When the announcement came to Las Vegas of the winner of the National League’s Trevor Hoffman Award as top reliever, there was as much uncertainty about the outcome for Ryan Helsley in his seat as there was for the Cardinals with him on the bench. ground. mound.
Helsley, the Cardinals’ record closer, swept the bullpen honors Thursday night at Major League Baseball’s All-MLB awards ceremony. His MLB-best 49 saves and NL-best conversation rate (92.5%) prompted voters to give him the Hoffman Award and a spot on the All-MLB First alongside Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase. The All-MLB team is voted on by fans and a panel of experts.
“Getting better day by day, really embracing this narrower role,” Helsley said on stage Thursday night during the televised broadcast of the awards show. He was asked about his season by MLB Network announcer and Lindenwood University graduate Greg Amsinger.
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“And if something goes wrong,” continued Helsley, one of the players at the Vegas awards ceremony, “roll with the punches and move on.”
Helsley was the only Cardinal to win an award Thursday.
The winners of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s four major awards – MVP, Cy Young Award, Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year – will be announced throughout the next week. The Cardinals do not have a finalist for any honor.
The Cardinals have already received interest from some teams looking to trade for Helsley, who could become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. Helsley, 30, is arbitration eligible this winter and after his strong award-winning season, he will receive an estimated raise of around $4 million, or a bit more. Helsley is one of the Cardinals’ most attractive trade options for contending teams and could generate a strong return, although multiple sources familiar with the Cardinals’ planning told the Post-Dispatch that the club is inclined to keep Helsley at this stage unless it is exceeded.
Helsley is the first cardinal to win the Hoffman Prize, awarded since 2014.
From 1976 to 2012, MLB awarded the Rolaids Relief Man Award. Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter won the award four times, including three times as a Cardinal. The Cardinals have also had three other Rolaids Award winners: Lee Smith twice and Todd Worrell and Tom Henke once each. Helsley is the first Cardinals closer since Henke’s 1995 win to receive a year-end reliever award.
In 2014, the annual reliever awards were named in honor of Hoffman in the National League and unanimous Hall of Fame selection Mariano Rivera in the American League.
The Cardinals committed to closer Helsley during spring training, pledging to use the right-hander in shutdown situations and in the ninth inning as much as possible. Previously, they had moved him around in his role, targeting him against the best hitters in the opposing lineup, regardless of how the inning ended.
Helsley responded by owning ninth with a record season.
He converted 31 consecutive saves to break and extend the Cardinals’ record. For a team that won 83 games, he made 49 saves and seven wins. This set a club record for most winning decisions by a reliever, and he played a role in 67% of the team’s wins. His 49 saves surpassed the club record of 48 set by Trevor Rosenthal in 2015.
Another change for Helsley has been less publicized than the closure commitment. He relied on his slider as his most used argument for the first time in his career. This threw hitters off of his crushing fastball until they could no longer do anything with the crushing fastball. Opposing batters hit .171 against the slider.
Helsley struck out 79 batters in 66 1/3 innings and had a 2.04 ERA.
Helsley represented the Cardinals as their only All-Star at the All-Star Game in Texas, and he became the third Cardinals reliever to earn at least two All-Star appearances. The other two, Sutter and Smith, are both inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Cleveland’s dominant class won the Rivera Award after converting 47 of 50 save opportunities for the Guardians in the playoffs. Clase had a 0.61 ERA, which was the third lowest ever for a reliever with a minimum of 50 innings.
Helsley and Clase were the two relievers chosen for the All-MLB first team.
Oakland A’s flamethrower Mason Miller and Texas Rangers right-hander Kirby Yates were relievers honored on the All-MLB second team.
As announced Thursday evening in Las Vegas, here is the All-MLB first team: Willson Contreras’ younger brother, William of the Brewers, at catcher; 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto; 2B Ketel Marte, Arizona; 3B José Ramírez, Cleveland; SS Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City; OF Aaron Judge, Yankees; OF Juan Soto, Yankees; OF Mookie Betts, Dodgers; DH Shohei Ohtani, Yankees; SP Chris Sale, Atlanta; SP Tarik Skubal, Detroit; SP Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh; SP Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia; SP Corbin Burnes, Baltimore; and Helsley and Clase.
Unlike league-specific awards, All-MLB aggregates leagues.
“I don’t want to blow this thing up,” John Mozeliak said. Willson Contreras moves to first base, without moving in the exchanges, and Sonny Gray prefers to stay.
Subscribers had a lot of questions about what to do with all the infielders, what a team looks like with or without Nolan Arenado and plenty of TV discussion in the Cardinals’ weekly chat.
A reduced rights deal and new Revenue Stream gives the team greater “clarity” on its budget with one metric ever present as it cuts costs: declining ticket sales.
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