It's quite the mess the Blue Jays are making of their offseason already.
You know the story of their 2015, at least in outline: The Jays, who hadn't as much as made the playoffs since their back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-93, won the AL East title, then bounced back from a 0-2 deficit to beat Texas in the division series before finally falling to Kansas City in the ALCS.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos largely built that roster. He'd held the job since 2009, reporting to team president Paul Beeston but essentially in charge of the baseball operations -- a setup akin to that in Minnesota, where Terry Ryan is under president Dave St. Peter in the organizational flow chart but in practice has the final say about the on-field product. St. Peter deals with the revenue, Ryan with the players.
But that was about to change in Toronto. Beeston was retiring, and the team ownership -- Rogers Communications -- had hired Mark Shapiro, former GM and at the time team president in Cleveland, to succeed Beeston. Shapiro was reportedly telling people around the game how happy he was to get to make baseball decisions again. Anthropoulos (and manager John Gibbons) were on the final years of their contracts. The stage was set for Shapiro to do whatever he wanted -- this offseason. For this season, Beeston was still the president and Anthropoulos was still the general manager.
Anthropoulos made a series of aggressive deadline trades this summer, sacrificing prospects to bring in Troy Tulowitzki, David Price and Ben Revere. Shaprio reportedly chewed him out afterwards for those trades. The Jays won the division title. Ownership offered Anthropoulos a five-year contract. He said no thanks and walked out the door.
Now ... Ed Rogers, the Jays chairman (essentially their Jim Pohlad) says Anthropoulos's role would have been unchanged. The only difference would be that he would be reporting to Shapiro rather than Beeston. If, as reported earlier, Shapiro was vocally displeased with the win-now trades, that may be a meaningless distinction. All Anthropoulos will say is that the job was no longer a "fit".
Shapiro takes over Monday as team president. He'll have no honeymoon; his reputation in Toronto is preset as the guy who chased out the general manager (a native Canadian, no less) who built the first Jays contender in more than two decades. And whoever makes the baseball decisions henceforth has to deal with the reality that two pieces of their postseason rotation -- Price and Marco Estrada -- are free agents this winter. Shapiro should be inheriting a good situation, but he's inheriting an unnecessary mess.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Friday, October 30, 2015
Gardy getting shut out
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| Andy Green, most recently third base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, will manage the San Diego Padres. |
Other than the obvious lines on his resume -- he's 38, hit exactly .200 in 265 major league plate appearances over four seasons, all with Arizona, bounced around the minors as a player, managed four seasons in the minors for the Diamondbacks before getting back to the majors as a coach -- I don't know anything about Green, so I'll pass on saying good hire or bad hire. San Diego's been a oddy comfy job for managers -- Bruce Bochy lasted there forever. and Bud Black held the job for more than eight years without much success -- but the new front office might be swinging the pendulum the other way. We'll see.
No, the thing of interest here for me is Gardenhire. I wrote in the Monday print column that I thought the former Twins skipper a better fit for the Washington job than the Padres position, but apparently the Nats are going with Black, who checks the "major league experience" block as well as Gardenhire does and is at least reputed to be more in tune with the analytical approach to the game than Gardy is. The Black hire isn't official yet, and the Dodgers and Marlins haven't made their announcements yet either, but right now it appears Gardenhire won't have a helm going into spring training.
What we aren't seeing in this year's wave of hires is a strong bias for skippers who never managed on any level. Green has. Black has. Don Mattingly, who is said to be taking the Miami job, has. To be sure, Scott Servais in Seattle is a novice, so that trend hasn't died out completely, but it's not as pronounced as in the past few offseasons.
Still, front offices aren't backing off their insistence that the dugout bosses use the new analytic information they are being supplied with. I suspect that, fairly or not, that's an issue for Gardenhire as he tries to land a new position.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Hitting to contact
Wednesday's Game Two was prototypical Kansas City Royals, a game that demonstrated that they are fully capable of winning the series' battle of strengths.
The Mets have a rotation full of high-velocity pitchers who miss bats. The Royals have a lineup full of hitters who feast on velocity and don't swing and miss.
Wednesday was a case in point. Jake deGrom, the Mets starter, hit 98 on the radar guns. But even as he held the Royals scoreless for the first four innings, he induced just one swing and miss. The fifth inning saw Kansas City score four runs as the Royals peppered the Kaufmann Stadium outfield with base hits. DeGrom got only three swings-and-misses in his five innings, 2.3 percent of his pitches, the lowest rate of his career.
Now, this series is hardly over. As I said a couple of days ago, the Royals are well-constructed for their park. The next two or three games will be in Citi Field, and they lose the DH for those games, which presumably takes out their cleanup hitter, Kendrys Morales. (The alternative is to sit Eric Hosmer, their No.3 hitter and Gold Glove first baseman, and I don't see that happening.)
But so far the Series has played out the way I expected. The Royals are better in the field, they're better in the bullpen, and their lineup can handle the Mets starters.
The Mets have a rotation full of high-velocity pitchers who miss bats. The Royals have a lineup full of hitters who feast on velocity and don't swing and miss.
Wednesday was a case in point. Jake deGrom, the Mets starter, hit 98 on the radar guns. But even as he held the Royals scoreless for the first four innings, he induced just one swing and miss. The fifth inning saw Kansas City score four runs as the Royals peppered the Kaufmann Stadium outfield with base hits. DeGrom got only three swings-and-misses in his five innings, 2.3 percent of his pitches, the lowest rate of his career.
Now, this series is hardly over. As I said a couple of days ago, the Royals are well-constructed for their park. The next two or three games will be in Citi Field, and they lose the DH for those games, which presumably takes out their cleanup hitter, Kendrys Morales. (The alternative is to sit Eric Hosmer, their No.3 hitter and Gold Glove first baseman, and I don't see that happening.)
But so far the Series has played out the way I expected. The Royals are better in the field, they're better in the bullpen, and their lineup can handle the Mets starters.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Precedent for bereaved World Series pitchers
Edinson Volquez started Game One on Tuesday for Kansas City, with ESPN reporting that he had learned on his way to the ballpark that his father had died earlier in the day in the Dominican and the Royals saying that he was unaware. Manager Ned Yost told reporters after the game that Volquez' family had asked that he not be told until after he had pitched.
There is precedent in baseball history for World Series pitchers to take the ball in the immediate wake of their fathers' death.
In 1940, the colorful Louis Norman Newsom -- better known as Bobo or Buck -- went 21-5, 2,83 for the Detroit Tigers. He started Game One in Cincinnati and beat the Reds, 7-2. His father, who was in attendance, had a heart attack after the game and died the next morning. The rest of the family accompanied the body home; Bobo remained with the team and threw an 8-0 shutout in Game Five. The rubber-armed Newsom then started Game Seven on one day's rest but lost 2-1. (A reporter supposedly asked the braggadocious Newsom if he was going to pitch Game Seven for his father; Newsom s reply was, "No, I'm going to pitch this one for Bobo.")
Two years later, in 1942, Mort Cooper went 22-7 for the St. Louis Cardinals, leading the league in wins, ERA and shutouts en route to winning the MVP award. Manager Billy Southworth elected to have Max Lanier pitch Game One, with Cooper working Game Two. Hours before that game, Cooper learned that his father had died. He and brother Walker, the Cardinals catcher, played anyway and remained with the team until the Series ended; Cooper won Game Two 4-3 with a complete game and was the starter and loser (2-0) in the series' Game Five finale.
It's unclear as I write this what Volquez will do -- go immediately to the Dominican or stay with the team (he is presumably their Game Five starter). I won't think badly of either decision, and I doubt any of his teammates would either.
There is precedent in baseball history for World Series pitchers to take the ball in the immediate wake of their fathers' death.
In 1940, the colorful Louis Norman Newsom -- better known as Bobo or Buck -- went 21-5, 2,83 for the Detroit Tigers. He started Game One in Cincinnati and beat the Reds, 7-2. His father, who was in attendance, had a heart attack after the game and died the next morning. The rest of the family accompanied the body home; Bobo remained with the team and threw an 8-0 shutout in Game Five. The rubber-armed Newsom then started Game Seven on one day's rest but lost 2-1. (A reporter supposedly asked the braggadocious Newsom if he was going to pitch Game Seven for his father; Newsom s reply was, "No, I'm going to pitch this one for Bobo.")
Two years later, in 1942, Mort Cooper went 22-7 for the St. Louis Cardinals, leading the league in wins, ERA and shutouts en route to winning the MVP award. Manager Billy Southworth elected to have Max Lanier pitch Game One, with Cooper working Game Two. Hours before that game, Cooper learned that his father had died. He and brother Walker, the Cardinals catcher, played anyway and remained with the team until the Series ended; Cooper won Game Two 4-3 with a complete game and was the starter and loser (2-0) in the series' Game Five finale.
It's unclear as I write this what Volquez will do -- go immediately to the Dominican or stay with the team (he is presumably their Game Five starter). I won't think badly of either decision, and I doubt any of his teammates would either.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
A meaningless World Series prediction
The World Series gets started today, at long last.
It's an interesting matchup.
The Royals had the best record (95-67) in a very even American League; they have an outstanding defense, a superlative bullpen even with Greg Holland injured, and a lineup well made for its power-suppressing home grounds. Their flaws: The rotation is below average and they don't hit many homers -- and their best power hitter, designated hitter Kendrys Morales, will probably be out of the lineup in the games at New York.
The Mets' (90-72) strengths: A rotation stacked with power arms. Their lineup, which was awful in the first half, improved sharply in the second half, largely because the on-base percentages increased.They have more power than the Royals, with seven hitters in double-digits for homers. Their flaws: their middle infield is shaky defensively and they're not particularly fast.
I appreciate the point Pedro Martinez made on TBS at the end of the NL series: The Mets have beaten better starting pitchers this month than the Royals have to offer. They've beaten Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. But I'm still taking the Royals. Three points:
It's an interesting matchup.
The Royals had the best record (95-67) in a very even American League; they have an outstanding defense, a superlative bullpen even with Greg Holland injured, and a lineup well made for its power-suppressing home grounds. Their flaws: The rotation is below average and they don't hit many homers -- and their best power hitter, designated hitter Kendrys Morales, will probably be out of the lineup in the games at New York.
The Mets' (90-72) strengths: A rotation stacked with power arms. Their lineup, which was awful in the first half, improved sharply in the second half, largely because the on-base percentages increased.They have more power than the Royals, with seven hitters in double-digits for homers. Their flaws: their middle infield is shaky defensively and they're not particularly fast.
I appreciate the point Pedro Martinez made on TBS at the end of the NL series: The Mets have beaten better starting pitchers this month than the Royals have to offer. They've beaten Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. But I'm still taking the Royals. Three points:
- The Royals feast on fastballs. They hit .284 this year when swinging at fastballs 95 mph or higher. The Cubs were trying to jack everything into the seats against the Mets velocity; the Royals will take their singles and doubles.
- A lot of the Mets offense this month came off the bat of Daniel Murphy. He's not that good, and this will not continue.
- The Mets power will be negated in Kaufmann Stadium.
Royals in six.
Torii Hunter hangs 'em up
The big baseball news of the eve of the World Series:
Which is, frankly, a relief. The Twins had been signaling for weeks, if not months, that Hunter was welcome to return, and it was not easy to see how they could justify him as a full-time, or nearly so, outfielder in 2016.
And maybe that's what led to this earlier than anticipated announcement. Late in the season, remember, Hunter had said he'd decide after the college football season (two of his sons are collegiate players). It may be that after or during the Twins organizational meetings this month Terry Ryan called Hunter and said: We'd love to have you back, but you have to understand that you're behind Hicks, Buxton and Rosario. Your playing time is going to be limited. And Hunter made the understandable decision that he's not willing to sacrifice another year to baseball if he's going to be a bit player.
I'd like to think that the Twins took an honest, objective look at their talent and recognized that it was time to move on to the next generation. It's also possible that they were willing to have Buxton open the 2016 season at Triple A, keep Hunter as the primary right fielder and wait for an injury or failure to open a spot. If that was the case, Hunter just saved the Twins from themselves.
I wrote a lot about Torii Hunter in 2015, maybe too much, but he was certainly a key piece of the season for the Twins. 2016 will have a different focal point, for good or ill.
CONFIRMED: Torii Hunter has decided to retire from playing baseball. Thanks for the memories Torii! #MNTwins
— Dustin Morse (@Twins_morsecode) October 27, 2015
Which is, frankly, a relief. The Twins had been signaling for weeks, if not months, that Hunter was welcome to return, and it was not easy to see how they could justify him as a full-time, or nearly so, outfielder in 2016.
And maybe that's what led to this earlier than anticipated announcement. Late in the season, remember, Hunter had said he'd decide after the college football season (two of his sons are collegiate players). It may be that after or during the Twins organizational meetings this month Terry Ryan called Hunter and said: We'd love to have you back, but you have to understand that you're behind Hicks, Buxton and Rosario. Your playing time is going to be limited. And Hunter made the understandable decision that he's not willing to sacrifice another year to baseball if he's going to be a bit player.
I'd like to think that the Twins took an honest, objective look at their talent and recognized that it was time to move on to the next generation. It's also possible that they were willing to have Buxton open the 2016 season at Triple A, keep Hunter as the primary right fielder and wait for an injury or failure to open a spot. If that was the case, Hunter just saved the Twins from themselves.
I wrote a lot about Torii Hunter in 2015, maybe too much, but he was certainly a key piece of the season for the Twins. 2016 will have a different focal point, for good or ill.
Monday, October 26, 2015
A comment on postseason scheduling
We went the weekend without baseball. The Mets wrapped up their sweep of the Cubs on Wednesday, and the Royals polished off the Blue Jays on Friday, but the World Series can't begin until Tuesday. Fox is paying big bucks to decide on what days they inflict Harold Reynolds on the public..
And, of course, even once the Series gets started, there are off days mixed in. Two games in Kansas City, an off day, three games as necessary in New York, and if the series has to return to K.C., another offday.
The schedule affects the outcome. The Mets will have been sitting around almost a week, and that's not normal in baseball. It's plausible, if unprovable, that disrupting the daily rhythm of the games more than outweighs the advantage of being able to reset the pitching rotation.
There was a time, long ago -- longer ago than I was around -- when the Series didn't necessarily involve the "travel days" in the middle. Back in an era when television didn't call the shots, the schedule was set according to the actual travel needs of the teams. For example: the 1926 World Series, in which the teams shifted by train between New York and St. Louis, had the now conventional setup with a day of travel between Games Two and Three and Games Five and Six.
The various "Subway Series" of the 1950s, on the other hand, when the teams never left New York City, were played on consecutive days.
Teams aren't wedded to rail to get from city to city now. Teams in the regular season routinely play games in the Central Time Zone today and Eastern Time Zone tomorrow. The travel days aren't genuinely for travel; they're for the network schedulers. The days off probably are good for the players, who get a chance to rest, but they also push the games deeper into the calendar, when the weather gets increasingly dicey.
The most offdays there are, the better it is for the team with thinner pitching. The 2009 Yankees were a truly outstanding team -- they won 103 games in the regular season -- but because they were gifted with a postseason schedule loaded with off days, Joe Girardi was able get through all three rounds with just three starting pitchers.
I'm not claiming that the delay in getting the Series started works in one particular team's favor. I am saying that it matters, and the delay has nothing to do with the practicalities of playing the games.
And, of course, even once the Series gets started, there are off days mixed in. Two games in Kansas City, an off day, three games as necessary in New York, and if the series has to return to K.C., another offday.
The schedule affects the outcome. The Mets will have been sitting around almost a week, and that's not normal in baseball. It's plausible, if unprovable, that disrupting the daily rhythm of the games more than outweighs the advantage of being able to reset the pitching rotation.
There was a time, long ago -- longer ago than I was around -- when the Series didn't necessarily involve the "travel days" in the middle. Back in an era when television didn't call the shots, the schedule was set according to the actual travel needs of the teams. For example: the 1926 World Series, in which the teams shifted by train between New York and St. Louis, had the now conventional setup with a day of travel between Games Two and Three and Games Five and Six.
The various "Subway Series" of the 1950s, on the other hand, when the teams never left New York City, were played on consecutive days.
Teams aren't wedded to rail to get from city to city now. Teams in the regular season routinely play games in the Central Time Zone today and Eastern Time Zone tomorrow. The travel days aren't genuinely for travel; they're for the network schedulers. The days off probably are good for the players, who get a chance to rest, but they also push the games deeper into the calendar, when the weather gets increasingly dicey.
The most offdays there are, the better it is for the team with thinner pitching. The 2009 Yankees were a truly outstanding team -- they won 103 games in the regular season -- but because they were gifted with a postseason schedule loaded with off days, Joe Girardi was able get through all three rounds with just three starting pitchers.
I'm not claiming that the delay in getting the Series started works in one particular team's favor. I am saying that it matters, and the delay has nothing to do with the practicalities of playing the games.
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