The best part of Thanksgiving might be the leftovers. The holiday stretches for days and days.  

Mailbags also can be stretched and they won’t turn different colors if those days become weeks. They also don’t create dirty dishes and pans that need soaking.

Let's dig into these leftovers.  

What do you think of Zac Gallen for our rotation? We have a ton of  Scott Boras players, so Mike Elias seems to be comfortable working with him. Gallen cannot be the main addition, but if we can get another pitcher like Ranger Suárez or Framber Valdez in addition to him, I am more than OK with that.
As long as you’re happy. But seriously, I would have shown a little more enthusiasm a few years ago, when his ERA was 2.54, or even 3.47 and 3.65 the next two years. It was 4.83 in 33 starts this year, and his 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings were the lowest of his career. But he would be a nice addition to the rotation. Maybe not the “main” guy, but on the other hand – and there’s usually two – would it be that bad if Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers and Zac Gallen comprised the top three? Come on, be honest with me.

Roch, have the Orioles explained in any detail what Mike Shildt's duties will be? His title gives me the impression that he's going to be in charge of player development in the minor leagues. Who was doing the work that he will now be doing? This feels like a big change to me.
Ha, you said “duties.” You also misspelled his name, as did the poster of the next question, but I made the necessary corrections in a rare bit of editing. S-H-I-L-D-T. The Orioles haven’t announced the hire, which leaves us to speculate and assume. Upper-level minor league coordinator of instruction means he’ll work with players at Triple-A and Double-A. I don’t think anyone else had the title. I checked the staff listing. We’ll find out more later, but he seems like a really smart hire given his past experience in player development and the rest of his resume, including successful manager. Anything he can do to better prepare prospects for the majors will be a big asset.

Voting for the annual Baseball Writers' Association of America awards is hardly easy. There is a lot of pressure when filling out your ballot because of the pedigree and history that are attached to the awards.

If there was an “easy” one of the four, it would probably be Manager of the Year.

When it comes down to Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player, there are so many statistics that can be used to compare and contrast the candidates. It sometimes comes down to which ones the voters value more, and that often changes (i.e. the emergence of sabermetric numbers over the last decade).

But for Manager of the Year, there is really only one stat that matters: Record. Then that is often balanced against a team’s expectations coming into the season and any hardships they had to endure (roster changes, injuries, prolonged slumps, etc.).

Voters also take a team’s talent level into consideration. Dave Roberts may never win another Manager of the Year award because the Dodgers are always loaded with MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidates with World Series-or-bust aspirations.