A. I'm the winner of the
2024 Edgar Martinez, outstanding designator hitter is a player
whose historic season stretch, the imagination of what the
age can be at the place. And on the
basis, congratulations to Joe Hoda from the Los Angeles
Dodgers. One of many honors this off season for
the great Shohei Otani, the first player in history
with 50 homers, 50 stolen bases in a season
and he led the National League in numerous offensive categories
. Show, hey Otani, you're Edgar Martinez award
winner for best DH in the sport. Major league
baseball comeback player of the year. American League.
Garrett crochet from the Chicago White Sox have fun trying
to hit this guy, take a seat strikeout number
13. Garrett crochet. Every box is being checked
. Let me keep punching tickets. That's the kind
of mentality he's got. If you're left handed,
you're in trouble. If you're right handed, you're
in trouble. A flame thrower. Crochet is still
one of the best in the game. National League
. Chris sale from the Atlanta Braves. He is
just a different animal. He's got a season high
12 strikeouts. Chris sale for the last 10 years
has been as good as anybody as we've had in
the game. This is a Chris sale we saw
back in his lost days. I don't think anybody
saw it coming other than Chris sale and the people
around him in his camp. The dude is nasty
and give it up to a pair of southpaws your
comeback players of the year. Chris sale, the
35 year old and Garrett Crochet Emmanuel that say class
. That's all you have to say. This guy
is filthy, unhittable, the best close in the
game in Emmanuel place. 47. The numbers are
insane. The fourth pitcher in history of 40 saves
in an, er, a under one. He
put up numbers this year that we've only ever seen
a handful of times. Emmanuel stands alone, the
greatest single season closer. Good evening Las Vegas.
I'm honored to reveal this year's 2024 Trevor Hoffman national
league reliever of the year award. He's a claim
thrower and intimidator and like I did, he comes
out of the bullpen to a CDC S hells bells
. Congratulations. The Cardinals closer, Ryan Helsley.
Ryan Helsley, get up here. He's your guy
. Can you imagine the scene lights go out.
JD was rocking to come in. He looks intimidating
right now. Congratulations Ryan with Juan Soto. He
, of course, is the big ticket item still
in a holding period as our last report I thought
with starting with him, I thought you were gonna
say something crazy like that. He had signed or
something. No, he hasn't signed. No,
he hasn't signed Alex. We're still several weeks away
from that. I have a feeling, but last
report was that he was going to be meeting with
four teams among them. The Red Sox. Let's
see. The Blue Jays, the Yankees and the
Mets were set to meet with Juan Soto in his
camp some point this week. What is your gut
say on SOTO? Both in terms of teams?
Dollar figure. What do you think? I think
the fact that you, we have several teams that
are, are looking at him and willing to spend
them money on a guy like Juan to, to
put him in their lineup is a good thing for
Juan Soto, obviously. Um you know, and
I think that's what's really going to drive the price
up. I know a lot of people were talking
about, you know, upwards of$700 million I
was thinking like probably 56 because obviously, I mean
, show he got 700 but that's just a different
type of talent right there. You know, one
at the end of the day, you know,
as long as he stays healthy can probably go down
, at least I think is one of the top
five hitters ever to play baseball. This is a
resilient organization they come through, they overcome all sorts
of obstacles and find ways to have big success.
How do you think this will impact the baseball players
and the, you know, playing on the field
? I mean, it will have an impact,
but I think they're well equipped to make those adjustments
. They've done that. Um, you know,
throughout the, the last, you know, decade
or so, as far as like adjusting to payroll
constraints, um, you know, having to play
in the A L East, all those types of
things come into play with, with, with the
Tampa Bay Rays and the adjustments they have to make
in order to be competitive year in and year out
. Um, but having to play, um,
you know, at Steinbrenner field and like Mark was
saying like it, it will be a challenge as
far as the players when it comes to um the
hydration and nutrition for sure in the summer months in
Florida. But I was glad to hear too that
they were able, you know, them and the
Yankees would be able to work together to make this
a situation a little bit easier of a transition and
make a bad situation better for more on these and
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