Kirby Yates led the majors with 41 saves this year. He struck out more batters than ever, earned his first trip to the All-Star Game and even collected a couple of NL Cy Young award votes.
An already strong arbitration case — if it gets to that point with the Padres — was fortified Tuesday when the Padres’ 32-year-old right-hander was one of two relievers named to the inaugural All-MLB first team.
The other was Brewers left-hander Josh Hader, the NL’s reliever of the year the last two seasons.
“I’m proud of what I did,” Yates said.