The 2016 season still has three weeks remaining, but with most of the division races already decided, baseball faces a stretch run of limited interest.

To make up for this unexpected lull in the action, we have decided to beat the rush and hand out annual awards early.

We will wait to call the big ones — the MVPs, the Cy Youngs, and the managers and rookies of the year. But here are the year's best in some categories that seldom get recognized.

Owner of year: Hal Steinbrenner, Yankees. In a few stunning weeks, Steinbrenner ate Alex Rodriguez's contract and started a rebuild, getting a boatload of prospects for Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran. Is the five-decade Steinbrenner tradition of overspending on free agents over? No sports heir has done a bigger 180 since Rocky Wirtz succeeded his pop.

Brawl of year: Blue Jays-Rangers. Rougned Odor's punch of Jose Bautista ignited a ruckus that resulted in an eight-game suspension for Odor and 14 others being disciplined. Otherwise it has been a relatively brouhaha-free year.

Celebrity spokesman of year: Chance the Rapper, White Sox. The best part of the 2016 Sox season was the commercial he narrated, and Chance's upcoming concert was the hottest ticket this year at U.S. Cellular Field.

Yogi-ism of year: Joe Maddon, Cubs: “Trends can be so trendy.”

Scout of year: Phil Rizzo, Nationals. Gets to tell his boss off when he doesn't like what he sees on the field. Of course, his boss is his son, GM Mike Rizzo.

Announcer of year: Vin Scully, Dodgers. Still the best in the business after 67 years, and no one is even a close second. Watching a Dodgers game will never be the same.

Suspension of year: Chris Sale, White Sox. GM Rick Hahn suspended him for cutting up teammates' throwback uniforms to try to force the club into wearing more comfortable ones. Sale escaped a suspension in spring after he said Sox players “got (bald)-faced lied to by someone we are supposed to be able to trust,” referring to club executive vice president Ken Williams.

Stat of year: Home run. The long ball was up by nearly 16 percent over 2015 levels, led by the Orioles (219 homers as of Friday), Cardinals (202) and Blue Jays (198). Word has yet to reach Atlanta, where the Braves had only 100.

Pop-in of year: Tony La Russa, Diamondbacks. The D'backs' chief baseball officer barged into the Pirates' TV booth to confront announcer Greg Brown about comments regarding La Russa's history as a manager. Somewhere, Jimmy Piersall was laughing.

Umpire of year: Bob Davidson. “Balkin' Bob” had an obnoxious Phillies fan ejected from his box seat for using foul language. Bravo, Balkin' Bob.

Media-friendly player of year: Bautista, Blue Jays. Bautista lauded retiring Toronto sportswriter Bob Elliott for his honesty and integrity, saying, “It's respecting people's points of view.” Seems so simple, doesn't it?

Bait-and-switch of year: Marlins. Despite playing in a taxpayer-funded $634 million stadium, the Marlins' $77.3 million payroll was fifth lowest in baseball, according to USA Today. And the center-field sculpture is gauche.

Giveaway of year: Bob Uecker alarm clock, Brewers. When the alarm goes off and the popular announcer screams “Get up! Get out of bed!” you wake up ready to take on the world. Brilliant.

Apology of year: Cubs. Business President Crane Kenney apologized and terminated a Wrigley Field DJ who played the song “Smack My B---- Up” after a Chapman outing. The statement called it an “irresponsible music selection.”

Endorser of year: David Ortiz, Red Sox. Madison Avenue finally discovered “Big Papi” in the final year of his career, better late than never. Ortiz's crying scene in an Xfinity commercial was the best since Joakim Noah sobbed with the girls from the Book Club in a Bulls ad.

Rebuild of year: Phillies. Despite peaks and valleys, they stuck with their game plan. “We would like to be the Cubs,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “Hopefully that's going to happen in the near future.”

Theme trip of year: Minimalist Zany Costume Trip, Cubs. Maddon's theme trips dominated this category for the ninth straight year. May have to retire this award.

Non-prospect of year: Tim Tebow, Mets. Prospect/jersey-seller got 28 teams to scout his workout and signed with the Mets, close to the ESPN studio in Bristol, Conn.

Naming-rights deal of year: Guaranteed Rate Field, Sox. Received more publicity than any naming-rights deal in recent memory. None of it was good pub, but as they say …

Mascot of year: Mr. Met. Actually, this goes to former Mr. Met Steven Boldis. Upset he didn't get a 2015 National League championship ring, the man who made a living wearing a giant baseball over his head issued a statement calling it “a slap in the face.”

psullivan@chicagotribune.com