If one thing stands out when it comes to the teams looking to make the playoffs this season, it would be a new batch of younger, hungry teams look to be October bound. There is nothing like rooting for the underdog come the playoffs, hoping they can knock off a team like the Yankees. Three teams stand out to me this year as teams to root for in the postseason.
1) Washington Nationals
No one is surprised that the Nationals are making their first trip to the playoffs. What is a surprise is that it came this early. Washington is a team that did it the right way. Most of the Nationals talent are homegrown, from Stephen Strasburg to Bryce Harper. Sprinkle in some veteran pitchers(Gio Gonzalez), some cast-offs(Mike Morse), and one big free agent signing(Jayson Werth) and you have a team that could be a regular in the playoffs for years to come. Credit Gm Mike Rizzo for piecing this team together, and credit Manager Davey Johnson for getting them to gel. They will be interesting to follow, since Strasburg has been shut down, but this is a talented team that can go a ways just on their pitching. My guess? A NLCS appearance, before being knocked off in six or seven games.
2)Oakland A’s
In my On Deck Circle last week(which is weekly on kvoe.com), I discussed just how this team has been winning. If ever there was a team of nobodies that are surprising baseball, this is the team. Not only that, they are doing it in a rough division, which has the Rangers, Angels and Felix Hernandez. The fact they have gotten this far should be a sign of the great work of Billy Beane and Bob Melvin. But it is also a sign of what young talent can do, especially young pitching. Don’t expect any name players, or any stars to step up and dominate for this team. The concept of team is vital for this ragtag bunch, and so far it is guiding them to October. The A’s will probably be one of the wild card teams, so it’s a 50/50 shot of where they will end up. Either one and done, or going on to the ALDS. I wouldn’t expect them to go much farther, but so far they aren’t following convention. So if they go farther, don’t be surprised.
3) Baltimore Orioles
Now, here is a team I can get behind! The Baltimore Orioles are having one of those miracle seasons that are just amazing to watch. This is another team built around youth and veterans, and the mixture is working so far. Buck Showalter continues his career trajectory of turning every team around that he touches, as the Orioles are poised to make their first playoff appearance since 1997. There are stars on this team, like Adam Jones, and there are some great young talent like Manny Machado. Throw in some Jim Thome, a dash of Mark Reynolds, and a pinch of Nate McLouth and you have a recipe for a resurgent Baltimore franchise. This team has gotten by this year thanks to great relief work, clutch hitting and late inning heroics. Those are actually all great qualities for a playoff team, so don’t be surprised if this team makes a big run. World Series, possibly? Possibly. Yes, it seems crazy, but there is no reason to doubt them now. This team has been winning when they need to all year, so another rush of wins isn’t out of the question. If not, it is still a great story to follow. What was once a storied franchise could now make a case to add to their legacy…and we gain by watching it!
So there you go. Three teams to watch in the playoffs this year that can fill your heart with shock and awe. October can be a kooky month, so don’t be surprised if one of these teams makes a late appearance. Before you snicker and say no, who had the St. Louis Cardinals as the World Series Champions a week before the end of the 2011 season? Didn’t think so. So get ready folks, the playoffs are coming and don’t expect to see it coming. Trust me, it will be worth it.
The 2012 season for the Kansas City Royals has been one of many ups and downs, so many that it would feel like a novel to go over them all right now with you. But maybe the biggest story to come from this roller coaster is the giant divide that is growing daily between Royals fans and Royals management. Speaking as a fan for close to thirty years, I have never seen such a strong division between the two. How did we get here?
This season started innocent enough. In fact, I would say there was more optimism in the air than there has been in Kansas City for a very long time. For once, this team looked like one who could at the least hold their own in a very weak division. But a massive trip and fall in the form of a12-game losing streak in April killed the buzz. Oh, and that ‘Our Time’ slogan. Man, that died a quick death. It did leave some nice wordplay of that slogan, including “Our Time to Lose” and “Our Time to Perform Below Expectations”. All that was really obvious was the expectation of just a .500 season was too much for these Royals. We went from just looking at the positive of things to the dog shit that you find on the bottom of your shoe. It was “Our Time” to reevaluate.
I think to many, this really was the breaking point. But to be honest, our story really starts in the offseason. When the Royals jettisoned fan favorite Frank White from his broadcasting duties, the backlash was severe. Was Frank great at his job? Not really. He was improving, but not great. But Frank is honest and that didn’t sit well with Royals management. Look, we get you don’t want your announcers talking trash on the team. But let’s put this in perspective a bit. The Royals have had losing seasons 17 out of the last 18. The last thing I want from my announcers is a sugar coating. So of course, that is what we got. Management has shown a tendency to be very thin skinned, which further alienates a fanbase that wants to win. Put a winning team on the field, and you don’t have to worry about criticism. At the end of the day, this was the beginning of the rift.
Obviously, the awful start of the season was strike two between fans and management. Hey, we didn’t expect them to go out and win every night, but we did expect them to be competitive. It took close to a month for that to happen, but by then things were already sour. Manager Ned Yost would comment that things were fine, which wasn’t the truth, and GM Dayton Moore would give out his vote of confidence. The truth is that is what leaders do; the problem is as fans, we have seen this story unfold so many times that it was too much to take. ANOTHER losing season. ANOTHER season of being the butt of jokes. More than anything, it felt like we fans were the only ones who cared. When you get the feeling that management doesn’t really want to fix things, it makes it difficult to want to be a fan.
Some of the good feeling came back at the All Star break, as the town of Kansas City rolled out the red carpet for major league baseball and really showed them that it is a baseball city. Even more evidence was at the home run derby, as a crowd mostly made up of Royals fans booed Robinson Cano for him going back on his word, while cheering for their guy, Billy Butler. As someone who was in the crowd, I can tell you the place was deafening and I have no doubts that is what it would be like if playoff baseball ever returned to Kansas City. You can’t create that sort of passion, and showed just how much the fans care.
Coming off that high, the Royals get back from the break and proceed to stink up the place. It felt like all the goodwill that was felt from the All Star break was now gone in one fell swoop. Management did acknowledge that starting pitching was a major problem for the club, but it took way longer than it should have to do something about it. Most fans were ecstatic when Jonathan Sanchez was sent packing to thinner air, and Jeremy Guthrie was acquired. It has ended up being one of Moore’s better moves, and Guthrie has helped solidify the rotation.
But I think that right there is where some of this discontent comes from. Jonathan Sanchez started probably a good 3-5 more games than he should of, when everyone was clamoring for them to either ship him out or at least quit having him go out to the mound every fifth day. Look at Luke Hochevar, a guy who is a former first round draft pick. The Royals have said publicly that they are bringing him back for another season in 2013, which blows the mind of most. The consensus is that if he hasn’t figured it out now, he isn’t going to. We see him as a pitcher with good stuff who isn’t consistent. Management sees him as a guy who is on the cusp of turning the corner…even though he has sat on that very corner the past few years. Look at the Yuniesky Betancourt signing. All are signs of what the fans perceived as trouble yet management continues to wait out until it becomes one big frakkin mess.
So we are just about a week away from the end of the season, and the Royals are saying all the right things. David Glass told Bob Dutton yesterday that he was willing to spend money this offseason to upgrade the starting rotation. He even said he was committed to building this franchise into a contender. All great words, and I truly hope he means it. But when that comes out the same day as word that season ticket prices are going up, that makes my skeptical radar go batshit crazy. Add in the letter sent to Royals fans for “their commitment”, and it seems as if the organization is going all out to butter us up. To be honest, if they mean it, I think that is great. I don’t think there is any doubt we are committed. I mean, we continue to venture to the ballpark and spend our hard earned money on a team that hasn’t won since 2003, and is the only team in the last twenty years without a playoff appearance. We are about as devoted as it gets. But even that is part of the problem.
At the end of the day, the disconnect builds from one simple truth. Actions speak louder than words. So the organization has given out a lot of lip service this season, but the play on the field isn’t backing it up. We want a winner. We want something to cheer for. Bottom line, anything less than that is unacceptable. For too long, we have accepted this team because we love them and want to be able to say we hung around in hard times and we were rewarded. In the end, we need the actions to speak to that commitment. Otherwise, it is just words blowing in the wind. I can honestly say that if I don’t feel like they put forth a good foot this offseason, then I am very likely to not be as involved next year. We have enabled this team long enough, Kansas City. Time for them to step up and hold them to their words. Otherwise, this endless cycle of losing will continue. Give us a winner, and we are yours.
We’ve all had that feeling before. The feeling of knowing if we were just given a chance, if we were just given an opportunity that we would seize it and make the most of it. It’s not any different in professional sports, as players who were not expected to contribute show their team just what they are made of. As long as you produce, you are allowed to show your mettle. But if you “drop the ball” so to speak, then you aren’t given the same opportunities. Then there are times where it just seems like the organization you work for don’t have your back and aren’t supporting your climb up the ladder. I’m sure many of these thoughts have crossed the mind of Kansas City Royals Second baseman Johnny Giavotella. When Chris Getz went down with an injury last month, it seemed Gio(as he is nicknamed) was finally going to get a shot at the Second Base job for the Royals. But do the Royals want him to have the job?
Giavotella played college ball at the University of New Orleans and was drafted by the Royals in the second round of the 2008 amateur draft. Giavotella quickly climbed through the minor leagues, hitting at every level he has played at. By 2011 he was perched at Omaha, Kansas City’s AAA team, ready to make the next move to the Major Leagues. Gio was tearing up AAA pitching last summer when the Royals called him up in the beginning part of August. Gio started his big league career, getting two hits and an RBI against the Detroit Tigers. It seemed that it was just the beginning of a long stay in KC for Johnny. Little did he (or we) know what was in store for him.
At the end of the season, Giavotella went in for surgery on his hip, which had bothered him during the end of the season. Giavotella had only hit .247 in his two months in the bigs, but he showed enough glimpses of why he could or should be a Major League ballplayer. It seemed that going into spring training, the second base job was his to lose and with him fully healthy, he seemed primed for the new season. Or at least that was the prevalent thinking until the Royals signed free agent infielder Yuniesky Betancourt to be their “backup infielder”, even though he had never been a backup during his entire major league career. Royals fans everywhere wondered just what the team was thinking, and just who Yuni would be taking playing time away from. Basically, we didn’t believe he was just going to be a backup. We got our answer pretty quickly, as early in spring training manager Ned Yost said that Betancourt was in the hunt for the second base job. Most of us saw that coming, but it still seemed like Gio was the favorite. Then Chris Getz changed his batting stance, and learned to hit the ball to the outfield. Yep, next thing we know Getzie is in the mix at second. All of a sudden what seemed like a sure thing was anything but. A few weeks before spring training wrapped up, Giavotella was sent to AAA, as the team said he needed to work on his fielding. It’s not a secret that Johnny isn’t the best with the glove at second. He wasn’t going to have anyone confuse him with Robbie Alomar with the glove, but in one breath saying he was being sent down to work on defense, while in the same breath give playing time to Betancourt at second, who has the range of a rock, it was very obvious that Gio had fallen out of favor.
So there we were, with one second baseman having very little extra base power and another with no range, and the second bagger with the most upside playing ball in AAA, which he had shown the year before he already dominated. At this point, the best scenario was either an injury or for Giavotella to catch fire at the plate and force the Royals to recall him. The injury part helped his escalation, as Gio was called up on May 9th, as Betancourt ended up on DL. The only problem was Chris Getz had been hitting at a good clip, so Johnny was stuck with the occasional start or the even less occasional pinch hit. The partial playing time did him no favors, as he hit at a meekly .217 clip in only 73 plate appearances before being sent back down on June 12th. Seeing how little playing time Gio got during his month with the team, it was very apparent now: Kansas City did not see Giavotella as part of their future.
One of the things that I really like about Giavotella is how hard of a worker he is. He went back down to Omaha, worked on his defense like the Royals asked, and in a short matter of time, his bat went extremely hot. At one point in July, Giavotella ran off a 20 game hitting streak for the Storm Chasers, but it still wasn’t enough to get a call up to Kansas City. On August 17, the Royals hand was forced, literally, as Chris Getz went down with a thumb injury and the team recalled Gio to the big league club. With his recall, and Betancourt released a few weeks before, the second base job was his now for the rest of the season, a chance to show the team what he could do.
Over the last month, Johnny Giavotella hasn’t put together a big hot streak, or played so good to make sure the team is forced to stand up and take notice. What has happened is Gio has put up a solid .277 average since his recall and 5 extra base hits but the really impressive stat is an OPS of .703. Giavotella has shown a knack to take a walk and really work the count, which many of the Royals could take note of. He has also improved his defense to the point that he is solid, and looks a lot more fluid, smooth and comfortable at second base than at any point in his career. Last week, Royals manager Ned Yost made mention that next year, the team needs to keep in mind that a few of their players have become injury prone and that the team needs to have players ready accordingly. If Giavotella hasn’t worked his way into a battle for the second base job for next year, the fact that Getz has consistently gotten injured over the past two seasons should be enough to keep him around. At this point, Gio still has two weeks to convince management that he can be a regular for this team in 2013. But do the Royals even want him around?
I ask this question because it just doesn’t seem like Royals management wants him to succeed. I know, that sounds ridiculous. Why would any team not want a young player with upside to succeed for their team? I’ve been asking that question since they sent Giavotella down in spring training. But it really seems like it is an inconvenience for the Royals to develop him in the big leagues. It struck me back in May or June that what separates Gio from guys like Moustakas or Hosmer is where they were drafted. Moose and Hos were first round draft picks; Giavotella was a second round pick. Look at how much time the team has spent over the years working with guys like Luke Hochevar, who has never been consistent yet the Royals seem willing to keep giving him chances. Hosmer struggled for most of this season, yet he never got sent back down to AAA. Moose was hitting around.200 most of last year, yet the Royals never thought about sending him back to the minors. My point isn’t that those players should have been sent down. No, my point is that if they picture you as part of their future, you will get more chances. If you are a high draft pick, the Royals will give you more than enough chance to earn your spot. But if you aren’t in their plans…well, just look at Kila Ka’ahiue. Kila tore up the minors in 2008, hitting 37 homeruns at two levels of the minor leagues. Yet he couldn’t even sniff the bigs. No, the Royals went out, acquired Mike Jacobs to play first base, and he did nothing but stink up the place. Even that didn’t matter, as Kila was still not given a chance with the Royals, as he was left in AAA. He didn’t get a real chance till late in the season 2010, and a month in 2011. I firmly believe that Kila was not in their plans, so they weren’t going to give him that opportunity. I think Giavotella is in that same boat. The team has Christian Colon down in the minors, probably another year away, and the Royals consider him their second baseman of the future. Colon is a great defender who hasn’t ever really hit in the minors up until this season, but the key part is he was drafted in the first round back in 2010. This isn’t to talk down Colon as much as show that the team has already written Giavotella off, because their future is getting closer. That doesn’t seem like a sound business choice, to look past certain players because they weren’t part of your original plan. But it appears this is what the Royals are doing.
So what will happen from here? There is still a good chance Johnny will go to spring training with the Royals, and hopefully contend for a job. If not, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to bump up his value, so the team could at the least trade him for something of value. I personally like Giavotella, and would love to see him succeed in Kansas City. But I don’t know if he’ll ever be given a real fair shake. I still think he can be a productive major league player, especially since he has nothing else to prove in the minors. Time will only tell, but it’s hard to see the Royals continue to make the same mistake over and over. As a small market team, Kansas City needs to take advantage of every opportunity given to them. You can’t throw something away just because it wasn’t part of your plan. Sometimes life makes you take a different path than you originally planned on taking. That would be the time to just go with it.
If you are a fan long enough of one team, you gradually start to demise certain players. There could be lots of reasons, although normally it is just bad play on the field that makes you wish they were executed in a field by a couple of guys wearing jumpsuits. Being a Kansas City Royals fan for close to 30 years has not only made me a bit jaded, but I’ve also accumulated my fair share of hatred for certain players. I’ve noticed I don’t have much venom for players during my youth. It must be how naive I was, or maybe because when I was young the Royals weren’t one of the worst teams in baseball. Either way, I’ve only ever really hated (HATED) a handful of Royals over the years, with some just a passing thought. Before we dive in, I do have to throw out a couple of honorable mentions. First, Miguel Olivo gets an honorable mention for his atrocious defense. I know I’ve heard broadcasters mention how good Olivo is defensively, but I don’t remember that guy. I remember the guy who spent half his time at the backstop of the K, looking for the baseball that got away from him (again). Between that and his knack of being a ‘all or nothing’ hitter at the plate, I wasn’t sad when the Royals let him go as a free agent. Another honorable mention should go out to one Jonathan Sanchez. Yep, a guy gets a mention even though he was with the team for only half a season. That’s how bad he was. It wasn’t just that Melky Cabrera got off to a great start for the Giants, or that Sanchez couldn’t seem to get past the fifth inning. No, the worst part was it seemed that Sanchez just didn’t want to be in Kansas City. If his goal was to receive a one way ticket out of town, he got it. The amazing part is that even though Sanchez was really, really bad (really), someone was willing to take him. Thank you, Colorado. Not only did you give us Jeremy Guthrie, but you took the albatross that was around our neck. Alright, with that out of the way, let’s get to the top five.
5) Yuniesky Betancourt
“See no ball, field no ball…”
I’m sure my hatred for Yuni is bigger since he donned the powder blue more than once. I know some thought that he welded a solid bat, or they didn’t realize just how bad his range really was. But I saw a player who had amazingly regressed throughout his major league career, and was to a point where he had no game plan at the plate and no clue on defense. Sure, he’d occasionally pull out a good play on the field, but only if the ball was hit right to him. Forget him getting something to his right, and his left wasn’t much better. The worst part of having Betancourt on your team would be that occasionally he would show flashes of what was once a good player. A clutch hit here, a nice play there. But they were so few and far between that it couldn’t make up for all the holes in his game. The fact that Royals management thought that he would be a solid backup infielder shows just how little they actually pay attention to the play on the field. For all those reasons, I will forever hate the one I christened ‘Jabba the Betancourt’.
4)Luke Hochevar
I can only hope he was hit by a comebacker in this photo…
A part of me wonders if Luke would be on this list if he wasn’t still in a Royals uniform. Part of me wonders if he didn’t show signs of talent from time to time if I would loathe him so much. But the truth is he is still a Royal, and from time to time we see this guy put it all together. But right there is why he comes in at #4. Hochevar has good stuff, which would explain why he has been drafted in the first round by two separate teams. In fact, maybe we should blame this on the Dodgers. If only they had signed Hoch when they drafted him the year before the Royals did(or even back in 2002, when they drafted him then), then his mess wouldn’t be on our hands. Instead, he goes unsigned, played some independent ball, then is drafted by the Royals in the first round of the 2006 draft. The rest is history, as in the past five years, Hochevar always seems at the cusp of being a solid major league starter. Well, it’s not quite history yet, as the Royals still trot him out every fifth day, and that is where the problem lies. Five years is more than enough time to know whether a guy can pull his weight in the majors or not, and Hochevar seems to do just enough to keep a job. He is probably one of the most frustrating players I have ever watched, which makes me dislike the guy more and more. I want to think he can be the solid starter the Royals need, but alas it seems he is destined to just be what he is. A guy who occasionally goes out and dominates. Or the guy who goes out and gives up eight runs in less than two innings. It’s hard to root for a guy who can’t decide if he wants to be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.
3) Neifi Perez
My guess is Neifi didn’t hit this pitch.
Ask any Royals fan from a decade ago, and Neifi Perez evokes either anger or sadness. Perez was the Royals big gain from the Jermaine Dye trade(in fact, their only gain) and was coming off a couple of very good seasons in Colorado, including winning a Gold Glove. Some baseball folks even thought he was one of the top Shortstops in the National League. Dye was a fan favorite, but the Royals thought he was getting too pricey and needed help in the middle of the infield. In came Perez, and it was obvious very early that he wasn’t the player the Royals thought they were acquiring. Perez barely managed a .241 average those last 49 games of the season with only nine extra base hits. 2002 wasn’t much better for Perez, as his bat vanished and his glove seemed to as well. You couldn’t rely on Neifi to do much of anything at the plate, and even less on defense, which used to be a positive for him. Instead we ended up with an infielder who couldn’t hit, field and cost just as much as Dye would have. Why this trade was made makes absolutely no sense not only to me, but to most Royals fans. To top it all off, Perez complained about his playing time, only to then refuse to enter a September game as a defensive replacement. To sum it up for newer Royals fans, Neifi was Yuniesky Betancourt, only with even less value. The day the San Francisco Giants signed him was almost a holiday in Kansas City, as fans rejoiced everywhere. To this date, I can’t think of one positive thing Neifi did in a Royals uniform. Not one.
2) Hiram Davies
“Hiram, in all his glory.”
For anyone wondering, since the day after his release, I abstained from referring to him by Kyle. No, from that point forward, I will call him by his given name, Hiram. Davies was a Dayton Moore acquisition from his time in Atlanta. Hard to believe, but when Davies first reached the majors with the Braves, he reeled off 3 scoreless outings in his first three starts. Kansas City got him for gypsy reliever Octavio Dotel, and was seen as a future part of the rotation. In fact, in Hiram’s first full season in KC, he actually had a decent record(9-7) and ERA(4.06). Unfortunately, he seemed to slide backwards in 2009, with an ERA well over five and a WHIP of 1.5. Probably my biggest complaint of Davies was his lack of attacking the strike zone. No great pitcher ever got anywhere by nibbling constantly, yet that was almost the biggest part of Hiram’s repertoire. Davies was known to have good stuff, and his strikeout totals show that. Unfortunately, he never learned that if he threw more strikes, he could last longer in the game. It never failed, the fifth inning would roll around and Hiram would be approaching one hundred pitches. It was fairly certain that if a guy throws that many pitches, he is going to end up out of the game early, and will tax your bullpen. Davies never got around this, and when it was all said and done, it cost him his job in Kansas City. Hiram Davies was so historically bad that unless former teammate Luke Hochevar passes him in the next couple seasons, he will continue to hold down the title of ‘Worst Starting Pitcher EVER’! Davies has the highest ERA and WHIP of any pitcher who has started 90% of his games and thrown over 700 innings. Ever. That covers a lot of ground, folks, and most of it is charred earth. It can be really simple sometimes in baseball. For instance, if you throw strikes, you are more likely to succeed than if you don’t. Hiram Davies learned this the hard way. Davies didn’t leave on the best of notes, as he was arrested the day before he was released last year for disorderly intoxication. Now, I have no way of knowing or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear ol’ Hiram found out that day he was going to be cut by the Royals and decided to tie one on. Far be it from me to blame him for that, but it does make for an interesting story. Davies signed with Toronto’s AAA team for the remainder of last year, but no team has taken a chance on him in 2012. I hated watching Davies pitch, and in some ways I’m glad he hasn’t signed elsewhere. God forbid some longtime fan has to sit through watching Hiram throw his version of craptastic magic for over thirty starts a year. We Royals fans took that medicine, and now can only hope we will forget it someday.
1) Michael Tucker
“I’m surprised he got that close to the ball. That would take effort.”
Michael Tucker, how I hate him so. I could tell you so many reasons why, but the main one is that Tucker was a lazy bastard. Here is a guy who might not have ever been a five tool player, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that he could be a four tool player. He had speed, good defense, hit for average, smart baserunning skills, but not a lot of power. Unfortunately, he didn’t do any of these things as well as he should have, because he always seemed to half-ass it when playing. Here was another former Kansas City first round pick that just never lived up to expectations. He was good on defense…when he wasn’t loafing it to the ball. He could hit for average…when he would actually focus. He even screwed up being speedy, as he just didn’t hustle every time he was on the field. Here was a guy with all the talent in the world, but maybe used only a third of it. Instead of being an All-Star, or even just a full time starter, Tucker was at best a platoon player who never learned to hit lefties. Guys like David Eckstein and Chris Getz would kill to have the kind of talent that Tucker had, yet it was given to a guy who preferred to coast. Tucker actually had a few decent seasons in Atlanta, but in his two stints in Kansas City, he was an average .260 hitter with a .330 On Base Percentage. You would think someone with that much speed would steal a lot of bases, or at least a decent amount. Not Tucker, as he could only muster 43 in four seasons for the Royals. Tucker would actually have a long career, lasting twelve seasons in the bigs. But at the end of the day, he was a platoon player at best who never learned how to up his game. Guys like Michael Tucker never figure out what god given advantages he has. Instead, guys like him piss it away to ‘just get by’. That is why he is my host hated Royal. That is why I will always refer to him as ‘Michael F’n Tucker’!
This past weekend, a trade of Herschel Walker proportions took place in major league baseball. In one fell swoop, the Boston Red Sox unloaded their excess baggage, and the Los Angeles Dodgers picked it up at the baggage claim, showing baseball that they are serious about buying a World Series…I mean, trying to make the playoffs. So I thought I would take a look at this monumental trade and just what it means for the parties involved.
“I hated Boston too, Adrian…”
Adrian Gonzalez is the key to this trade for the Dodgers. They have coveted him for quite awhile, and finally they were able to bring him back to the California sun and drop him into the middle of their batting order. The pluses of having Gonzalez are many and widespread. For one, he is a California boy, born and raised. Bringing him back to Cali can only be a positive, as he loved his time in San Diego and the attitude there fits him better than the one in Boston. In Boston, the media is constantly scrutinizing everything that is done and everyone lives and die by what the Red Sox are doing. California is more laid back, with the joke always being that Dodgers fans wait until the third inning before they show up. Gonzalez’s attitude is more LA than Boston, so just in this regard it should be a plus. Add in stellar defense, and a potent bat in the middle of the order, and you have a guy who can help a team like the Dodgers go the distance. There really only seems two negatives to getting Gonzalez. One, a few scouts have mentioned that Gonzo’s bat speed seems to be slipping. Now, he is still a guy I would want in the middle of the batting order. But normally if bat speed starts to slip, it will never come back. The other negative is the contract he has. It is massive, and still has 5 years left on it. If he continues to slip offensively, those last few years of the contract could feel like an albatross around their neck. All in all, if Gonzalez is what they wanted, they could have done a hell of a lot worse.
“Beer and Chicken on me if we win.”
Josh Beckett might just seem like an addition to the trade, a contract to heave off for Boston. But in reality, it might be a shroud move by LA. Beckett was never going to get the Boston faithful back in his good graces, as he is now perceived by them as a guy who just wants to pitch every fifth day and not care about the team the rest of the time. Chicken, beer, and video games will do that to a guy. But I also feel Beckett is the type who could be angry about the move, and proceed to pitch like a guy with a chip on his shoulder. Add in his postseason experience, and this could be a coup for LA if they make the playoffs. Beckett still has it in him to be a pitcher who can carry a team on his back in the playoffs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.
“He found out what Pesky’s Pole really means…”
When it comes to players who this trade benefits the most, Carl Crawford has my pick for ‘best in trade'( by the way, I see him as a labradoodle). Crawford, when healthy, is a game changer, as his speed disrupts pitchers and defenses alike. He also is a solid bat in the lineup, despite what his time in Boston has shown. If ever there was a guy who needed a change of scenario, it would be Crawford. He felt uncomfortable from the time he entered Yawkey Way, and add in a struggling bat and injuries, and you have a recipe for disaster. Even if he would have stayed, Crawford would have had a hard time showing the Boston fans what he can really do. Crawford just had the Tommy John surgery, so he won’t be back till early next season. But once he does come back, he will be part of a loaded outfield in LA. How does this sound: Left Field, Crawford. Center Field, Matt Kemp. Right Field, Andre Ethier. If healthy, very few balls would drop in that outfield, and offensively they could be a juggernaut. Crawford gets a new lease on life with this trade, and I can only imagine he will like the view at Chavez Ravine.
“I would take that same picture if I was a fan…Punto is a fan, right?”
Nick Punto. Well, I like him as a backup infielder. But lets be honest, he’s just along for the ride. He will always be referred to as ‘the other guy in that big trade’. I guess that is better than nothing. He is a good replacement for Jerry Hairston while he is out. But Punto is what Punto is; an afterthought. Have fun in Los Angeles, Nick!
“James Loney, making it look easy.”
Now, time to look at the Boston side of this trade. James Loney has been with the Dodgers the last seven years as their First Baseman. Loney is a good, solid hitter with a great glove, but has never shown the power that most teams want from their first basemen. He is a free agent at the end of the year, so there is a good chance his time in Boston will be short. Still, not a horrible job by Boston on replacing Gonzalez, at least for the rest of the year.
The major part of the trade for Boston was to give them flexibility. Having Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford on their payroll, (along with Ortiz, etc.) would have made it hard for the Red Sox to rebuild this upcoming offseason, which they drastically need to do. Boston was able to unload $260 Million in contracts, while giving Los Angeles about $12 Million. Not only does this give the Red Sox room to operate this offseason, it also gets rid of three players that the BoSox fans were tired of. It only made sense to restructure and dump what they could, and Boston did that, along with picking up some prospects as well.
The other four players in the trade are either major league ready or very close. Rubby De La Rosa is the gem of the trade, but won’t be ‘officially’ announce until after the season. He is coming back from Tommy John surgery, but was just up in the bigs for the Dodgers and has electric stuff. Jerry Sands is the other ‘player to be named later’ in the deal, and once he is officially acquired he’ll add some depth to their outfield corps and could even compete for a starting job in spring training next year. Ivan DeJesus, Jr. is an infielder that probably won’t start in Boston, but it does give them more depth and has been up and down between AAA and the majors part of the season. Allen Webster is the last player involved and had a less than stellar start the other day for Boston’s AA team, but he still could be in the pitching discussion for next year in Boston. Overall, not a bad haul of players for Boston in this trade.
This trade is a once in a lifetime trade, and one of the likes we won’t see for a very long time. At the end of the day, this trade did what both teams wanted it to do. For the Dodgers, they get veteran players to help their push for a World Series and to help them win now and for years to come. Boston, meanwhile, needed payroll flexibility and to rid them of players that didn’t fit into the Beantown atmosphere. Payroll was shed and younger, cheaper talent was added. This was a win-win trade for these two teams, and a trade that will be scrutinized for years to come. Time will tell just who gained the most from this monster of a deal. Until then, fire up your gaming system and see if you can do what the Dodgers and Red Sox did; make a trade that my ten year old tries to make with his video games.
Yesterday, Roger Clemens returned to professional baseball(and I am using that term loosely) as he pitched for the Independent Atlantic Leagues Sugar Land Skeeters. Clemens didn’t look bad for a guy who hasn’t pitched professionally in 5 years, as he threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts and one hit, reaching 88 MPH on the radar gun. He even struck out former Kansas City Royal Joey Gathright, who’s claim to fame wasn’t what he could do on the field but for jumping over a car. Really. But all in all Clemens looked impressive for a 50 year old.
So what is the Rocket’s end game here? I tend to think there are multiple reasons for his return. For one, I think he misses the spotlight. Some guys fiend for it. They need it. When it goes away, they don’t know what to do. I think Clemens is one of those guys. I also think he just loves baseball enough that when he is not around it, he doesn’t know what to do. If you think about it, his entire adult life has been spent as a baseball player, so in a lot of ways, this is all he knows. Getting the chance to go back out there, even if it is just in the independent league, is still getting to be around the game he loves. But I think this isn’t the main reason he is back.
“yes, I’m 50 and still have frosted tips…”
No, the real end game here is a return to the Major Leagues, period. Why would a guy, who has accomplished as much as Roger Clemens, want to return to the bigs at the age of 50? It’s really an easy answer, and I am not alone in this thinking. Clemens is eligible to be on the Hall of Fame ballot this upcoming winter, and with all the steroid talk connected to the Rocket for years now, there is a good chance that he will not be voted in, even though he is one of the top ten pitchers EVER. No, Clemens wants to come back to delay the vote, and possibly even leave a different image in the voters minds. Scenario time: What if Clemens comes back, at the age of 50, and pitches at a more than passable level? He could say that it wasn’t the steroids that helped him, that even at 50 he can get major league hitters out. Now, the honesty of the situation is that there are some voters he will never be able to sway. But if he is able to change people’s perception, in his mind it could help his case for the Hall. Clemens has always taken his legacy seriously. For years, he talked about his place in the game, so he understands what is on the line here. It also gives him a chance to separate himself from Barry Bonds, who is also eligible for the Hall of Fame this winter, who himself is the poster boy for the “Steroid Era” in baseball. Being on the ballot the same year as Bonds will make voters tie them together as what was wrong with the game during this period. Distancing himself from that only helps his situation.
So will we see Roger Clemens in a major league uniform this year? I think we will, and I think the Houston Astros will give him an opportunity to pitch sometime in September. Yesterday, the Astros and Kansas City Royals both had scouts at the Skeeters’ game, checking out Clemens’ start. There is a joke within the fact that those were the two teams scouting Clemens, but I’ll make that joke at a later time. If(when?) Clemens makes a start in the big leagues this year, his eligibility for the Hall of Fame will be delayed for another five years.
Even if all he does is pitch a couple games this year, he will get to leave a different impression of himself and his career to the baseball community. It’s sad that we are even discussing this situation, as Clemens should be a no-brainer when it comes to his place in the game. Two twenty strikeout games, the third most strikeouts of all time and seven(7!!) Cy Young Awards are just a few of the Rocket’s many accomplishments in his 23 year career. The fact that he wants to come back and possibly sully that tells you all you need to know. Although to be honest, can his image be more tarnished than it already is? Probably not. Maybe this is the best way to sway public perception of him. Or maybe we’ve all moved on and just don’t care anymore about the players who didn’t want to play by the same set of rules of everyone else.
Yesterday, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners threw a perfect game, the first of his career, the first in Mariners history and the third overall this season. Not only that, it was the sixth no-hitter thrown this year in Major League Baseball. The last two years, pitchers have been all the rave in baseball, and the focus has been more on what happens on the mound than what happens at the dish. When did this happen and why is it good for baseball?
Last year was considered by many to be the year of the pitcher, a nod back to 1968 and a year where pitchers dominated, especially Cardinals Hall of Famer Bob Gibson who led the National League that year with an ERA of 1.12, a modern baseball record. It also forced baseball to lower the mound, to give hitters a “fair chance” against the pitchers who were dominating the game at that point. This year seems like a continuation of the Year of the Pitcher, with all of the perfect games and no-hitters being thrown around baseball and pitchers putting up flashier stats than their hitting counterparts. A big part of why this is happening is because of all the young pitchers scattered across baseball. Younger pitchers have sprouted up across the majors the last two years and not only are they young, but they throw harder and seem to have a good grasp on how to actually pitch, not throw. This has led to pitchers gaining an advantage over the hitters, a good sign for baseball after the years of power, which is often referred to as the “Steroid Era”.
The “Steroid Era” is another reason for the pitchers success over the last two years. Major League Baseball’s drug testing has proven to be topnotch, and other than the gaffe in the Ryan Braun positive test, no one has been able to successfully appeal a suspension handed down to them by MLB. With the success rate they have had with their testing, many players have chosen not to even chance it when it comes to trying to use banned substances. Sure, there will be guys like Melky Cabrera who either try to see what they can get away with or just aren’t smart about it, but most players know the testing is improving at a rapid rate and is not worth chancing it. Therefore, less players that are chiseled out of granite and more professional hitters litter the baseball fields of 2012.
With all that drug testing being put into affect, it has made it to where teams focus less on homeruns and RBI’s. Instead, more value is shown to stats like OPS and WAR. Both stats show more of a players full value instead of just focusing on one simple area. While these stats will give you a more patient hitter, which is good, it can also give you a player who strikes out a bit more often, or a hitter who puts the ball in play more. Both are hitters that a pitcher like Felix Hernandez or Justin Verlander loves, as both are efficient starters who attack the strike zone and have nasty stuff to back it up. A power hitter can hurt you in more than one way, where as a singles hitter can hurt, but more likely to put the ball in play. Both can hurt you, but more pitchers would rather face a slap hitter than a slugger. Less loaded lineups lead to an advantage to the pitchers.
Maybe the biggest reason for the influx in pitching has been the focus by a lot of teams on pitching and defense. For years, the saying has gone ‘pitching and defense wins championships’. This philosophy was successful for many years, but after the 1994 baseball strike, it seemed many a team got away from this way of thinking. With power going out of vogue again, more teams stocked up on pitching and better defensive players. More teams will get by with a player who isn’t as good offensively if they bring great defense to the table. Ask Felix Hernandez how much it helps having Brendan Ryan playing Shortstop for the Mariners? Ryan might barely hit .200, but he gives Seattle Gold Glove defense. Having that on your team can help, but can also make it easier for a pitcher to attack the bottom of your batting order. Utilizing these methods can both help and hurt your ballclub, leading to some really great pitching performances.
All in all, this wave of great pitching has really showcased the game of baseball. After years of sluggers with Popeye-like arms, we are now in an age focusing more on the little details of the game. No one knows how long it will last, but it probably means we will see more no-hitters and perfect games before it is all said and done. Hopefully it won’t dilute the game, only highlight all the great things that the game of baseball brings to the table.
There has been a lot of talk within the past month of just how much pain us Kansas City Royals fans can take. The Royals just wrapped up an awful 7-19 July, pushing fans even closer to the edge. It’s easy to sit there and just say ‘What’s new? The Royals are always bad!’, but this season goes deeper than that. It’s not just about winning and losing. It now becomes an issue of at what point do we, as fans, say enough is enough. Just what would it take to reach our tipping point?
I still remember the summer of 1994 fondly. That summer, I got my first real job. I also got my first vehicle, even if someone ran me off the road and totaled it less than a month later. It was also the summer of the baseball strike, and before that happened, the Royals were making a push. Manager Hal McRae was leading Kansas City up the standings, eventually getting the Royals to third place in the American League Central, only 4 games out of first place. When the strike happened, the Royals sat at 64-51, and it seemed the sky was the limit for Kansas City, as they were red hot. But it was not meant to be, as the strike forced the commissioner to call the season done, including no World Series that year. To make matters worse, Hal McRae was fired that offseason, being replaced by Bob Boone. That should of been a sign of what was to come, as the slide downward of our Royals began at that point. In fact, since 1995, the Royals have had only one season above .500. One season, 2003. That is it. Outside of that, there has been no joy in Mudville. Seventeen seasons of losing, which is enough to make a normal man hand in his Royal blue hat and find another team to cheer on. But we are a sadistic bunch, as we continue to take the abuse. In 2006, it seemed a ray of light shined on us, as Dayton Moore was hired as the General Manager. Or so we thought.
Dayton Moore coming in gave us faith that he could turn around the Royals. Moore had been a scout in the Atlanta Braves organization for years, moving up the ladder in Atlanta, sitting under the learning tree of former Royals GM John Schuerholz. Moore had the reputation of having a great eye for young talent, which is what the Royals needed. Moore’s first task was to build Kansas City’s farm system back up, as it had been depleted for years. Six years later, it is safe to say that he has done that. But being a GM isn’t just about developing young talent. It’s also about acquiring veteran talent that you can piece together with the youngsters to mold your team. That is where Moore has lacked.
A finger can be pointed at Moore and Owner David Glass for how the past few years have gone for the Royals. Going into this season, the young players were to continue to grow and we would at least see improvement within the team. Unfortunately, the wheels started to come off the cart in February, as injuries started to pile up. More injuries occurred once the season began, and add in bad roster choices and a rotation with 5 bottom rung starters, and you have a team that is back in the basement of the American League Central. Through it all, we fans continue to watch. But what would it take for us to turn our backs on our team?
The easy answer to this is for the team to continue to lose. The Royals have lost a lot of fans over the past eighteen years, and the longer the losing continues, the more fans don’t care anymore. They always gain new, younger fans. My son is the perfect example. He used to not care what happened with the Royals. Now, he wants to know everything that goes in with the team. The team will always gain fans like this, but keeping them will be the hard part, and the best way to do that is to win. Winning gets you more fans than you even need. Ask the Yankees. Winning makes all the bad that we have endured go away. In the end, that is the real answer.
To be truthful, the tipping point would be if the team continued following the path they are now. Continuing to act like nothing is wrong, that all is fine, will make fans even more apathetic, as it gives across the feeling that management doesn’t care about this team, nor does it care about its fans. This is a good way to alienate the fanbase, and it’s doing the trick at the moment. Many a fan has stepped away from this season and is already looking forward to the upcoming Chiefs season. That is not a good sign. If they go into the offseason with that same attitude, and don’t upgrade this team, then next season will not be pretty. Fans will not flock to the K, and David Glass seems to think if the stands are empty, then there is no reason to spend money. It’s actually the opposite; if there are no fans, you need to give them a reason to attend the games. You can’t just hope that they will come on name alone. Not with all the losing we have seen over the years.
The first time the Royals broke my heart was in December of 1991. Longtime team ace Bret Saberhagen was traded to the New York Mets, and I was crushed. Sabs was one of my favorites, and one of the players connected with my initial love of the team. Now he was gone, and no matter what we got back, it wasn’t enough. Trades happen in baseball, and I realize that now. But to a kid, it’s not that simple. Twenty one years later, and I now can’t even count how many times this team has broke my heart, even by management just not trying. I’d like to say I would never walk away and be done with the team I’ve loved since I was a kid. But it’s tough to watch your team lose year after year, with no end in sight. We need a sign, maybe even a miracle. Either way, something has to happen, and has to happen soon.
“I need eight more Betancourt’s to put in the lineup, Dayton…”
Last night, the Kansas City Royals continued their descent into the AL Central basement, falling to the Seattle Mariners…again. Let’s be honest here, it’s not like the Seattle Mariners are the reincarnation of the old Bronx Bomber teams that had juggernaut offensives. Nope, the Mariners are actually one of the worst offensive teams in baseball. The Royals have made them look like hitting savants, not like a team that just traded a future Hall of Famer to the Yankees. With the Royals now tied for the central basement with Minnesota, the question has to be asked-who is to blame?
There seem to be alot of fingers to point in a lot of different directions, but let’s start with the manager, Ned Yost. I’ve been saying since April that Yost needs to go, as his managing style is shoddy at best. To be honest, as of late the only major faults of Yost is the juggling of the lineup and his continuance to keep Jeff Francoeur in the lineup. Yost is still not the man for the job, but I don’t think he deserves the brunt of the blame right now. He is just a minor flaw in a bigger problem.
What about hitting coach Kevin Seitzer? This is where things get interesting, as Seitzer has been a huge help for a number of ex and current Royals. Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Melky Cabrera and Alcides Escobar can all thank Seitzer for improving their hitting while being with the ballclub. It’s easy to point the finger at him, as the offense not producing has been a big part of the team’s issues this season. The thing is, the team is hitting. They just aren’t getting any clutch hits, which is what is killing the team. Sure, that falls on Seitzer a bit, but I’m not ready to put all the blame on him, as he has helped this club more than hindered it. Now, if it continues and there is no turn around, then a conversation maybe needs to be had. But if you asked my opinion, this doesn’t fall at Seitzer’s feet.
Next is owner David Glass. To be fair, the whole reason this team is as bad as it has been for so long falls on Glass’ shoulders. Glass spent years treating the team like it was a Wal Mart and only when he hired Dayton Moore did he actually start shelling out money for drafts and scouting. While I agree with that process, at some point Glass will have to start spending more, or any success the team will have is null, as players will leave when they become free agents. Glass is a major part of the blame here, but not the main guy I point the finger at for this team being this bad.
At the end of the day, the finger needs to be pointed at GM Dayton Moore. Moore came in with a great pedigree, being brought up through the Atlanta Braves organization, which has won more than any other National Legue team since the 1990’s. It seemed at the time that Moore would help this team get to where it needed to go. Six years later, and he spouts off about how it is an eight year process, etc…the honest truth is that it isn’t. In fact, most GM’s who don’t win within six years get fired. Sure, Moore had to almost completely rebuild the farm system, and he has done a great job of that. I’ve always said Moore is a great scout, and he hasn’t done anything to dissuade me from that thinking. But being a GM isn’t just about being a great scout, and this is where Moore has dropped the ball.
Glass has given him a small payroll to work with. That is fine, but Dayton has shown a tendency to waste money on bad players instead of using what he’s got wisely. Signing Yuniesky Betancourt for 2 million dollars, when no other team was even negotiating with him? Stupid. Signing Jose Guillen to a huge contract, despite it being well known that he was a clubhouse cancer? Dumb. Then they are trades, like Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs, which took over half a year before Jacobs quit getting regular at bats. Being a small market team, you have to be a creative GM and use your assets smartly. Dayton doesn’t do that. He is the man who structures the team and makes the decision on who gets called up or sent down. Why is Johnny Giavotella not in the big leagues, at least giving him a chance to prove himself? Why was Kila Ka’aihue allowed to sit in AAA for almost 3 years before he was given a chance? If a player plays good in the minors and you don’t have someone blocking them, you give them a chance in the majors, as you are never totally for sure what you have until you give them a chance. Moore has not allowed that to happen, and that falls on him.
I literally could go on and on with Dayton’s mistakes, like the hiring of both Trey Hillman and Ned Yost. Once again, that ends up at Dayton’s feet. At the end of the day, the Royals would do best to get a new owner, manager and GM. But since that probably isn’t realistic, my vote would be that Dayton needs to go at the end of the season. The man is a great scout and he’ll always be able to find a job in baseball. But when it comes to being a General Manager, he has failed. Six years is enough suffering; it’s time to make a change.
Within the past couple days, it has become heavily apparent that the Miami Marlins are gutting their team, only half a season into their first at the new Marlins Park. This past offseason, Owner Jeffrey Loria went out and did everything possible to buy his team a playoff spot, getting a new manager, new starting pitching, new closer, and new shortstop. What did all that get him? The Marlins are 7 games below .500 and 12 and a half games back in the National League East. It’s a pretty good bet that this team won’t be making the playoffs this season. But is gutting the team the right move?
One complaint that has constantly been made since baseball came to Florida is that the fans just don’t show up to the ballpark. The Marlins tried to rectify some of that this season by moving into their beautiful new stadium, Marlins Park. The team felt like they could afford all their offseason spending, as the money made by the new ballpark would pay those salaries. They also felt this team would be making a playoff rush, which would bring the fans out in droves. Unfortunately, this team has highly underperformed, so Loria felt it a smarter move to cut bait now, rather than wait.
A logical point could be made that Loria should have waited another year before doing this. It really feels like such a knee jerk reaction to go out and start trading off pieces left and right. But what did we expect? Loria has done this before. The Marlins have twice been World Champions, and gutted both times right after winning the big game. There is a history in Florida of teams being dismantled out of nowhere. Loria even has a history of such treachery, leaving the Montreal Expos high and dry to go buy the Marlins. Loria made a ton of promises to the fans of Montreal, and in the end, he jumped ship and let Major League Baseball take over the team. To put it bluntly, Loria can’t be trusted at his word.
This brings up another interesting question: Which is worse: Jeffrey Loria spending the money on his team, but gutting his team in a heartbeat, or David Glass, a man who doesn’t seem committed to spending money on his Kansas City Royals? I have been critical of Mr. Glass for years now, and for just reason. It just seems like the man doesn’t give a crap about his team and is more concerned about his bottom line. But to be honest, I would almost prefer that to what Loria is doing.
What Loria is doing is getting fans’ and their hopes up, then squashing them out of nowhere. It’s not real commitment. It’s commitment until things look murky, then it’s time to duck out. At least Glass is consistent: consistently cheap. If you are a Marlins fan, would you be shocked if Loria up and sold the team tomorrow? He seems weaselly enough to leave in the middle of the night and leaving for Indianapolis. Now, don’t get me wrong. Both owners are awful at owning at Major League Baseball teams, and the both sets of fans deserve better. But baseball has let them do these type of actions for years, so why should they stop now?
At the end of the day, I’m glad I’m not a Marlins fans. Sure, it sucks sometimes being a Royals fan, as I can’t say I honestly believe David Glass will ever spend money on his ballclub. But I can trust he won’t do what Jeffrey Loria has been doing for years. It is impossible for Marlins fans to ever have any dreams, other than for Loria to leave the team to someone who really cares about them. The same can be said about Glass and the Royals, but expectations aren’t driven up like they are in Florida. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I would take the devil I know over the devil who wants to leave when things start looking muddy. What a shame for Florida, and what a shame for Major League Baseball.
No one is surprised that the Nationals are making their first trip to the playoffs. What is a surprise is that it came this early. Washington is a team that did it the right way. Most of the Nationals talent are homegrown, from Stephen Strasburg to Bryce Harper. Sprinkle in some veteran pitchers(Gio Gonzalez), some cast-offs(Mike Morse), and one big free agent signing(Jayson Werth) and you have a team that could be a regular in the playoffs for years to come. Credit Gm Mike Rizzo for piecing this team together, and credit Manager Davey Johnson for getting them to gel. They will be interesting to follow, since Strasburg has been shut down, but this is a talented team that can go a ways just on their pitching. My guess? A NLCS appearance, before being knocked off in six or seven games.
In my On Deck Circle last week(which is weekly on kvoe.com), I discussed just how this team has been winning. If ever there was a team of nobodies that are surprising baseball, this is the team. Not only that, they are doing it in a rough division, which has the Rangers, Angels and Felix Hernandez. The fact they have gotten this far should be a sign of the great work of Billy Beane and Bob Melvin. But it is also a sign of what young talent can do, especially young pitching. Don’t expect any name players, or any stars to step up and dominate for this team. The concept of team is vital for this ragtag bunch, and so far it is guiding them to October. The A’s will probably be one of the wild card teams, so it’s a 50/50 shot of where they will end up. Either one and done, or going on to the ALDS. I wouldn’t expect them to go much farther, but so far they aren’t following convention. So if they go farther, don’t be surprised.
Now, here is a team I can get behind! The Baltimore Orioles are having one of those miracle seasons that are just amazing to watch. This is another team built around youth and veterans, and the mixture is working so far. Buck Showalter continues his career trajectory of turning every team around that he touches, as the Orioles are poised to make their first playoff appearance since 1997. There are stars on this team, like Adam Jones, and there are some great young talent like Manny Machado. Throw in some Jim Thome, a dash of Mark Reynolds, and a pinch of Nate McLouth and you have a recipe for a resurgent Baltimore franchise. This team has gotten by this year thanks to great relief work, clutch hitting and late inning heroics. Those are actually all great qualities for a playoff team, so don’t be surprised if this team makes a big run. World Series, possibly? Possibly. Yes, it seems crazy, but there is no reason to doubt them now. This team has been winning when they need to all year, so another rush of wins isn’t out of the question. If not, it is still a great story to follow. What was once a storied franchise could now make a case to add to their legacy…and we gain by watching it!
Bleeding Royal Blue 