Last night’s exciting end to the American League Division Series set up an intriguing matchup between the Royals and the Blue Jays. And it provides us an opportunity to take a look at some notes on the teams that just finished playing in the ALDS:
- The Royals’ bold trade deadline moves paid off big in the ALDS, writes Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star. “This year, we believed we had a chance to do it, and to do it right and to fix what we didn’t get done last year,” said club owner David Glass. Mid-season trade acquisition Johnny Cueto was masterful last night, of course, while Ben Zobrist has been his steadily excellent self. “It’s difficult to give up the prospects, but … you go for it when you have a chance,” Glass added, explaining that he placed trust in GM Dayton Moore.
- Glass heaped praise on Moore, explaining that the organization’s leaders always envisioned the creation of a multi-year contention window, as Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com writes. “When we hired Dayton, that was the plan all along,” he said. “We weren’t interested in just getting there one year and not getting back. That required a lot of patience on his part, along with [club president] Dan [Glass], despite the criticism to the contrary from some people in the media. He stood in there and built something that is here to last.”
- While Kansas City’s window should remain open for some time after this season, as Glass suggested, tough decisions are never far away. There was a slightly wistful moment in Glass’s comments, which came when discussing the need to seize the moment. “One of these days,” he said, “you’ve got some guys on this team we’re not going to be able to afford. That’s sad but true. Hopefully, we’ll keep them together for some period of time, the core group, but that’s real life with small markets.”
- Speaking of Cueto, his performance over the final games of the year could go some way toward setting up his hard-to-predict upcoming free agent case. His struggles down the stretch for the Royals are well-documented, but going eight strong innings last night — with eight strikeouts and no walks — was exactly the kind of performance that the team and prospective suitors were looking for. Cueto’s overall body of work is unassailable, of course, but he has a chance to tamp down any concerns with the status of his valuable right elbow.
- Blue Jays lefty Brett Cecil, who tore his left calf just days ago, is going to try his best to return to playoff action, writes Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. There’s no chance that he’ll be ready for the next round, so the only way he’d possibly make it back is if Toronto makes it into the World Series.
- If there was a goat in last night’s action, it was Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, who committed two key errors in the unbelievable seventh inning against Toronto. While that obviously represents a sour end to his season, it should not be forgotten that Andrus did a lot to restore his standing in 2015. The 27-year-old batted a sturdy .277/.320/.398 in the season’s second half while reversing some of the defensive decline that metrics saw last year. That’s hardly world-beating stuff, but it’s critical to Texas that Andrus can at least represent an average option at short given that he’s still owed over $100MM going forward.
- We already addressed Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus in a bullet this morning, but another Houston player who continued to build his stock is slugger Chris Carter. He ended up with a .294/.400/.529 batting line over twenty plate appearances, continuing to build off of the .240/.328/.558 batting line and nine home runs that he put up over his final 120 plate appearances. MLBTR projects Carter to earn $5.6MM in his second of four trips through arbitration. That’s not cheap — remember, dingers pay — but it’s nothing compared to what power will cost on the open market. After seeming like a non-tender candidate several months back, Carter will once again be an interesting possible trade target to keep an eye on this winter.
For the record, any team that blows 3 routine plays in a row in sudden death playoff match deserves the loss. That 7th inning in Toronto will go down in history as one of the strangest innings of baseball of all time.
Agreed. They completely fell apart. No excuses for that mess.
You just don’t advance when you have plays like that. The baseball gods do not allow it.
For the record pretty sure no one said that they expected to win the game after committing the errors. The only thing strange about the 7th was the overwhelming amount of terrible sportsmanship by the fans and the MLB inadequate ability to know a rule and enforce the rule quickly enough to get the game moving and not let a crowd Turn into a beer can throwing mob.
The fans were an embarrassment. It’s sad that people actually think they are part of the game and get involved. Hopefully everyone throwing things on the field, in the dugout, and bullpen are caught and held responsible for their actions.
They are indeed part of the game.. They pay the millions of dollars for these players salaries.. Without fans there would be no MLB.. I am not excusing their actions.. Throwing beer cans onto the field embarrasses the entire city.. But to think the fans are not part of the game is completely false.. The fans are the reason there is such a thing as home field advantage.. I have seen some good hecklers that manage to throw pitchers completely off their game..
Fans are not part of the game. When you go watch a movie, are you part of the movie? When you buy songs, are you part of the band? Nope. You are paying to be entertained.
Hecklers are their own kind of special. Any Major League Baseball player is likely miles more successful than any fan that feels the need to heckle will ever be at anything.
Exactly.
Can you Image if it was in Philly, The National Press would be tripping over itself to Blame entire Fan Base, But I guess in Toronto its just a few bad Eggs . Same Blais against Philly for years by unknowing People creating a
Image that is Both Wrong and Incomplete !
Didn’t they throw batteries JD Drew or something like that in Philly? Also, I remember hearing a story about Eagles fans throwing snowballs at Santa..
Trust me… It used to be worse, especially between Boston and New York. Dwight Evans once had a switch blade (opened) thrown down at him from the upper decks of old yankee stadium, bolts, etc.. Mickey Rivers would have any and everything thrown at him from the CF bleachers at fenway. He would always wear a helmet there.
Fans at both fenway AND yankee stadium would throw raw hot dogs at Reggie Jackson in RF, when he played there as a tribute to one of the biggest hot dogs of the time..
It was dangerous playing the OF during the 60’s and 70’s at times. Few ushers and sometimes a few fans would not act nice at all.
Problem is, Philly fans created that “bias” by their prior actions.
I agree that the fans should feel ashamed for their actions after Odor scored. It’s one thing to taunt players from the stand, it’s another when the field has to be cleaned because the fans don’t like the call.
As for the MLB response to the rule, well frankly have you ever seen a play like that before? It’s a playoff game and they did a good job of taking their time to assure they got the right call.
Dyson should quit whining about the Bautista bat flip. It was the biggest moment in Toronto sports in two decades after one of the weirdest innings of baseball. Emotions were running high.
Just as no one cares about Dyson’s respect level of Bautista no one cares about Bautista’s respect level of Ned Yost, I’m sure emotions were running high for Dyson after the game as well. Bautista seems to have a free ticket to complain about any thing and every thing but as soon as someone says something about him its off limits, he is great at showing up umpires.
That’s straw man logic. That was the biggest moment of Bautista’s career. It doesn’t compare to anything else he’s done.
Players shouldn’t be chastised for showing emotion in playoff games.
You think that was not the lowest moment in Dyson’s career? That kind of emotion lasts longer than a few seconds. He was frustrated, just as Bautista was frustrated when he was crying about the replay system.
Hissy fits and celebrations have differing levels of acceptability. We obviously feel different, but I’m not going to criticize Bautista showing emotion for his city. I will criticize Dyson for behaving like a child by yelling at Encarncion and the media about it. He was a sore loser. After the inning they had, I wouldn’t call Bautista a sore winner.
He also acknowledged that he meant Texas no disrespect after the game and that emotions were running high. I’m sure he’ll be beaned when they meet next year. Until then, Dyson should let it go.
I don’t think Dyson is that kind of guy he will get more enjoyment out of striking him out then you might see a pretty big fist pump. Which would make him a hypocrite but its still better than “bowing” out and hitting a guy.
I would be pretty shocked if Texas doesn’t hit him next time they meet. I don’t blame them either.
I get why it bugs Dyson, but that’s what guys do when big things happen in the postseason.
Which is why you should not just give one guy a pass on his emotions. Why eviscerate Dyson for his emotions?
Bautista’s reaction was largely contained in a very exciting moment, potentially the biggest of his career. Dyson continued to complain even after the game was over. I understand Dyson’s frustration during the game, but there’s no need for him to continue complaining after the game is over.
Dyson says that Bautista is a role model and should act like one, while at the same time being a complaining sore loser, which is decidedly ‘un-role model-y’ behavior.
I’m not sure anyone in that game yesterday handled it as gracefully and classy as they should have, including many of the fans in attendance. The game was an emotional roller coaster ride for everyone involved, as was the series as a whole, but I personally don’t expect any lasting repercussions
It’ll be interesting to see what GM Moore and the Royals do this offseason when Cueto and Gordon (likely) leave. They already spent a lot in prospects for Cueto (and Zobrist), but I can see Moore getting creative and cannot wait to see how it unfolds.
Fister and Rasmus as replacements, maybe?