Baseball's top rookies will get their shine Monday night, as MLB hands out the AL and NL Rookie of the Year awards. Over the past few seasons, the hardware has frequently been followed by financial commitment.
Teams are craving youth and excellence in combination. We’ve seen that in the form of major contract extensions — three of the six finalists for Monday's awards have already signed deals with their teams — and huge trades.
There’s now a whole class of young stars who teams are investing in as franchise faces, and it’s a good day to take stock of those crucial players looking forward.