The News...

-- Andrew McCutchen was named Baseball America's MLB Rookie of the Year today.

McCutchen batted .286 with 26 doubles, nine triples, 12 home runs, 54 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and a .364 on-base percentage in 108 games.

The 23-year-old McCutchen's 47 extra-base hits led NL rookies, and he ranked second among them in multihit games (36), runs, walks and total bases (204). He was third in RBI, third in stolen bases, third in slugging percentage (.471), third in doubles, fifth in batting and fourth in on-base percentage.

Garrett Jones was named to the 2009 All-Rookie team as a first baseman. He batted .293 and led all Major League rookies with 21 home runs.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance, which is represented by bloggers from every MLB team, also announced Andrew McCutchen as their NL ROY last week.

McCutchen finished first over Tommy Hanson and J.A. Happ as he received 12 of the possible 20 1st place votes. Garrett Jones was sixth (noted by Jim Rosati at the North Side Notch.)

The big enchilada, the American League and National League Rookie of the Year Awards as selected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, will be announced on November 16th.

-- RHP Tyler Yates elected free agency after being outrighted by the Pirates, as reported by MLB Trade Rumors. Yates had Tommy John surgery in July, and DFA'ing him takes him off the 40-man roster earlier than non-tendering him in December, their original plan.

The roster is now at 37 players. They'll need to make some more room by November to protect the up-and-comers from the Rule 5 draft; they have to add Evan Meek and Jose Ascanio from the DL, too.

-- Before everyone writes off Matt Capps, let Brad Lidge serve as a cautionary tale. As Rob Maaddi of the Canadian Press reminds us of Lidge:

"He led the majors with 11 blown saves and went 0-8 with a 7.21 earned-run average. None of that matters now. Lidge is lights-out again. He's 1-0 with three saves in as many tries and hasn't allowed a run in five appearances. The hard-throwing right-hander has given up just one hit in four innings."

We'll find out soon if his season was an aberration, or if the playoffs are so far.