NEW YORK (AP) ¡ª Bob Melvin¡¯s job was a lot different as a rookie manager with Seattle in 2002 http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-hand-jersey , and even when he was voted Manager of the Year with Arizona in 2007 and Oakland in 2012.¡°Organizations and certainly front offices are more a part of it now, and you have to understand that,¡± Melvin said Tuesday after winning his third manager award.Melvin won the American League honor after leading the Athletics to the playoffs despite the lowest opening-day payroll in the major leagues.Atlanta¡¯s Brian Snitker won the National League award following a surprising first-place finish, a reward for a 63-year-old baseball lifer who has spent 42 seasons with the Braves. He thought back to how he returned to the minor leagues in 1986, 1991 and 2004 after stints on the staff of the big league Braves.¡°Hey, I¡¯ve been recycled three times from the major leagues as a coach,¡± he said. ¡°Everything that I¡¯ve been through I think has prepared me better to understand what these guys go through and what this job entails.¡±A big league catcher from 1985-94, Melvin became a scout, instructor, front office assistant and coach before he got his first big league managing job in 2002 from Mariners general manager Pat Gillick, a future Hall of Famer. Now he works for Oakland executives Billy Beane and Dave Forst, proponents of the analytics movement that has swept baseball.¡°When I started doing this a long time ago with Mr. Gillick in Seattle, their job was to give me the players and then it was my job to put guys in the right spots. And things have changed since then,¡± Melvin said. ¡°It can be a little bit top heavy as far as where the information comes from, from our front office now, and you have to be able to adapt, or at some point in time you might not have one of these jobs. So I¡¯m lucky enough to be with an organization that not only it¡¯s my hometown but from a guy that I¡¯ve known for quite a while in Billy and they do the best they can to consistently try to implement stuff and get us better. And it¡¯s my job to accept it and move forward.¡±Melvin received 18 first-place votes, 19 seconds and one third for 121 points from the Baseball Writers¡¯ Association of America. He is the eighth manager to win three or more times and is one shy of the record shared by Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa.His A¡¯s went 97-65 Tyson Ross Jersey , a 22-win improvement over 2017, even with a $68.6 million payroll when the season began. They overcame a 34-36 start to go a big league-best from June 16 on, even though Jharel Cotton, A.J. Puk, Sean Manaea, Kendall Graveman, Brett Anderson, Andrew Triggs and several other starting pitchers got hurt. They lost to the New York Yankees in the AL wild-card game.¡°At the beginning, we were at little bit taken aback by the fact that we lost so many guys early on,¡± Melvin said, ¡°but I think after that it was more kind of a badge of honor that someone goes down, we have to continue to have expectations to win and know we have depth in our organization and it¡¯s next man up.¡±Boston¡¯s Alex Cora was second with seven firsts and 79 points after leading the Red Sox to a team-record 108 wins. Tampa Bay¡¯s Kevin Cash was next with five firsts and 57 points. The Rays¡® innovation of using a reliever as an ¡°opener¡± was copied by other teams later in the season, including Oakland.¡°Based on the fact that we had so many starters go down and our bullpen was our strength, we were looking for ways to potentially get better,¡± Melvin said. ¡°Certainly watching what they did over there and the success they had was partly one of the reasons we looked at it.¡±Snitker received 17 firsts, nine seconds and one third for 116 points, the only manager picked on every NL ballot. Milwaukee¡¯s Craig Counsell was second with 11 firsts and for 99 points. Colorado¡¯s Bud Black was third with 41 points.Snitker played in Atlanta¡¯s minor league system from 1977-80, then worked in the minors as a roving instructor (1981) Allen Craig Jersey , a manager at rookie league (1996), Class A (1982-84, 1986-87, 1992, 1997-2001), Double-A (2002-05), Triple-A (2006, 2014-16) and a coach at rookie level (1993-94) and Class A (1995). He was with Atlanta as bullpen coach (1985 and 1988-90) and third base coach (2007-13).He was managing at Triple-A Gwinnett when he took over Atlanta in May 2016 after Fredi Gonzalez was fired for a 9-28 start. The Braves went 59-65 during the rest of the season, and Snitker was given the job full-time.Atlanta went 72-90, and then improved to 90-72 this year, when the Braves lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game Division Series.¡°Everything I¡¯ve been through, at my age I¡¯m kind of very appreciative of what these guys do,¡± Snitker said. ¡°I¡¯m not looking to set the world on fire or anything like that. I¡¯m just kind of just enjoying this ride.¡±Cy Young Award votes will be announced Wednesday. The New York Mets¡® Jacob deGrom, Washington¡¯s Max Scherzer and Philadelphia¡¯s Aaron Nola are finalists in the NL, and Tampa Bay¡¯s Blake Snell, Houston¡¯s Justin Verlander and Cleveland¡¯s Corey Kluber top the AL contenders. PHOENIX (AP) ¡ª The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the season with the NL¡¯s best record in April and stayed near the top of the NL West most of the season, leading the division at the beginning of every month.A September swoon knocked them quickly out of contention.Plagued by bullpen blowups, untimely hitting slumps and a bit of trying too hard http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-hand-jersey , the Diamondbacks finished a once-promising season 82-80. Arizona had a winning record in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2007-08, but finishing nine games back in the NL West was not what the Diamondbacks had in mind after ending a five-year playoff-less streak last season.¡°We¡¯re not where we need to be right now, clearly,¡± Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen said Monday. ¡°There were certainly some good things that happened this season, but it wasn¡¯t what we envisioned in terms of what our goals were. Our goal was to go out and compete for a World Series championship and we didn¡¯t do that.¡±Despite a string of injuries to key players and a couple of summer slumps, Arizona entered September with a one-game lead in the NL West. The Diamondbacks opened the month with three straight losses and finished it 8-19 to drop out of playoff contention.Arizona¡¯s bullpen, reliable most of the season, went into a funk in September, blowing numerous leads. The Diamondbacks¡¯ lineup went flat, producing most of its runs in early innings before going quiet late in games.And, as the pressure built, the Diamondbacks seemed to try too hard to get that big hit or out, often digging the hole even deeper.¡°When you try so hard to get something and you can¡¯t reach it, it just ends up backing up on you,¡± Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.Now the Diamondbacks face a decision: Rebuild or retool slightly.Arizona certainly needs to make changes and could potentially lose two key players in left-hander Patrick Corbin and outfield A.J. Pollock to free agency. The Diamondbacks have to decide if they¡¯re only a couple players away from being contenders again or overhaul the roster.¡°We need to objectively look at what our circumstances are, what the landscape¡¯s going to be, where we feel like the talent is going to be on our roster, what we can do conceivably to make moves to improve our roster Tony Gwynn Jersey ,¡± Hazen said. ¡°Clearly, we need to improve our roster.¡±Other things to know about the Diamondbacks¡¯ season:MAGADAN OUTThe Diamondbacks mutually agreed to part ways with hitting coach Dave Magadan on Monday, ending his three-year stint in the desert. Arizona was one of baseball¡¯s worst-hitting teams at .235 this season and has dropped its average each of the past three seasons. The rest of Lovullo¡¯s staff will remain.INJURIESThe Diamondbacks had more than their fair share of injuries.Right-hander Taijuan Walker, a member of the opening day rotation, made three starts before needing season-ending Tommy John surgery. Starting third baseman Jake Lamb had season-ending shoulder surgery in early August. Pollock, fellow outfield Steven Souza Jr. and left-hander Robbie Ray each had stints on the DL.CORBIN AND POLLOCKCorbin was an All-Star and Pollock has put up big numbers when he¡¯s been healthy. The Diamondbacks may not be able to afford either. Corbin is coming off his best season, going 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA while logging 200 innings for the second time in his career. He will be one of the top free-agent targets for teams this offseason. Pollock hit 21 home runs in an injury-plagued 2018 season and was an All-Star in 2015. Arizona will have two big holes to fill if both leave.GOLDSCHMIDT¡¯S SEASONAll-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt had another productive season, finishing with 33 homers and 83 RBIs while hitting .290. But the year didn¡¯t start or end well for him. Goldschmidt had an abysmal first two months of the season and, after a big rebound, closed with a thud, going 7 for 41 with 18 strikeouts over the final 12 games. Goldschmidt, Arizona¡¯s best and most popular player, enters the final year of his contract in 2019, so the Diamondbacks face a big decision.