MVP voters confirm José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez are better than Mike Trout

Numbers don’t lie — Andrés Giménez and José Ramírez are confirmed to be better than Mike Trout. Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge took home MVP honors in the National League and American League, respectively, but the more important story is that Ramírez finished fourth and Giménez finished sixth. Trout was eating both their dust in eighth place.

For Ramírez, this is the fifth time since 2017 he has finished in the top five of MVP voting. It’s the first appearance on the list for Giménez, who just completed his second full season.

Cleveland Guardians(ish) news

Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt wins first career MVP award | ESPN
Paul Goldschmidt now has an MVP award to go with his four Gold Gloves, and Aaron Judge can show all his new Guardians teammates the trophy when he signs in a couple of months.

For Sale: Catcher’s Gear, Lightly Used | FanGraphs
There are a lot of catchers out there this offseason ... unfortunately, a lot of teams also need catchers. By Michael Baumann’s estimations, there are eight contending teams that should upgrade at the position, Cleveland of course being one. He considers them the most obvious landing spot for one of Sean Murphy or Danny Jansen, but it’s anybody’s guess where they actually go.

Around the league

• Lookout Landing on the Kyle Lewis/Cooper Hummel trade.
• Also Lookout Landing with an earnest look at how they can improve this offseason.
• The Rangers will host the 2024 All-Star Game.
• The White Sox are keeping Garrett Crochet in the bullpen next season.