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NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: Major League Baseball’s annual awards season kicked off Thursday, as the player’s association released its nominees for the Player’s Choice Awards. Included among the finalists was Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who joins Lance Lynn and Robbie Ray as the candidates for the Outstanding Pitcher Award. Likely a preview of the AL Cy Young Award race, the final results will be released on ESPN at 6:00 pm ET this coming Thursday.
MLB.com | Anthony Castrovince: In just a few short weeks, one of the deepest free agent classes in recent memory will hit the open market, and while the uncertain CBA negotiations will certainly put a damper on things, there should still be more than enough excitement to get us through the winter — unless, of course, the owners collectively clutch their purses, but that’s a conversation for a different day. Castrovince sets out who he considers to be the top 25 free agents that may become available (he includes a few players with opt-outs that he believes will be exercised), and his list will be of much interest to Yankees fans. While Anthony Rizzo is the only pending free agent on his list to finish the season in pinstripes, recent reports have suggested that his top two targets — Carlos Correa and Corey Seager — will be pursued by the Yankees.
New York Post | Joel Sherman: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however: free agency is still a ways away, and at the moment, we are currently at the point in the offseason where there are few actual rumors about how teams plan to approach the winter. That means we are at the point of the offseason filled with bold editorials about what teams “should” do. This is one of those, as Sherman writes that the Yankees ought to pursue Justin Verlander or Noah Syndergaard in free agency or inquire about trades for Pablo López or Sean Manaea; he also name-drops several other potential free agent and trade targets. While he provides a lot of food for thought, it’s important to remember that these are his ideas, and not reports from the industry, and need to be taken as such.