Herald wire services
The posthumous honors for Jose Fernandez keep coming.
The Sporting News on Tuesday named the late Marlins pitcher its NL Comeback Player of the Year, one month to the day after he died in a boating accident off Miami Beach.
Major league players voted on the award, with many of the ballots cast before Fernandez’s death. Of the 177 votes by players, 70 went to Fernandez. Washington Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark finished second with 27 votes, followed by Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill (17).
This is the first time in 80 years that one of the Sporting News’ year-end awards has been given to a player posthumously, according to the publication.
Fernandez was a candidate for such an honor even before his death made him a sentimental choice. In his first full season after May 2014 Tommy John surgery, he had a 2.86 ERA and 1.12 WHIP while making a career-high 29 starts and making his second All-Star team.
Fernandez’s rate of 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings is the fifth-best such average by any starter over a single season since 1900. His 253 strikeouts were a new Marlins franchise record.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 25, the 24-year-old Fernandez and two others — 27-year-old Emilio Macias and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero — died when Fernandez’s boat crashed into a jetty.
The crash is still under investigation. The families of Macias and Rivero have hired a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attorney.
Many from across the sporting world and beyond have honored Fernandez in the weeks since. That includes the Florida Panthers, who wore No. 16 Panthers jerseys during warmups before their first game of the season. Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, a Miami native, honored Fernandez and late MMA fighter Kimbo Slice with special cleats when the Steelers visited the Dolphins this month. And closest to Marlins Park, Miami might rename a street near the Marlins’ stadium “Jose Fernandez Avenue.”
Fernandez is the third Marlins player to win Sporting News’ NL Comeback Player of the Year award. Darren Daulton was honored in 1997 and Casey McGehee in 2014.
Cron to have surgery
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Los Angeles Angels slugger C.J. Cron is having a medical procedure to relieve pain in his left thumb.
Cron will need six to eight weeks of recovery time, the Angels announced Tuesday.
After experiencing moderate pain recently, Cron had an examination by Dr. Steve Shin, who decided to perform an arthroscopic debridement at the base of his thumb.
Cron should be fine for spring training.
The first baseman and designated hitter batted .278 with 16 homers and 69 RBIs in 116 games last season, setting personal bests in almost every statistical category during his third year in the majors. He missed six weeks of the season after his left hand was broken when he was hit by a pitch.
Red Sox hire assistant GM
BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox plan to operate without a full-time general manager for now.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced that intention Tuesday in naming Eddie Romero the team’s new senior vice president and assistant general manager.
It is the latest move to take place inside Boston’s baseball operations department since former general manager Mike Hazen left the team earlier this month to become vice president and general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The team says both Romero and senior vice president and assistant general manager Brian O’Halloran will report directly to Dombrowski and assist in all aspects of baseball operations going forward.
Romero, 37, is being promoted after being previously elevated to vice president of international scouting at the start of the 2016 season.
Ballpark Village set in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — The $220 million second phase of Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis will feature a 29-story luxury apartment building with views of the playing field, along with office, retail, restaurants and entertainment space, the St. Louis Cardinals said Tuesday.
Construction is expected to start late next year on the project that will further transform the south side of downtown. It is expected to be completed in 2019.
“Our vision of a mixed-use neighborhood where people live, work and play will become a reality,” Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said. “This is a real game-changer for the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri.”
The first phase opened in 2014 and includes restaurants, bars and the Cardinals Hall of Fame. The project has been so popular, especially after home games, that some downtown bars and restaurants have shut down, blaming competition from Ballpark Village. Phase II is 500,000 square feet — five times larger than Phase I.
The team is asking the city to amend its current development agreement to add a sales tax within Ballpark Village. The Cardinals said that only taxes generated by the project itself will be used to finance the project, along with private equity and debt investments by the development team.
Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement that the second phase “marks another strong investment by the Cardinals and demonstrates their commitment to the city of St. Louis,” which lost the NFL’s Rams to Los Angeles in the offseason.
Plans call for the apartment tower and an office building to sit on both ends of Clark Street, with additional retail and entertainment businesses in between. The apartment complex will offer views of the Gateway Arch, Mississippi River and an unobstructed view directly into Busch Stadium. At least 300 housing units are planned.
The office building will be the first new construction office complex built downtown since 1989.
The Cardinals said the project will create at least 1,000 permanent jobs and at least 1,500 construction jobs for the two-year construction period.
Busch Stadium opened in 2006. The Ballpark Village project was delayed for years, partly due to the recession that began in 2008.
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