Monthly Archives: December 2014

White Sox have eyes on a Wild Card

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The MLB Winter Meetings surpassed all expectations as a source not just of rumours but actual trades and free agent signings.

Plenty of players found new homes, or had them chosen for them, and many of the moves seem likely to prompt further deals to occur over the next month or so.

The most intriguing protagonist in all this so far has been the Chicago White Sox.

They lost 89 games in 2014 despite receiving quality performances from the likes of true ace Chris Sale, Cuban slugger Jose Abreu and the effective Jose Quintana.

A few years ago, a team in that position may see its better players as being of more value to another team than themselves. Paying for quality performances when your side as a whole isn’t a contender can be a waste. With all teams on the lookout for upgrades, often it made more sense to cash in and trade those players away for a package of prospects that could blossom at a more opportune time period.

Thanks to the second Wild Card and booming TV revenues, this position now seems to be rarer. If you’ve got a core of players, that means you could be just a handful of moves away from getting back into the playoff mix.

What I’ve been particularly impressed by is the way that the White Sox’s General Manager Rick Hahn has acted to improve all areas of his roster.

Their bullpen has been boosted by the additions of David Robertson and Zach Duke and the rotation now boasts an impressive 1-2 punch with Jeff Samardzija joining Sale as a deadly duo. As for the offence, Adam LaRoche should add some quality at-bats on his own, whilst also allowing Abreu to save his legs by DH’ing on a regular basis, and Saturday night’s signing of Melky Cabrera not only puts one of the better free agent bats on their roster but also keeps him off a potential contender.

The two keys to baseball are scoring runs and preventing runs, so improving both aspects of your team gives you a good chance to make some inroads.

There’s no question that the White Sox have a lot of ground to make up and even after these additions it may prove they haven’t done quite enough to bridge the gap to reigning AL Central champs the Detroit Tigers (although, if they cannot bring back Max Scherzer, they may start slipping back to the pack more quickly than expected).

However, even if that does prove correct, that doesn’t mean they won’t be good enough to beat out teams like the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians for a potential Wild Card.

The mere possibility is exactly why the White Sox are going for it this offseason, trying to take advantage of having the likes of Sale and Abreu rather than letting someone else enjoy them.

White Sox fans have genuine reason for optimism after a depressing 2014 and the playoff race in the American League should have another contender to add to the mix.

Winter Meetings create a rumour wonderland

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The MLB Winter Meetings, which begin on Monday 8 December, are a pre-Christmas treat for baseball fans.

It’s the annual event, being held in San Diego this year, where all MLB teams gather alongside agents and some players as they discuss potential trades and free agent signings alongside general housekeeping around rules and procedures.

There were no major deals announced during the event last year – the three-team trade between the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels involving Mark Trumbo, Adam Eaton, Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago was the main deal agreed – yet the week plays an important role in setting up deals to be completed in the week or two afterwards.

And, more than anything, hordes of reporters flock to the meetings and generate copious amount of rumours for us to devour.

Free agents

Quite a few of the free agent hitters have already found new homes this offseason.

Deals completed so far include Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez signing for the Boston Red Sox, Russell Martin moving to the Toronto Blue Jays, Nelson Cruz joining the Seattle Mariners and Victor Martinez opting to stay with the Detroit Tiger.

In the past few days, two more names came off the free agent list with Nick Markakis agreeing a deal with the Atlanta Braves and Torii Hunter reuniting with the Minnesota Twins.

Consequently teams looking for position players – which is all of the teams – will be looking for potential trade partners and the free agent activity is going to focus more on the pitchers.

Jon Lester appears to be the most likely pitcher domino to fall first based on the growing rumours around alleged contracts being offered to him. Once Lester makes his decision, those that miss out may well move quickly to capture James Shields as a very capable substitute.

Max Scherzer will continue to play a waiting game unless a team throws a monumental contract offer onto the table this week, although his agent Scott Boras is sure to be a high-profile figure during the Winter Meetings.

AL East bearing its teeth

The New York Yankees broke their unusual silence this on Friday.

First they acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius as part of a three-team trade and then they signed relief pitcher Andrew Miller on a four-year contract worth $36m (just over £111k per week).

The moves are no surprise considering how competitive the AL East is likely to be in 2015.

The Boston Red Sox were woeful in 2014 and have wasted no time in improving their roster with Sandoval and Ramirez joining their lineup and plenty of rumours abounding about potential deals to come.

Meanwhile the Toronto Blue Jays have already added Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson to their lineup and, again, reports suggest they are far from finished when it comes to adding new players this offseason.

The Tampa Bay Rays are taking a more considered approach to a probably modest offseason trading period, although they made an important decision this week in appointing 36-year-old ex-catcher Kevin Cash to replace Joe Maddon as their new manager.

Which leaves us looking at the reigning division champions waiting for them to react. The Baltimore Orioles have lost Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis this week and, even with catcher Matt Wieters and third baseman Manny Machado returning from injuries, that means they have two notable holes to fill, at least, if they are to avoid being overtaken by their division rivals.

Reading list

With the baseball games all dried up – including the MLB Japan All-Star series this year – and Christmas lists being compiled, early December is the main time of year that I spend considering additions to my baseball book library.

The Hardball Times annual is always on my list and I’ve been eagerly dipping into my 2015 copy over the last couple of days since it came through the post.

Even just from the opening three chapters reviewing the American League side of the 2014 season, I’ve learned more about the success the Cleveland Indians have had in recent years through player trades, how the Toronto Blue Jays really missed a trick in failing to improve their roster mid-season, and been reminded of some of the young players that made a mark in the American League such as the Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier, the Angels’ Kole Calhoun and the Astros’ Collin McHugh.

Baseball historian John Thorn’s book ‘Baseball in the Garden of Eden’ has been waiting on my shelf to be read for a while so I’ll be looking to get to that one soon. ‘Baseball Explained’ by Phillip Mahony also looks like being a good contender as a key book for Brits new to the game based on my initial flick through.

I’ll put together some reviews once I’ve had a chance to enjoy reading them over the next few weeks. If you’ve got any other suggestions for books to catch up on, please pass them on.

Donaldson dealt as blocks of ice melt

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MlbHlSqIf cricketer Philip Hughes’ death justifiably makes any other sports news seem inconsequential, his love for cricket also can remind us that sport is one of the great sources of joy and entertainment in our lives.

It may be irrational to care as much as we do about the fortunes of our respective teams, yet the fact that we do is also something to cherish.

Logging onto MLB.com on Saturday morning to find my Oakland A’s had traded away our best player, Josh Donaldson, was one of those moments where rational logic (all players come and go, it’s only a game anyway etc) gets kicked out of the way by sentiment and emotion.

Trading away such a good player when he is still under contract for the next four years at arbitration prices looks an odd move not just at first glance, but even after further consideration.

Trying to make sense of it a couple of days on, I’m drawn to an interview by the Guardian with British cyclist supremo Sir Dave Brailsford in which he quoted some advice by Oakland’s General Manager Billy Beane.

“He [Beane] said every athlete is like a block of ice, and they are melting all the time – if you ever let the whole thing melt on your watch you should be sacked.” Brailsford says: “‘Listen,’ he [Beane] said, ‘if you let a player go and you let him go too early, that’s miles better than keeping him until it’s too late.’ If you see another guy performing well for another team you should think, ‘That’s great, he was good for us, he can be good for someone else.’ Therein lies the challenge.”

Donaldson has been outstanding over the past two seasons, his first two full seasons in the Majors, yet you may not realise he will turn 29 in one week’s time (8 December). This isn’t to say that the Toronto Blue Jays have acquired a player whose performances are about to drop off a cliff, as twenty-nine is not old for a sportsman these days.

However, it does raise the possibility that these past two seasons, maybe alongside his 2015 to come, will be the best of his career in a way that you would less expect had he been about to turn 26 or 27.

To support this theory, consider that the main player received in return by the A’s is an established Major Leaguer in Brett Lawrie who is four years younger than Donaldson.

This deal may be the perfect example of it being better to trade a player a year early rather than a year late.  Or it may be a case of making a bet on a younger but injury-prone player that doesn’t come off.

As with every deal, time will be the judge, but the logic seems to be that Beane would prefer to take his chances with the younger Lawrie (plus three other prospects of varying degrees of potential usefuless) than risking Donaldson melting too quickly on his watch.

Tragedy leads to reflection

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The tragic death of Australian cricketer Philip Hughes cast a dark shadow over sporting events over the past few days.

The Minnesota Twins’ pitcher of the same name quickly had to tweet to clear up some initial confusion over the news in the States, but that was far from the only way in which the desperately sad incident had a bearing on the world of baseball.

The tactic of bowling a bouncer in cricket has a clear similarity to pitchers throwing a ‘purpose’ pitch up-and-in to a batter.

In both cases the person wielding the ball is trying to intimidate the person wielding the bat, making them feel uncomfortable and taking some of their concentration away from their batting on to worrying about avoiding a painful blow instead.

Pitchers generally are not trying to hit the batter in baseball as that gifts them first base. In cricket, shaking a batsman up is part of the longer running sequence of trying to get him out on the basis that he (or she) is standing in front of the very wicket that the bowler is normally aiming for. England’s pace bowlers reportedly practice hitting the helmet badge on a dummy as a way of sharpening their accuracy when bowling some short stuff, so there is more of a body-hunting intent to the cricketing practice compared to baseball.

However, in both cases, the end result is that a person propels a hard ball at a batsman or hitter with limited protective equipment at a speed that could cause significant injury if it lands in the wrong spot. And in the freak case of Hughes, can be fatal.

The lucrative contract signed by Giancarlo Stanton has been the biggest headline grabbing news of the offseason so far and we only have to consider how his 2014 season was brought to a premature close to see how fickle fate can be.

On 11 September, Stanton was hit squarely in the face by an 88 MPH fastball thrown by Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mike Fiers. It was a scary incident- catching it once on a news package was more than enough times for me and I don’t wish to watch it again – and it was sheer luck that he only suffered multiple facial fractures rather than anything life-threatening.

Because Stanton was ‘alright’ after a short recovery period makes it easy to dismiss the incident as just one of those things, just as the equally scary sight of seeing a pitcher getting hit by a come-backer (such as happened to Brandon McCarthy in September 2012) can be forgotten about once the injured party returns to the mound at a later date.

Although there is risk in pretty much everything in life and playing baseball will never be completely safe, it is not giving into a nanny state culture to think that any near miss or worse should prompt a considered review as to whether steps could be taken to improve safety, even just by 1 per cent, without taking anything of importance away from the sports we love.

Stanton was adamant when asked that his incident didn’t have any bearing on his decision to sign a contract extension with the Marlins. There’s no reason to doubt that, but there’s also no reason to not pause for a moment and be thankful that he was still here to be able to make that decision.